Economic, Social and Political Issues (ICT)

How digital systems reshape our world Debates about artificial intelligence, data centres and social media usually focus on regulation, energy use, cybersecurity and productivity. These are important issues, but they share a hidden assumption: technology is treated as an object, something outside society that we can manage through better rules or better engineering. A different

At the start of the social media era, there was a widespread belief that these platforms would strengthen democracy. By lowering the barriers to participation, they appeared to give ordinary citizens a voice, bypass traditional gatekeepers and enable new forms of civic engagement. The Arab Spring became the defining example of this optimism. But that

I am a regular user of Booking.com and I find the service very convenient. However, as soon as you have an issue that you need to discuss with them, their customer system falls down completely, or worse it simply doesn’t exist. I noticed a charge of $1027 on my credit card with the description “Hotel

For all the breathless talk about “humanoid AI” taking over the world, we keep forgetting a basic biological truth: a human mind does not come from a clever brain, it comes from a living body. Not just any body, but one built cell by cell inside another person, shaped by immune responses, hormones, hunger and

This time Australia has something to celebrate and to be proud off. The country’s ascendancy in the digital governance realm has been underscored by its remarkable debut performance in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Digital Government Index (DGI). The DGI, a comprehensive assessment of digital government strategies and initiatives, serves as a

In the July 5th edition of the Good Weekend, I read an article titled “The Final Chapter”. It delivered a sobering message: fewer people are reading, and when they do, they’re reading less. Bookstores may still exist, but the habit of reading books—especially among young people—is since the 1990s in steep decline. The piece paints

With Donald Trump in the White House, global markets are under pressure from erratic policy, economic nationalism, and the weaponisation of finance. But beyond the headlines lies a quieter, more profound shift—one that sits at the intersection of technology, economic sovereignty, and global power. This is where Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) come in, and

In a discussion with my Dutch colleague Hendrik Rood, I discussed the global political and economic landscape which is shifting toward a more autarkic model, reminiscent of the interwar period. Protectionism and national security concerns are driving governments to exert greater control over critical industries, including technology. I also like to refer here to the

The unchecked power of American digital giants has profoundly reshaped our societies.Platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Meta, and Google have connected billions, democratised information, and spurred innovation. However, their success is primarily measured by profits, not societal well-being. This profit-driven approach often leads them to resist regulations designed to curb the spread of harmful content—such

Throughout history, technological innovation has been a driving force behind societal progress. It has reshaped the way we live, communicate, and address challenges. Yet, like a double-edged sword, technology often carries unintended consequences that undermine its potential for good. The nuclear bomb, the internet, social media, and artificial intelligence (AI) all stand as prime examples

I am deeply saddened and simultaneously outraged by the ongoing political and social changes in the United States. Once a global beacon of democracy, the country has fallen to 36th place in global democracy rankings, trailing behind Australia at 13th, New Zealand at 7th, and the Nordic countries holding the top four positions. The USA’s

Last week I attended a presentation called “Decoding Thought” organised by the World Science Festival in Brisbane. Here the University of Texas and the UTS in Sydney presented their latest finds on this topic, In recent years, the field of neuroscience has witnessed remarkable breakthroughs in decoding human thoughts directly from brain activity. These advancements,

Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands as a double-edged sword in the modern era. Its potential for immense good is paralleled only by the risks it poses if left unchecked. In this discourse, we delve into the multifaceted nature of AI, exploring its capacity for positive impact, the imperative for responsible development and regulation, and the ethical

One day last week, I received several emails and links to stories that form the basis of this article. It started with an ABC News article I read: ‘Twitter is becoming a ‘ghost town’ of bots as AI-generated spam content floods the internet‘ I am part of an international network of ICT experts, and I

Globalisation has been driven by transformative financial and economic advancements after WWII, liberating countries from colonial and outdated industrial-age mindsets of production and consumption. These shifts have not only fuelled wealth creation but have also elevated the lifestyles of billions. Enhanced global healthcare, improved food production, and expanded trade have led to a staggering increase

It is clear that if we want to use AI for the good of society, we need to start providing guidelines, regulations, and most likely legislation around AI. The industry has been talking about this for many years, but governments have been slow to react. In general, governments are reactive rather than proactive when it

Last month, I attended a lecture at the University of Queensland on “data capitalism.” The argument put forward by Oliver Lane-Porter was that “Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon are some of the largest and most powerful firms in the global economy. Their size, value, and the wealth of their founders raise serious concerns for distributive justice.

