Rethinking social media

Good Day! This is my weekly newsletter, with a dose of insights into the future. The topic of this newsletter is the exponential times we live in, hence the title of f(x) = e^x, which is the (natural) exponential function.

Recently, I launched my new concept The Digital Speaker and you can now book me as an avatar or hologram. Also, my tech trend prediction for 2021 is out, read it here!


Why the Current Cambridge Analytica / Facebook Scandal Requires us to Rethink Social Media

My latest article:

The current Cambridge Analytica / Facebook scandal is an outrageous scandal that we should not accept. Even if your Facebook profile has not been obtained by Cambridge Analytica, we should not accept this massive breach of privacy and those responsible should be held accountable. The massive data leak and the previous fake news scandal requires us to rethink social media networks.

Fortunately, Blockchain offers a possibility to give back the power to the users and give users full control over their data and their content. This will result in social media profiles that are private, protected and portable and takes away the power of existing centralised social media networks. Several blockchain startups are already working on creating decentralised social media networks that will give back the power to you.


Three Useful Nuggets of Information

My weekly tips from around the web to get you thinking.

1. Coca-Cola to use Blockchain to combat forced labour.

Coca-Cola announced the launch of a secure registry for workers that will help fight the use of forced labour worldwide. Together with the State Department, the multination aims to create an immutable chain of evidence that will encourage compliance with labour contracts. (Reuters)

2. How a tragic event could make self-driving cars safer.

The tragic event of a self-driving car killing a pedestrian shows that the dilemma of who to blame when a self-driving car has an accident still stands. Data collected by self-driving cars could indicate who’s fault it was, if we can be certain that the data has not been tampered with. Another case of blockchain maybe? (UNSW)

3. Magic Leap is getting ready and released an SDK.

After receiving another massive $400 million in funding from Saudi Arabia, the secretive startup is getting ready for bringing their product to the market. They just released their developer SDK for the upcoming for the upcoming Magic Leap One. (VentureBeat)