In this 24 minute conversation Zenna interview Pablo Velasco, faculty member in Digital Design and Information Studies at Aarhus university. They discuss decentralization, and how utopian thinking ties into it. What projects has Pablo seen that are truly innovative? And given the differences in the world’s cultures, is it even possible to enjoy a fully human-centered internet - or AI, or a smart city - via technical solutions?
A key section of this is when Zenna asks Pablo what really interesting, innovative, truly new projects has he seen in the blockchain world he has been studying so intensely and he said, “not that many” explaining that when you really drill down into them, the differences between these supposed radical new blockchain projects are not really that different from what already exists in some other form.
So where are the really innovative projects? I think ultimately this is what the EC wants to get out of this set of discussions they are funding here…for some real innovators to come out of the woodwork or out from under rocks where the EC has not been looking, with ideas that will lead to European business that embody human-centered values, but win in the marketplace.
It’s a long shot but I think this is what they are really after…
However, I also think, based on conversations I have had on this platform and in other places with people who have posted here, some innovators are, or may be, reluctant to throw in with the super establishment EC unless they are convinced that where it leads really does benefit people and it won’t be “business as usual” because that clearly has not worked.
This is relevant to the interview with Prof. Velasco because, again, the really unique innovative ideas are not readily showing themselves.