Gartner’s identified trends for cloud, data centre, and edge infrastructure in 2023 underline the importance of optimising existing infrastructure, embracing new architectures, adopting cloud principles on-premises, and prioritising sustainability. By staying abreast of these trends and effectively navigating economic and geopolitical challenges, organisations can position themselves for success in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. In

Earlier this year I mentioned that in 2015 and 2020, I submitted recommendations for the Government’s Cyber Security Strategy. At the time, I argued that there was a serious lack of vision and strategy attached to the policy. A key element was that a range of knee-jerk decision were over the years piled upon each other

The ACCC will use seed funding from the budget to collaborate with other agencies to prepare for the establishment of a national anti-scams centre (NASC) in July, with the aim of preventing and mitigating the rising number of scams affecting Australians. The centre will use “cutting-edge technology” to share intelligence and distribute information to banks,

At regular intervals I have discussed the cybersecurity situation in Australia. In those assessments I wrote about my frustration that the previous government policies more or less resembled a fire brigade approach. Trying to address individual incidents with regulations and legislation, rather than coming up with a holistic strategy. I also reported earlier this year

Autonomous sensors are the bridge that connects the physical and digital worlds. A new team of CSIRO researchers are working on the next generation of sensor technologies needed to unlock digital innovations that allow us to rapidly understand and predict the world around us. Broadly, Autonomous Sensors will accelerate the emergence of new tools to

If you think you’re smarter than your future phone, think again A discussion with international information and communications technology (ICT) colleagues recently on the dangers of our current highly technically-dominated world revealed that what we now see around us is a world composed almost exclusively of technology — which many of us find broken and

I believe we have a problem with technical innovation. So, this week we will dig a bit deeper as the problem most likely is not technology. Recently, I attended an innovation masterclass from Griffith University presented by Professor Ingrid Burkett. She started by asking the question: “Will innovation save today’s business leaders?” This question was

We have talked about artificial intelligence (AI) in previous articles. Recently, a new AI service was launched called ChatGPT. I have used it now several times and I am amazed at the accuracy of this AI tool. ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI. It is a variant of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer

Cyberhygiene requires critical thinking and protect privacy. At his farewell speech in August outgoing Telstra CEO Andy Penn mentioned that the cyber threat has never been as serious as present.  He mentioned the deteriorating geopolitical situation as well as the big shift in the way that criminals operate in the cyber domain. One thing is

I would like to share an article written by my Dutch friend and colleague, Fred Kappetijn. In his younger years, the internet was a network of networks on which someone with a telephone connection, modem, PC, navigation and search program could visit places to find information, make transactions, exchange messages and entertainment. One of the

Central Banks  across the world have been exploring the possibility of implementing a digital currency — Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). A digital currency can provide a safer financial environment as it will enable individuals, private companies and several financial institutions to settle directly in central bank money rather than through bank deposits. Therefore, through

It is a bit expensive, but if you are the richest man in the world, you can afford $60 billion-plus to buy yourself a free speech outlet. This is just what prolific Twitterer Elon Musk has done.  He was not happy with the way Twitter was managed and in the way it stops fake news

My colleague Pat Scannell asked me the other day to assist in reviewing his manuscript: ‘The Great Irony of Technology’.  In this upcoming book, he mentioned an issue that really intrigued me — the “disruption of thought”. He makes the point that the rapid acceleration of technology exceeds the ability of any one person or

For those involved in technology from a government and industry perspective, as well as from a user’s point of view, we all have a responsibility to monitor developments in this space to ensure they’re utilised for the benefit of society. I have addressed this in a few previous articles but would like to come back

The current pandemic, but also the previous Great Financial Crisis as well as an increase in more severe climatological events such as bushfires and floods, are all clear indications that we cannot just continue managing our society and our economy as usual. If one thing is becoming clear, we cannot go back to “normal” as

It is astonishing to look at the technological developments over the last 50 years, but even more so in the last ten years. Humans have always evolved with the assistance of tools, but in the past some of these developments took millennia or centuries to develop. For most people, let us say until the Middle

