I’m glad someone is thinking about the crimes of tomorrow today!

I was so psyched to have my essay published at the Institute of Ethics & Emerging Technologies a few days ago. To get noticed is part of my research method observational participation is important in any qualitative research. Today I have been working all day. First I launched a side project called Paja1 in the morning. Paja1 is a project or a network that aims to utilize technology (in a wide sense) to combat some of the worlds problems (well, at least some local ones). Its not a business or even a proper NGO. Paja1 is an impact network.

Anyway, Then I went to work at the Sorsa Foundation and edited an article collection i’m doing. That took the rest of the day. Then, after getting my kid from kindergarten, I attended the first ever meeting of The Open Ministry -project (check it out if you are interested in the future of open democracy – Finland is setting standards!).

It’s the first hot night of summer, there is the Eurovision Song Contest semi-final going on and the nation is having it’s thumps up for Pernilla Karlsson. I’m drinking coffee since on a hot Eurovision night like this I can’t imagine sleeping.

But then, something popped up on Twitter. Something very different from the ordinary Transhuman related tweets. It was an ingenious website called Future Crimes. I really thought it would be a comic book or something but no. This is a site that asks hard questions about how technology and crime will evolve into in the future. Back in my wild past I thought of going into a career with the sociology of law so I’m kinda hooked to the phenomenon of crime as such. No, I’m not a “fan” of “crime” or something like that. I just like to see society deal with deviance and stuff like that.

Sine the IEET essay really got me back on the project and since there are less things to do elsewhere, I think I’ll get my self on a writing mode soon.

African science and technology needs its own agenda

That was the headline in the Global Finland network my friend Jaana tweeted this morning. I was sitting in a bus and I had just dropped my kid to kindergarten so I was just going through the mail stream from the night and morning. I ended up reading the entire article (be honest, we often don’t read more than just the headline and a few lines here and there).

I believe the developing world is the one area in the world where technology really matters. In fact, the ‘technoevolution’ of places like Africa is going to be a very interesting thing. There are, however, some obstacles.

The first important topic is that this must be something African people do for themselves. And they are. Hannes Toivanen from the Technical Research Center of Finland (VTT) is involved in a research that shows how research and development is a growing trend all around Africa. Especially the information technology sector is starting to boom.

In the same article Professor Erkki Sutinen is running a project in Mosambik where kids are can try out natural sciences. “When children are able to program robots, they get the feeling that they are runnig technology and not the other way around. Science is not just reading huge books but a way to influence the world”, Sutinen comments.

In my opinion, the interesting thing about technology and Africa is that it comes “ready made”. African nations don’t have to go through the long period of development and the slow progression in technology. They literally jump from a pre-technological society to a high-tecnology society. Of course that is a simplification but still, it is interesting.

I myself believe that technology and ideas should be open to all and as free/cheap as possible. There is a massive innovative potential on this planet but as long as we have billions of people fighting for the basic needs, we as humanity, will not reach our full potential. So, an investment in a high-technology in Africa will help the entire planet.

A while ago I read that businesses in the social sector get the greatest benefit from innovations. This means, that there are many innovations that boost the social industry. Now, Africa is a place with many problems and there definitely is a demand for social businesses. Things like microloans are a good example of a social innovation.

In stead of trying to “save Africa”, we should offer our support for the peoples of Africa to research and develop technology. We should create investments for businesses that aid the local infrastructure, schooling, agriculture, etc. This his something that we are not really doing. This is something that Transhumanists, I suppose, ought to be doing.

City of Vaasa, Immigration and some Electric Sheep.

Today I hopped on a train heading north. In my work at the Kalevi Sorsa -foundation I am coordinating a research project on immigration and the work market. A few weeks ago I was asked to share some of my initial results from a series of workshops I hosted last fall and winter. Not only was I asked to do that, they asked me to host the entire ETNO seminar. The “Q-seminar method” I piloted with the process is focused on the question how immigrant NGO’s could start producing services to the open market.

And, since I am a true believer in open data and open knowledge, I’ll “release” the entire Q-seminar process “handbook” as a Creative Commons research method when I get the thing tweaked.

You may not know but in Finland there are only a few immigrants and even fewer refugees. With a falling birth rate and an ever expanding population of the elderly, not to mention the very costly and outdated welfare state, we really need immigration. At the same time  we are trying to avoid the mistakes in the integration process we see elsewhere in Europe – and even Sweden.

As you may know, we have our share of the right wing populist movements and this year is a local election year. Along with the Greece mess, there is going to be some heated discussions about immigration and the EU.

So, here I am in Vaasa and I am starting to realize all the stuff I forgot home.

I have some nice clothes for tomorrow but I forgot my “better shoes” so I’ll have to pull this of wearing green jack boots with yellow ties. Also, I have no toothpaste. All I have to snack is a bag of candy and some ED. Great. What I do have is a good collection of technology. There are at least two devices with 3G connections and this computer is wired to the hotels WiFi network. Everything I do is connected to this technology.

Since the long train ride here and the relatively lax day tomorrow, I thought I could take some time of from my research but no, technology follows me everywhere. And since my writing process is not going so good, all this electricity and connectedness is starting to hurt my head.

But I don’t complain, I love it. When I finish watching Reel Steal I hope to fall a sleep and dream of electronic sheep.

What! Nothing!

I seem to have trouble starting the writing process. The weeks fly by. Since I do my PhD part time, the time spent in the project is dependent on other projects I am involved with. I’d like to list them here, so you’ll get an idea what my life is made of.

1. The Kalevi Sorsa Foundation

This is where I work. It is a center left think thank where I have the responsibility of two different research projects. The other is about immigration and the job market and the other deals with mental problems in the workplace. The foundation work is pretty much my dream job and in a way the research centeredness supports my research process in general.

2. Start up

Last fall I won the Finnish Be a Change social entrepreneurship competition at Aalto University. This means my business is currently under development and I aim to launch the product in the fall of this year. Me and my associate got our demo version ready and are now starting the real development process.

3. The Open Ministry

This is perhaps the most interesting project in Finland right now. The Open Ministry is a crowdsourcing project that supports the new law that allows citizens to make proposals for a Law. It “only” takes 50 000 signatures and the parliament has to vote on the law suggestion. My job in the project is to function as a contact person between different organizations and our system. Also, I should try and think about how to develop the system to help NGO’s better.

4. Voluntary and NGO work

The Helsinki free thinkers (chair), Exitus, pro eutanasia (vice chair), SYY, social entrepreneurs in Finland (secretary)  and the Friends of Western Sahara in Finland (activist) are my major projects that take a lot of my time these days.

5.  The book

Last week I was asked to write a new book due to come out in the Spring 2013. This is a major task and there is a lot of work in it but I feel pretty confident about things.

6. Journalistic work

I have some regular columns and I also write for a magazine here and there. Nothing major but it does take tame.

7. The Open PhD Project

You are reading it right now. As you may notice, I do have some difficulties in finding time to do my work. However, I have not despaired yet. My material is ready and I have read enough books and articles to get the draft done. I just need to start writing and I’ll try next week. During the summer the first version of the article really should be done.