So.. back for the “ New Frontiers” track. We had:

Kevin Warwick (cybernetics professor)

The one man with a microchip in his nervous system, working on neural implants and linking neural tissue from rat brains to robots – robots with bio-brains. That research is partly therapeutic (spinal injuries, Parkinson, epilepsy), partly about improving the body, basically, to extend the human sensory range (vision is ok, but the other senses.. :)). He connected his nervous system with his wife's, with his wife's jewellery, with robots on the other side of the ocean (stretching his body over thousands of miles), and so on. Big impact for artificial intelligence too, for cultivating neural networks.. Awesome presentation, definitely that kind of crazy genius research to be afraid of and fascinated by.

Holm Friebe and Philipp Albers (ZIA)

Two folks from Zentrale Intelligenz Agentur (inventors of powerpoint karaoke) talking about the changing nature of work, the relationship between individuals and organisations – and about the end of work as we know it. Question: how to integrate people with a strong sense of self-determination, that would not function in an ordinary, hierarchical company – into a working, productive company? Call themselves “capitalist-socialist joint venture, designed to establish new forms of collaboration”.

7 rules of working together and staying friends:

  1. The 7 NOs.
  • No office,
  • No employees,
  • No fixed cost,
  • No pitches,
  • No exclusivity,
  • No working hours,
  • No bullshit.
  1. No Work-Work Balance
  2. Instant Gratification (money as an incentive, distributed immediately after a job is finished. So: obviously no salaries.
  3. Pluralism of Methods
  4. Fixed ideas – live up to your intellectual obsessions.
  5. Shared Responsibilities – no central decision makers
  6. The Power of Procrastination

Ah, that might work in Berlin, the capital of the bourgeois bohemiens. What should be added: None of the 7-50 (depending on how you count) individuals lives from that company. Also note that the company seems not to take any risks (no salaries, just payment depending on project success) but keeps 10% of all revenue – will have to ask those guys what they think about sustainability and scalability of such a model.

Mieke Gerritzen

Talking about ‘The Next Nature'. Images of mobile phone cell antennas camouflaged as trees, of the artificial islands of Dubai: Nature becomes Culture. God created the world, except the Netherlands – that the Dutch did themselves. Images of gene-manipulated hypoalergic cats, of meat modelling machines and square tomatoes. Nothing new so far, but then: Culture becomes nature. The technological world becomes so complex it forms living structures – nature changes along with us.

fakeforreal.com – what is real nature? She shows wonderful animations and short movies, you'll have to watch this. Nature is is real nature – go check nextnature.net.

Henriette Weber Andersen

Henriette telling us to ‘Enjoy the Chaos'. We're part of a silent revolution: a consumer movement about what we consume why and when – (how) does consumption influence the happiness index. Can chaos increase revenue? What are companies afraid of? What she says, basically: Markets are conversations – I guess she's wonderful at implementing these thoughts.

Kushtrim Xhakli

From Kosovo:http://ipkoinstitute.org/lift, trajnimi.com