Monthly Notes on Tech, Culture, and the Future of Humanity
I have been writing Tech for War and Peace for almost a year now. Tech for War and Peace is a newsletter that is intended to observe, not comment on, technology in conflict and peace contexts.
I feel that there is room to share my thoughts and reflections on what I experience, read, and observe around other topics that are important to me, such as global cultures, sustainability, and how tech influences us and our future.
I will share these reflections, thoughts, and observations in a monthly note at the end of each month. It will cover conferences I have attended, conversations I have had, books I have read, podcasts I have listened to, news, and cultural phenomena.
Most of you who receive this are also subscribers of Tech for War and Peace. If you wish to keep receiving only that newsletter, just reply to this email and let me know.
We Are Not Alone
A few weeks ago, I had time to roam around the Louvre in Abu Dhabi. I was there to examine its digital infrastructure, and a few hours in, I sat down under its stunning dome, looking through their app. There, I found something called “We Are Not Alone”— an audio guide by the Soundwalk Collective meant to listen to exactly where I was: under the dome.
I plugged in my Airpods and pressed play. Guided by the voices of Wim Wenders, Charlotte Gainsbourg and others, I walked around under the dome, and was transported a thousand years into the future, where super intelligence and interstellar travel are the norm: A trip to a post-human future. I was completely immersed for the full 38 minutes the audio guide lasted, and I strongly recommend it for your visit to the Louvre or a walk around your garden. It is a thought-provoking piece on what our future could look, or not look, like.
The 38:24-minute audio guide is available via the Louvre Abu Dhabi app on the App Store or Google Play.
In the Now: The TikTok Ban and the DeepSeek Freak Out
On January 19, a US nationwide ban on TikTok took place. From January 13, a mass migration could be seen to Xiaohongshu (RedNote), which quickly became the most downloaded free app on the AppStore. Users called themselves TikTok refugees, and influencers published videos crying while saying goodbye to their followers. Trump later signed an executive order granting TikTok a 75-day extension to comply with a law banning the app if it is not sold.
Then, this week, came the DeepSeek freak out. DeepSeek dethroned ChatGPT on the AppStore, taking half a trillion dollars off Nvidia’s market cap. Tesla, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft also tanked. Suddenly, the logic that you need the most advanced chips and the most cash to develop competitive AI models didn’t hold up. If you didn’t follow what happened, here is a good summary.
To me, what is interesting about these two stories is the awakening to that non-Western (non-Silicon Valley) technology. Great companies are being built outside the US; great innovation is happening and its working differently. (The Next Billion Users by Payal Arora is a great long read on this topic .)
Check out this recent post by our Split X friend Ryan Wang on the ecosystem in his hometown Hangzhou, home of DeepSeek, Alibaba, Unitree Robotics, Game Science, BrainCo, and DEEP Robotics.
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
From January 12 to 16, professionals, policymakers, and politicians in the sustainability field gathered in Abu Dhabi for the sustainability week.
Prime ministers called for pragmatic action and a move beyond ideology. They discussed the challenges of AI and its associated increased energy consumption. Leaders called for a balance between innovation and sustainability.
In his keynote, AlphaGeo CEO Parag Khanna stated: “The past is a poor guide to the future.”
You can read my further reflections on the week in this LinkedIn post.
The Long Read: Filterworld - How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka
In the past few years, I have thought a lot about how it feels to be on the internet. We first got the internet in high school, and it represented freedom and access to the world to me. I made friends, learned languages and skills, and got my first job abroad. When Tumbler, Instagram, and Soundcloud were launched, they introduced creative collaboration. I built my early artist career by sharing pieces I made and finding other artists with whom to collaborate. It was inspiring and full of opportunities.
But then, something happened. The large tech companies introduced algorithmic organisation, and the platforms started to feel messy and flat. I started missing what friends were sharing and getting annoyed by strangers’ videos and ads popping up instead. “Filterworld” addresses exactly this impact on humanity, or even the modification of humanity, that algorithms have. Chayka goes through how algorithms work, why they were implemented, and how they impact…everything.
“Today, it is difficult to think of creating a piece of culture that is separate from algorithmic feeds, because those feeds control how it will be exposed to billions of consumers in the international digital audience. Without the feeds, there is no audience — the creation would exist only for its creator and their direct connections. And it is even more difficult to think of consuming something outside of algorithmic feeds because their recommendations inevitably influence what is shown on television, played on the radio, and published in books, even if those experiences are not contained within feeds. Filterworld spills out everywhere.”
You can listen to an extract of the book on New York Times Audio.
Follow the Money: Interesting Funds and Investments
Spending more time in Abu Dhabi, I am watching the work of the $30 billion fund Altérra - the world’s largest private climate investment fund.
Altérra was born out of the vision of COP28 and aims to mobilise a further $250 billion by 2030. Its focus is on energy transition, industrial decarbonisation, sustainable living, and climate technologies, with a big focus on the global south.
“We know how to invest in the global South and we feel safe to do so. We are not doing impact investment. We invest in the future.”
— H.E. Majid Al Suwaidi, CEO Altérra
