Category: TRENDS IN TECHNOCRACY by Joe Doran

Blockchain isn’t just for cryptocurrencies, and more industries are developing ways to use the technology. Data validation, ID protection, payments, supply chain management, land registry are just some of the areas where blockchain is being utilized. IBM and Hyperledger currently offer onboarding and validation via blockchain, though their solutions are geared for large international enterprises...

Norway’s biggest bank took an early initiative in digitizing services that are now paying off, as rivals fall behind. Stig B Fiksdal DNB, Norway’s biggest bank, underwent an overhaul of its business model, and also focused on cost control. Among other things, it developed technology for simple mobile payments and loan decisions and closed 70...

While the pandemic has severely impacted travel, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has used the downtime to ramp up biometric spying technology at 76 airports around the country. Those efforts are detailed in a recently released the “CBP Trade and Travel Report.” The report details measures by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to...

“Inflict pain.” That’s the word from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, talking about rival Apple in a war waged around end-user privacy. Reports suggest Facebook is planning an antitrust legal suit over Apple’s iOS privacy features. According to its claims, Apple “abused its power in the smartphone market by forcing app developers to abide by App...

This past week saw big moves and major news in the crypto markets. More and more people, corporate powers, financial institutions, and even governments appear to be seeing the writing on the wall. Decentralized digital currencies that are resistant to manipulation are quickly becoming a mainstream reality. ESCAPE FROM BITCOIN? NOT LIKELY FOR WALL STREET...

The recent World Economic Forum’s “Davos Agenda” virtual summit highlighted several “Tech For Good” innovations that appeared to tout not just the utility, but the superiority of AI and robotics compared to humans. One featured article chronicled what happened when AI and humans met in a strawberry-growing contest (spoiler alert: AI won). The AI and...

Tech companies would no longer be able to ban political candidates, and they would have to provide opt-outs of content filters for citizens of Florida if new measures by Governor Ron DeSantis are enacted.  “The core issue here is this: are consumers going to have the choice to consume the information they choose or are...

Poland is proposing the establishment of a “Freedom of Speech Council” that would guarantee its citizens are not arbitrarily censored or manipulated by Big Tech companies. According to Deputy Minister of Justice Sebastian Kaleta, the Council would determine what Big Tech can and cannot remove from its platforms. Kaleta said the purpose would be to...

American democracy has been destroyed from the inside, and the nation has become a thoroughly co-opted satellite of China. That’s the provocative analysis of a recent piece by Lee Smith in the magazine Tablet. Smith chronicles the history of how America won the Cold War against Russia’s brand of communism, only to succumb to a...

Along with David Portnoy of Barstool Sports, Elon Musk was one of the few prominent figures who signaled support for the Reddit WallStreetBets traders. Portnoy ended up abandoning his stake in GameStop and posted his capitulation on Twitter. Portnoy, on a segment with Tucker Carlson on FOX News, had earlier called for those who shut...