After some turmoil, Facebook won the war with the Australian Government as the necessary changes were made to the legislation that avoids them needing to make changes to their business model. Those subtleties are lost in the general press. What counts for the popular media  is that they were able to spin some great stories

The signs are that the Australian Government and Google are close to a compromise. The main demands made by the Government stay in place, but some of the details will be changed. This allows the Government to claim victory, while the damage to Google will be limited. See also my earlier blog on this topic:

We have seen that Mel Silva, Google Australia’s Managing Director, threatening to shut down its search engine in Australia if a proposed law requiring tech giants to pay publishers for news isn’t changed. The most controversial issue is that it would have to pay publishers for links to news articles that appear in search results.

The digital market has matured over the last 20 years and it is no longer an excuse for governments to do nothing with the aim to let new markets and innovations emerge without immediate regulatory oversight. It has become clear this period is now well and truly over. The European Commission has already launched several

I recently followed a webinar session organised by the University of Queensland on the factory of the future. Smart or not, the future will still need factories to make the stuff we humans use every day. One of the questions that were discussed included: “how will existing production models cope with the staggering and ongoing

Philosophers involved in the theories of post-humanism and trans-humanism are captivated by the possibilities, or dangers, that the future poses to our understanding of human life. According to  Wikipedia,, the idea of the post-human originates in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art and philosophy that literally refers to a person or entity that

The results a study conducted by the Pew Research Centre stated: About half of those surveyed predict that humans’ use of technology will weaken democracy between now and 2030 due to the speed and scope of reality distortion, the decline of journalism and the impact of surveillance capitalism. A third expect technology to strengthen democracy

Over the last few years, cybersecurity has been a hotly debated issue in Australia. There have been serious clashes over the heavy-handedness of the Australian Government and the industry and community fighting against the attacks on press freedom, demanding protection of journalists, protecting civil liberties and the openness and transparency of our democratic institutions. Let’s

This is a bit of deja vu for me. In the 1990s, I received a lot of media attention because of the arrival of broadband networks in the promotion of telecommuting. After very little or no interest in teleworking over the last decade, I am suddenly asked again to comment on teleworking as it gets

There are plenty of doom and gloom stories regarding the future of our democracy. Technology is certainly playing a key role in this. However, technology could equally be an important part of solving the problem.  Let’s, for example, look at often-maligned social media. While trust is at an all-time low in relation to politicians, corporations

How to best manage the social media The internet started to take on momentum in the 1990s. At that time many analysts, myself included, marvelled at the opportunity of creating a platform that would boost grassroot democracy. There was no need for a middleman and there were few barriers to ordinary people becoming involved. This

There are an increasing number of reasons why there are now calls for the breakup of the tech-giants. The most recent one being the failure by these companies to stop the live-stream video of the Christchurch massacre. These hi-tech companies should have systems in place to immediately stop the spread of such high levels of

As society uses more digital technologies we are increasingly also faced with its problems. Most of us will have some horror stories to tell about using computers, smart phones and the internet. But this hasn’t stopped us from using the technology more and more. I believe that most people would say that their lives would

Our societies and our economies have reached a new threshold, the developments leading to this are a logical continuation of our evolutionary process, but interestingly the current rapid societal changes are coinciding with the availability of new ICT tools. These tools can assist us in: Political transformation – creating a more democratic environment at grass

The dramatic collapse of the Bitcoin bubble (and of other cryptocurrencies) is a clear indication that in its current format this new digital payment system is not going to make it. I don’t believe this is just a dip and that the system will suddenly revive itself again. While there are certain benefits of a

With a tumbling share price and increased pressure from governments across the world Facebook will have to make major changes quickly if the company is to survive. Despite the enormous success – indicated by the fact that people just love to use Facebook, as well as the enormous amount of good that the company has

While it is intuitive to accept that the media plays a key role in the level of perceived fear in society in relation to terrorist attacks, it was with interest that I read the bachelor thesis of my Italian nephew, who is studying at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. It provides an interesting

With some of the poster-child services of the sharing economy now becoming more mainstream it is interesting to follow the developments that are taking place in this early stage of development. All those actively participating in services such as Uber, AirB&B and Lyft have seen regulations creeping up on them, be it in relation to