23 How do you evaluate the massive digitalization that the pandemic has forced us to accelerate? “Digitalization had been underway for several decades now in nearly every sector of cultural, social, and economic life: the pandemic multiplied the pace. Think of the online shopping/home delivery economy which exploded as stores and restaurants shut down and people throughout the world confronted the challenges posed by lockdowns. There are positive and negative effects, and one of the latter stands out in particular: the continuing growth and consolidation of the great transnational empires of our time, the Amazons, Googles, Facebooks. The democratic promise of theWorldWideWeb as a civic space is unlikely to be fulfilled unless this consolidation is counterbalanced by more adequate legislative and regulatory frameworks, particularly in the social media and www infrastructure domains.” What can we learn from these pandemic times? “Humility in the first instance, but I hope that the greater lesson will lead to an overcoming of anthropocentrism as humanity confronts the future. The pandemic reminds us that human beings are part of nature, which means not the subjugators of nature but the subjects of nature: just one living creature in a world brimming over with other living creatures with their own legitimate claims on the natural world. The sort of tech saviorism that fills the pages of newspapers and magazines, that tenders promises that humanity will innovate its way out of every long-term problem (from aging and disease to climate change) or that this or that quantum leap “will change everything” and “is right around the corner” is mostly marketing nonsense.” How do you imagine the future? “As both rosy and terrifying. I am optimistic about humanity’s collective ability to transition to renewable energy sources and to incrementally improve upon many aspects of the contemporary consumerist economy. I am particularly interested in the future of rural areas as broadband becomes available within these extra-urban settings: this future encompasses everything from “smart agriculture” to sensor-equipped national parks to what one might describe as the “wired” natural landscape. I’m less sanguine about so-called “smart cities.” A city is not a computer and, contrary to what is presupposed PRYSMIAN GROUP EDITORIAL STAFF INSIGHT | Tracking the Future in much of the conversation regarding smart cities, the reality of future urbanization will consist in the formation of massive third world megacities where traditional infrastructure challenges will be daunting, if not overwhelming. Huge population movements, many driven by climate change, will place the system of nation states and controlled borders under intense pressure.” What are the technologies that are mostly changing our way of life? “The obvious answer is the connected supercomputer that homo digitalis carries about with him or her. With the proliferation of 5G networks, that device will be promoted to an even more central role in the governance of every aspect of life: like it or not, it will become the control center, dashboard for every IoT device (and these are already proliferating), and social lifeline: the access point to our online and offline experiences and passions, a constant companion even as we move around the world. AI- and machine learning-based applications will allow for even higher degrees of personalization of these control centers.”
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