AI-Video is a New Genre, Snoop Dogg's Evolving NFTs, Radically Human Buildings, & More
Future Essentials - Edition 40
Hi everyone -
This is a wide-ranging edition.
We go from Europe to Indonesia to the Metaverse, covering the latest in AI, a powerful story in web3, the electrification of Oslo, the future of buildings, a sure-fire sleep technique, and more.
Hope you enjoy it!
Misha
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If you get value from one of the 10 future essentials, you will already be smarter about the future.
Here’s what you’re getting this week:
The two kinds of tech.
AI-video is a whole new genre.
Snoop Dog’s NFTs evolve with his tour.
We need more human buildings.
An easy sleep technique, & more.
TECH
BIG IDEA
Inside-out vs. outside-in: the adoption of new technologies.
As we move further into the 21st century, technology becomes increasingly powerful and central to every aspect of our lives. But technologies are not equal.
This is not immediately apparent to the layperson.
I recently came across a blog post by Chris Dixon that is illuminating. He writes about two kinds of tech, “inside-out” and “outside-in.”
Inside-out technologies are pioneered by established institutions and later proliferate outward to the mainstream. Outside-in technologies, by contrast, start out on the fringes and only later move inward to established institutions.
This is a significant distinction that everyone should be aware of.
Read the full post. It’s incredibly insightful and will help you better understand this powerful force that is reshaping the future. LINK
GENERATIVE-AI
Google, one of AI’s biggest backers, warns its own staff about chatbots.
Alphabet Inc is cautioning employees about how they use chatbots, including its own Bard, at the same time as it markets the program around the world.
The Google parent has advised employees not to enter its confidential materials into AI chatbots, the people said, and the company confirmed, citing long-standing policy on safeguarding information.
Meanwhile, Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, said that typing confidential matters into chatbots was like "turning a bunch of PhD students loose in all of your private records." LINK
FE Take: If it’s good for Google, it’s good for you. Over the last two decades we’ve given up our privacy to big tech. AI is about to make that much worse. Use chatbots intelligently. Remember, there’s someone on the backend gathering everything you input.
AI-video is a new genre.
The Frost is a 12-minute movie in which every shot is generated by an image-making AI. It’s one of the most impressive—and bizarre—examples yet of this strange new genre.
Welcome to the unsettling world of AI moviemaking.
Waymark, the Detroit-based video creation company behind The Frost, took a script written by Josh Rubin, an executive producer at the company who directed the film and fed it to OpenAI’s image-making model DALL-E 2.
After some trial and error to get the model to produce images in a style they were happy with, the filmmakers used DALL-E 2 to generate every single shot. Then they used D-ID, an AI tool that can add movement to still images, to animate these shots, making eyes blink and lips move. LINK
You can watch the film below.
WEB3
Snoop Dogg’s new NFTs evolve with his tour.
Rapper and entrepreneur Snoop Dogg has launched a new NFT collectible series that will evolve in utility as he goes on tour this summer.
The Snoop Dogg Passport Series digital collectibles will give holders access to exclusive art, merchandise, and behind-the-scenes content.
It’s like a "tour poster that evolves with each place Snoop stops on tour." The NFT will grant holders access to behind-the-scenes content, exclusive merch, art, and experiences from the music icon.
It’s super easy to buy the NFT. You can use a web3 wallet or a credit card. LINK
FE Take: This is such an obvious natural use for NFTs. Major brands and entertainers are already using NFTs or to connect directly with customers and fans. This is a powerful trend. Expect it to grow and transform the way businesses work in the near future.
Web3 is solving seafood fraud.
Fraud is alarmingly common across the $150-billion global seafood industry.
90% of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported. Of this, less than 1% is inspected by the government specifically for fraud. Up to 86% of consumer seafood is mislabeled.
Web3 provides solutions.
Fishcoin is a blockchain project which pays fishers and aquafarmers cryptocurrency when they report data online at various stages of the seafood supply chain.
FE Take: Web3 & blockchain technology can solve some of the most intransigent problems humanity faces. In 10 years, we will wonder how we ever lived without it.
Learn web3 and lead the future.
I run an online cohort-based web3 course, Become a Web3 Leader.
It’s for non-techies—artists, creators, business owners, and other smart people who want to take control of their future.
What people are saying:
The next cohort is June 21 to 23.
Learn more here: Become a Web3 Leader by Misha da Vinci on Maven
METAVERSE
Metaverse Beauty Week shows branding potential of the metaverse.
Metaverse Beauty Week is a five-day event, June 12 - 17. Immersive games and events across Decentraland, Spatial, and Roblox will invite users to experience cosmetic brands in new ways.
Participating beauty brands with presences across the three platforms include Neutrogena, British cosmetics brand Lush, luxury department store Flannels, and Spanish cosmetics brand Clementine, among others.
Neutrogena has partnered with actress Kerry Washington to create a series of immersive games inside Decentraland, designed to convey the experience of using the company’s cosmetic products. LINK
FE Take: The Metaverse is a whole new space for brands and individuals to make their mark. It’s also where much of our future interactions will take place.
THE FUTURE OF CITIES
The electrification of Oslo.
Imagine a place where trams glide silently through the streets, buses hum along emitting no fumes, and even the ferries that cross the waters are powered solely by electricity.
Welcome to Oslo, Norway, where electrification has become a way of life.
They’re electrifying everything from construction sites to scooters, with a focus on the construction and transportation sectors, which contribute the most to emissions.
Electric cars have become the norm, thanks to government policies that incentivize their adoption. Oslo’s ferries are now the world’s first all-electric passenger ferries.
FE Take: Innovation changes the world for the better. We need to lean on our governments to embrace, not resist, new technologies.
TALK
The case for radically human buildings | Thomas Heatherwick | TED
We need to rethink buildings.
Characterless buildings have negative effects on mental and physical health, as well as societal well-being.
The construction industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, yet buildings are frequently demolished and rebuilt.
Emotion should be considered a crucial function in architecture. We need buildings with meaning, soulfulness, and connection to people.
FE Take: This is an inspiring talk that leaves you hopeful about the future of buildings, cities, and our world.
PRACTICE
5 steps to better sleep (used by the military).
Sleep is a basic human need.
Poor sleep has been linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and dementia.
Sleep deprivation affects your mood, makes you less likely to remember things, and makes your immune system less capable of fighting infections. It also affects performance. You are far more accident-prone and have far poorer judgment when you’re sleepy.
The military method helps you to fall asleep within 10 minutes. LINK
POLL
Is the internet making us more, or less, lonely?
That’s it for this week. If you got this far, you’re already much smarter about the future.
Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts about this edition, or the future.
Another brilliant edition!
Great post! Lots of really interesting content and links. Keep it up!