Video Archive – The Conference by Media Evolution

Gustavo Nogueira de Menezes from Time, Trust and Wisdom

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 09:26:05 GMT

“We are the time travelers we’ve been waiting for”.

Gustavo Nogueira de Menezes – Gust for short – founder of Temporality Lab, takes us on a whirling tour of wisdom on the philosophy of time and temporality. Or should we say, temporalities. For every society has had distinct experiences of being, doing and existing in their relationship with time. Take the very calendars we use – 12 months of varying lengths for some, and lunar cycles for others.

“I don’t have time!” We’ve all heard – or said – the refrain. In response, Gust asks, “How can we think of the future if we are so exhausted consuming the present?”

Gust, who received appropriately timely birthday wishes from the crowd at The Conference, explains the concept of time was colonised and we were taught to evolve in a single narrative. A decolonial approach is possible in which we embrace the pluriversal nature of the concept, by recognising the ancestral and contemporary as equally important and intertwined. Instead of erasing what has been done before, our origins can teach us how to innovate and be ‘ancestors of the future’.

Monika Jiang from Time, Trust and Wisdom

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 09:26:05 GMT

“Underneath the experience of loneliness is always a longing”.

It is not part of our human nature to isolate ourselves from others – yet this is increasingly the reality of modern-day societies. Our physical environments (such as car-centric cities and single-person homes), our technologies (such as social media), and our attitude towards work (i.e. careerism and the false promise of busyness) are no longer affording us the same opportunities to connect as before.

Monika Jiang warns us that “connection must not be consumed” and urges us to slow down to realise what it is that we need and long for – and to be able to give our undivided attention to the people around us. Through examples such as the Offline Club in the Netherlands and the Human Library in Denmark, we can perhaps start to shape new (and old) communities. Because when we return to ourselves, we can also return to the world – and the understanding that we are not separate from nature but rather a part of it.

Valeria Adani – Designing for Trust

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 09:26:05 GMT

“Trust is an outcome – not something you can design for.”

For many years designers and users alike have been pushing for “seamless” technologies and services – but this approach has not always prioritised safety, privacy, and TRUST. We’ve been obsessed with making things easy to use, rather than making things that are transparent, accountable, and trustworthy.

This dilemma is at the core of Projects by IF and Valeria Adani’s work. According to Adani, every time you invent a new technology, you’re also designing a new set of risks and potential harms, whether you intend to or not, and this correlates with potentially diminishing trust on the part of organisations.

By promoting a human-centred perspective in data, Valeria and her colleagues showcase the importance of trust in technology. At the dawn of the rise of AI, the first technological innovation coming from commercial rather than public institutions, the role of trust will have an increasingly stronger impact in determining the success of a company.

Q&A Time, Trust and Wisdom

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 09:26:05 GMT

The Q&A from session Time, Trust and Wisdom with Monika Jiang, Gustavo Noguiera de Menezes and Valeria Adani