by JAK | Aug 24, 2018 | culture
I went along to the Polarised long form debate between Douglas Murray and Cornel West in Auckland. It also toured in a number of Australian cities who had similar but not identical experiences. The “Polarised” title itself is paradoxical. The sub text...
by JAK | Aug 7, 2018 | culture
A few years ago I heard a great interview* with Dr Cornel West on the National programme. I loved that it was at times scathing about the U.S president (Obama at the time 2011) but still generous and hopeful and considered across a range of topics. Now 7 + years later...
by JAK | May 17, 2018 | culture
In what must be a massive win for pedant grammar twats everywhere an economist is probably right that inequality is less of a problem than unfairness. Semantics aside inequality is the net result of unfair conditions in the market that affect individuals and society...
by JAK | Apr 29, 2018 | culture
Back in 2011-2013 when there were various Arab uprisings including the Egyptian one I started writing a blog post about how I thought social media was changing the game in political terms. A friend in Thailand suggested it was too soon and not to be over hopeful that...
by JAK | Apr 28, 2018 | culture
There is a family story about the Von Tempsky violin which had been owned by my great grandfather Tim Howard until 1898. Apparently the violin was a 1625 Maggini*. Howard had been a policeman and a farmer near Invercargill and by all accounts a good violinist or...
by JAK | Mar 30, 2018 | culture
Last week I caught part of an extended interview with Dr Marcus Davey on improving health outcomes for premature infants between 24-28 weeks. The interview was with Kim Hill on Radio NZ. “Dr Marcus Davey, a developmental physiologist and senior...
by JAK | Mar 6, 2018 | general business, industry futures
Business readers in New Zealand may have noticed that one of the largest companies here has accrued just over $1b of losses in the past since March last year including impairments. They also fired their CEO and the Chairman had the good grace to resign. The other...
by JAK | Jan 24, 2018 | big ideas, culture, industry futures
Just because we can do something is not a great argument for doing that particular thing. I’m thinking that the current monopoly of the online universe by Google and Facebook in particular is being distorted well beyond what we altruists ever imagined. In a...
by JAK | Dec 13, 2017 | big ideas, culture, online marketing
I was tagged into a discussion of social media recently and I realised that while there are many self proclaimed experts a lot of population is swimming in social without much insight. For a couple of years I hosted a course on digital marketing at a local educational...
by JAK | Dec 7, 2017 | culture
This is what happens when our technology begins to blow back on us. In a story of be careful what you / we wish for it seems clear that the largest technology companies in the world are gutting us of our essential humanity. And we don’t seem to know what to do...
