Categories: Articles

What Is The Matrix?

In one morning email raid, these issues came across my dust-filled A22m IBM ThinkPad screen. One was from Wired, and the article is called Living Machines. The descriptor says: “Now, advances in fields as disparate as computer science and genetics are dealing our status another blow. Researchers are learning that markets and power grids have much in common with plants and animals. Their findings lead to a startling conclusion: Life isn’t the exception, but the rule.” Wow stuff – you knew it was going on. Probably thought it was in some dark CIA black-ops building. But the prevalence of humans and technology coming together (maybe for the better, maybe for the worse) is happening. Check out the article here. It’s a doozy.

Next up! CNN states: “Scientists clone human embryo, harvest stem cells.” Apparently a group of South Korean scientists claim that they have cloned a human embryo and extracted the stem cells in what “hope could spark a medical revolution,” (and they have the pictures and t-shirts to prove it). So, we’re now looking at even more controversy and debate over “ethics,” “human cloning,” and what does it mean to be human, after all? We all know you can’t stop technology. Sometimes it’s the most illuminating feeling and sometimes, it’s scarier than a five-legged, genetically cloned deer named Sandy. Check out CNN’s report here.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.