In this week’s news from the future:

• Is the universe a computer simulation? Neil deGrasse Tyson moderates a debate about the topic.

• Can we now use computers to see alternative futures? – The Atlantic
• Could Reddit’s April Fools experiment be a door into the future of collaborative creativity? – Sudoscript
• What price will humanity pay for ignoring the facts? The bills are stacking up, payback is coming – iai news
• Fake news is a brand new danger that humanity is facing. Right…right? – Bloomberg
• Is Google ripping off publishers? Why GroundUp are dropping their Google Ads – GroundUp
• Skateboarding on frozen sand looks great in 4K – Vimeo

• Everything old is new again – print is the future of luxury – Vimeo

Alphabet co-founder Sergey Brin recently spent some time in Davos at the World Economic Forum’s annual event.

Here he is talking about the opportunities that exist for entrepreneurs during the 4th Industrial Revolution, jobs in the future, education, healthcare and what people will do with all of the time that automation will give back to society.

Who owns the future and who owns your future?

Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist and a Silicon Valley insider. His views are similar to those of Douglas Rushkoff in that the premise of his argument is that people are willingly and unconsciously allowing mega-corporations to use them to make billions of dollars from their thoughts and content contributions – and in many ways, are sacrificing their very freedom to ‘siren servers’ who are subtly manipulating our lives.

Many of these content platforms are also incredibly unfair. Take YouTube for instance. A handful of content producers make an absolute killing from their vlogs, but the vast majority of contributors are just used as ‘filler’ for the platform with little or no financial compensation for their contribution.

Que the conspiracy theory music…

Freedom, of course, in this modern age is time away from social network sharing. Time away from access to our networked ‘reality’ – where your thoughts are your own and cannot be ‘owned’ by a massive corporation.

Do you know that you are ruled by Facebook? Or as Douglass Rushkoff puts it in his book Program or be Programmed; ‘Do we direct technology, or do we let ourselves be directed by it and those who have mastered it?’

The questions that people like Lanier and Rushkoff are posing here are important ones to consider. The devastating effects of the massive monopolising of information and capital throughout the world are already clear. What happens as we move towards the future and the resignation of our rights to machines continues without conscious consideration of the consequences?

The world is so worried about machines taking our jobs, but the reality is that we have already allowed machines to take over our minds.

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

A cycling wearable won the Grand Prix for product design at the recent Cannes Festival of Creativity.

The jacket in question – named Jacquard – was designed by Google Creative Labs London in collaboration with Levi’s and features a touch-sensitive cuff which connects the active cyclist with their Android phones.

It’s a great innovation because as you know, weaving in and out between taxis that are trying their hardest to eliminate you from the gene pool and trying to avoid distracted soccer moms in larger-than-necessary 4x4s while trying to find your favourite Mumford & Sons lullaby, can be tricky.

Behind the scenes of Project Jacquard

Project Jacquard is a new system for weaving technology into fabric, transforming everyday objects, like clothes, into interactive surfaces. Project Jacquard will allow designers and developers to build connected, touch-sensitive textiles into their own products…more…

At this stage it seems like the jacket is an early prototype with large scale production happening only later in 2017, but what it does indicate is that Google is serious about wearable technology and making sure that you have every single opportunity possible to access your phone, no matter what physical activity you may find yourself doing.

Interesting too is that Google are actively exploring avenues outside of the digital realm. By winning a physical product design Grand Prix at a festival like Cannes, Google will naturally have pricked the ears and interests of industrial designers the world over. That will either result in more of a focus on wearables by other ‘design skunkworks operations’ in the future; or even more innovation coming out of this lab.

There may be design fame and glory in a cycling wearable for now, but this is surely just the beginning.

The future of Internet connection is not necessarily the way that it is now. Instead of miles of cable being laid all over the surface of the planet, perhaps there is a better way to imagine how this can be done in the future?

A way that also ensures that a basic 21-century right like ‘connecting to the Internet’ is not just reserved for those wealthy enough to live in a big city with established infrastructure.

Google’s Project Loon is an audacious idea to connect the world to the Internet via giant aerial balloons that float around in the Earth’s stratosphere. Sounds crazy right?

Many of us think of the Internet as a global community. But two-thirds of the world’s population does not yet have Internet access. Project Loon is a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill coverage gaps, and bring people back online after disasters.

Here’s some behind-the-scenes material of the testing of the Loon balloons.

Real change – that the Internet promises – will only be realised when everyone is able to affordably connect to the world wide web from anywhere on the planet.

This project looks like it may well make that idealistic dream a reality. And a great example of how a good solution to a problem doesn’t always lie in following the existing rules that we sometimes perceive as set in stone.

How will that change the lives of the world’s most marginalised communities?

For the life of me I can’t understand the thinking of the present South African government.

The amount of money and effort that goes into keeping economically hungry, capable, non-South Africans out of South Africa – is just plain madness.

I’m a firm believer that opportunity favours those who are hungry for it. Great entrepreneurs who create globally successful enterprises are, more often than not, immigrants who have the deep desire to make a better life for themselves. In the past and still today, these fortune seekers head to countries like the USA where they know there is the structures, legal frameworks and the support for their ideas to flourish and become successful business enterprises that can radically transform an economy. It’s the basic principle that made the US the world’s leading economy.

South Africa is the one country in Africa that has the same mix of generally working civil infrastructure, world-class universities, a largely functional legal framework and the private capital availability to be Africa’s ‘land of opportunity’. Why we are not doggedly pursuing and welcoming those who are wanting to set up a new business, attend university, contribute to our economy – is completely beyond me. It’s economics 101 and in a world where the opportunity exists in this region for a country to start being that ‘land of opportunity’, not taking that gap now is a policy decision, which will come back to haunt this country for generations to come.

Fear of foreigners taking non-existent jobs and plain ignorance are the only real things between our present reality and a thriving, dynamic economy. Questions really need to be asked of the present administration as to why this is being ignored. We are literally denying the next Google, the next Uber, the next Naspers from calling South Africa its home base.

A better life for all will remain just a pipe dream slogan at the end of electioneering propaganda unless we start seeing the opportunity of welcoming visionary immigrants into this country.

Ke nako South Africa, ke nako.

How do Google employees commute to work? The greenest way possible naturally.

Bikes, buses, walking and even kayaking all make up the ‘green’ Google way of getting to work. It’s surprising actually how uninvolved South African companies seem to be in their employees’ transportation needs in comparison.

Then again – Google is perfect.