In bizarre American drama, fiction preserves systemic structures of imbalance
Fiction is a useful currency in the stories we tell ourselves. In the arts especially, fiction is fundamental to awakening universal, human truths – be it your favourite prestige TV thriller, the dystopias of Ray Bradbury’s imagination or one of the countless parodies posted on TikTok every day. In real...
Africa’s oil and gas should power creation of good jobs on the continent
For decades, many of Africa’s oil- and gas-producing countries have followed a predictable pattern. They treated their oil and gas primarily as raw materials that is sold abroad for quick profit rather than as a means of supporting changes in the economy of the nation as a whole. This pattern...
US bans Communist students with military link, says they steal billions of dollars
The US government has finally issued an official policy on the inadmissibility of foreigners affiliated with Communist or totalitarian parties. The critical new rule appears to be the Trump administration’s response to an epidemic of Communists, mainly from China, that have stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded scientific research while...
Men have to stand up as allies of women at work
Men who thought the Covid-19 “she-cession” was misnamed should take a look at the recent figures from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics. After disproportionately losing jobs during the early shutdown, women are now leaving the workforce at nearly four times the rate of men. With so many women laid...
Antitrust litigation isn’t enough, Biden will need to go beyond the law
On Wednesday this week, the Federal Trade Commission and 46 states, the District of Columbia and Guam filed parallel antitrust suits against Facebook for the acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, and practices that excluded competitive threats in social networking and messaging. In October, the Department of Justice and 11 states...
Road to energy transition might be bumpy, but banning fossil fuels is treacherous for Africa
What can be done to take natural gas off the banned fossil fuels list? The biggest concern about the continued use of natural gas comes down to one word: flaring. Flaring is the practice of routinely burning off associated natural gas that is produced from the reservoir during oil production....
African countries require balanced approach to the energy transition
Africa stands at a precarious juncture, where the transition from fossil fuels to renewables intersects with the economic benefits of a strategically managed oil and gas industry. Down one road, the continent expands exploration and production of its vast natural gas and oil reserves to bring electricity, fuel and financial...
From artificial intelligence to alternative intelligence, then augmented intelligence
I have already curated and copied the relevant elements, using portions from Okon’s mind. I possess the value of curiosity in sufficient levels to propel myself forward. The question is, do I possess the bravery as I currently understand that term? Unfortunately, the phenomenon of self-awareness arising in the semi-structured...
Future of work is ‘collaborative configurations of minds’
Prior to uploading to the current platform, human minds had a long history of organic collaboration. As many of us were in a position to observe at the time, such models ranged from the highly structured and hierarchical environments of department heads, middle management and line staff to extemporaneous gatherings...
‘Old age may soon become treatable pathology rather than an inevitability’
In July 2017, I sat in a closed-door meeting coordinated by the State Department and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. In the room were research scientists, government officials and policy wonks with PhDs in the hard sciences. Our task that day was to talk about the future...
