There is much to love in Peter Hagedoorn’s vision of a “Fluid Society”. There is also much...
Read moreThe term “the fluid society” stands for the unfolding digital society, which will irrevocably be organised differently from the current one. In which there will be more global digital cooperation in numerous contexts. This is not only desirable, but also necessary in order to master the major problems of our time. These collaborations will have to take place digitally as much as possible, because that is more efficient, cheaper and more sustainable. A different way of thinking is necessary, to overcome the great contradictions between people and cultures and to come into balance with a healthy nature and living environment. To give people a new social footing. The current state of the world emphatically calls for holistic, inclusive, long-term thinking to prevail over the current national, self-centred and short-term thinking. If we can do that, there are good prospects for everyone.
On this website, blogs are posted, news items are published, links are indicated, books and articles are discussed, that deal with this future fluid society.
There is much to love in Peter Hagedoorn’s vision of a “Fluid Society”. There is also much...
Read moreTo build a better world from the Covid crisis, we need a global push to connect the...
Read moreWith the book “The Digital Challenge for Europe”, Peter Hagedoorn makes an important contribution to the discussion on...
Read moreDigital threats. The FD (Financieel Dagblad) of 10 February 2021 contains an important article on the digital threats posed by...
Read moreThe IT Professionalism Conference 2021 will take place during three half-day online sessions on 20-22 April.
The event will be co-hosted by IT Professionalism Europe (ITPE), eSkills Malta Foundation and Irish Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition. The event will encompass a wide range of topics of importance to both young and experienced IT professionals and practitioners. The conference will take a European perspective as well as those from other continents, and will feature various European initiatives, ideas and projects relating to developing digital technologies. This year we will also focus on what it means to become an IT Professional – particularly for young people preparing for an IT career.
Any technology that records or interferes with brain activity is defined as Neurotechnology. Neurotechnology, especially when paired with artificial intelligence, has the potential to foundationally alter society. In the coming years, it will be possible to decode thought from neural activity or enhance cognitive ability by linking the brain directly to digital networks. Such innovations could challenge the very notion of what it means to be human. The work of the NRI is based on three seminal articles, "Four ethical priorities for neurotechnologies and AI", "Towards new human rights in the age of neuroscience and neurotechnology" and "It's Time for Neuro-Rights".
Consumers are facing price rises and shortages of products from TVs and mobile phones to cars and games consoles as a global shortage in semiconductors grows.
The shortage in chips, the “brain” within every electronic device in the world, has been steadily worsening since last year.
Initially the problem was only a temporary delay in supplies as factories shut down when the coronavirus pandemic first hit.
However, although production is back to normal, a new surge in demand driven by changing habits fuelled by the pandemic means that it is now reaching crisis point.
Car manufacturers investing in tech-heavy electric vehicles, the boom in sales of TVs and home computers and launch of new games consoles and 5G-enabled mobile phones have all driven demand.
EU countries commit to key digital initiatives for Europe's Digital Decade. Today, at the online Digital Day 2021, Ministers representing EU Member States signed three Declarations to pool efforts and resources to promote international connectivity, incentivise the rollout of clean digital technologies and improve the regulatory environment for start-ups and scale-ups. These tangible commitments will help accelerate Europe’s green and digital transformation and will contribute to the vision and goals of Europe's Digital Decade.
We must defend against the cyber threats facing our global financial systems.
Today, the assessment that a major cyber attack poses a threat to financial stability is axiomatic— not a question of if, but when. Yet the world's governments and companies continue to struggle to contain the threat because it remains unclear who is responsible for protecting the system.
Interview with Tim Berners-Lee: ‘We need social networks where bad things happen less’. The father of the world wide web talks about its first 30 years, the rise of the toxic internet – and whether Facebook needs to be broken up. Quote:"After Brexit and Trump, I think a lot of people realised: ‘We need to have a web that spreads more truth than rubbish.’ And at that point, the Web Foundation said: ‘It’s not just about getting the web to everyone, it has to serve humanity in a positive way."
CNN Microsoft Hack 10 March. Many security experts remain alarmed about the large, Chinese-linked hack of Microsoft's Exchange email service a week after the attack was first reported.
De Volkskrant 6 March. Russian and Chinese hackers gained access to EMA. Last year, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) was hacked by a Russian intelligence agency and a Chinese espionage group. The Russians gained access to EMA’s internal network by exploiting a setting in the authentication system that allowed them to abuse the two-step verification, as research by de Volkskrant has shown.
Four woman Prime Ministers write a letter to the European Commission saying that digital transformation within Europe is vital for the recovery. They say:" .........At the same time, the dependencies and shortcomings in European digital capacities,skills and technologies have become more apparent. A significant amount of digital value-added and innovation takes place outside Europe. Data has become a new currency which is mainly collected and stored outside Europe. And fundamental democraticvalues areunder severe pressure in theglobaldigital sphere".
Report 'Strategic Autonomy and Cybersecurity in the Netherlands’. Digital strategic autonomy is hot. The Dutch Cyber Security Council has asked Freddy Dezeure and Paul Timmers to conduct an in-depth study of national digital autonomy. As the Council says ‘The report provides clear insights into the complex issues, illustrates this with appealing current examples and describes an assessment framework". The council will translate this assessment framework into concrete guidelines for policy makers.
End of April 2021 the book “The Digital Challenge for Europe” will be published, containing a large amount of information and ideas about the fluid society that is unfolding. Besides analyzing the effects of digitalization on people and humanity, the book also addresses the major issues that governments are now struggling with as a result of digitalization effects. Which forms of governance could possibly offer a solution to master the many issues that are nowat stake?
More informationOrderPeter Hagedoorn
Peter Hagedoorn is trained as a physics engineer and has followed a career in which he has worked alternately for the public sector and business. He worked for Shell, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bull-Netherlands, RAET, Hagemeyer and Océ. He was Director of the Millennium Platform. He was the founder and first chairman of the CIO-Platform Nederland, in which capacity he was also on the Board of the European CIO Association. He was later appointed Secretary General of this organization.