Proud Generalist 66 :: STB, the conversation starter
Greetings!
The good thing about “coming out”, as someone called it, is that people react to it. Thanks for the love on my Sustainable Tech Behaviour article. But also thanks for the questions and the ideas and the conversations.
Quite interesting #1
The main reactions came from ‘peers’, not from ‘the business’. Nobody called me to invite me for a talk (yet). Which means we’re in product development phase, not in ‘product-market fit’. 😂
Quite interesting #2
What struck me is that the reactions could be grouped into 3 themes.
1. Great, mate, but what are the solutions?
Fair enough. Pragmatism FTW.
There already are pragmatic tools, like this list of the Dutch org PublicSpaces with software alternatives.
Someone told me about the ISIT, the (Belgian) Institute for Sustainable AI, who’ve developed a few tools around footprint, inclusivity,… Haven’t seen them yet, as they’re semi-closed.
But currently I see STB as a way of thinking to make the unknown unknowns a bit more visible. As humans, we’re pretty good at problem solving. But let’s also define the ‘correct’ problem.
One of the ideas is to create a deck of cards with 52 questions. Questions that frame insights, as steps to solutions.
That could be something like: “What is the new tech replacing and what are the consequences?”
For example: if LLMs are 24/7 interns, where will all the interns go and learn the job?
2. How do we talk about it?
I’ve noticed people automatically switching to ‘ethical’ tech behaviour. I assume this is to do with the ecological association of Sustainable. I chose “Sustainable”, because it’s technically more correct. The SDGs cover a lot more than ecology.
Plus, ‘ethics’ is currently very connected to AI. So, it has given the Innovation students working on STB a good topic for their research interviews. To be checked!AI is often the first tech that gets mentioned. Obviously the potential impact is on people’s minds. On that note,
of Exponential View, had a conversation with ChatGPT about itself and its 2nd birthday (sub required).
The most insightful excerpt? When Azeem asked ChatGPT the question: “Let’s stare into the maw. Will you rule us? Or will all economic activity just be hoovered up to San Francisco?”, it produced this:
The most surprising—and perhaps unsettling—aspect might be society’s passive acceptance of these changes. The convenience and capabilities offered by AI could overshadow concerns about autonomy, equity, and control. Without proactive efforts to democratize AI access, establish robust regulations, and ensure ethical use, we risk entering a future where economic activity and power are concentrated among a select few, leaving the broader population with diminished influence over their own lives.
🤯
3. STB is part of something bigger
STB seems to relate to people who are in a similar space, trying to figure out how to have impact. I was at the Long Term Society last week and someone mentioned the feeling of being in an uncomfortable split: with one foot in the current world and one foot in this new, shifting, world. Apt description, for sure.
Tying it back to solutions, I guess we need to relate high level thinking back to specific things like KPIs.
pointed me to this Great Simplification podcast with Daniel Schmachtenberger, about AI and the bigger impact. Pretty serious deepdive, but one thought that resonated: how do we define ‘progress’, if we measure for ‘narrow boundary’ things like GDP growth? Seriously mindblowing stuff. I’m already fine-tuning my canvas-model-framework.
One thing I learnt this week
I learnt about Jevons Paradox. As I say in my article, we use tech often to create efficiency. But in the 19th century, the economist Jevons found that, if we become more efficient in our use of resources, we just use more resources.
Unintended consequence of the week
Phone recycling is increasing. Great.
But the most recycled phone is the iPhone 13, which was released 3 years ago. Add the 13 Max to it and 40% of the returned phones are only 3 years old. Feels pretty short to me.
More: the average age of devices turned in decreased for the first time in 2024. One of those unintended consequences of return programmes?
Vinyl of the week
OK, then. I’ll try and keep this up as well.
I picked up this 2nd hand copy of the Betonkost & Palmbomen II collaboration. Back in 2018, I really enjoyed their Center Parcs LP collaboration. Story goes that these 2 producers spent a weekend in said holiday park to record that album. I can just see these 2 nerds lugging all their equipment into one of these run-down bungalows.
Anyway, this EP is called Hotel Breukelen. I assume they did the same while being holed up in this rather uninspiring corporate hotel to create 6 tracks of dream-y electro ghosting through cold wave corridors.