This have been the "annus horribilis" for the great US technological companies, the so called GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple). The multiple data breach scandals have ignited a general lost of confidence in the ability to preserve their users privacy, the impact of targetting political campaings in electoral process have spread the awareness of their big and unleashed influence power and their plans to extend their businesses to a growing number activty areas, such as finance, has raised...
La playa de los ahogados by Domingo VillarMy rating: 4 of 5 starsLa segunda entrega de las aventuras de Leo Caldas es un salto de calidad en la obra del autor. Sin perder la gran habilidad para perfilar a los personajes que demostró en "Ojos de agua", las descripciones del entorno de la trama ganan en profundidad y realismo. Resulta imposible, por ejemplo, no sentirse ahogado por la claustrofobia de la vida en Panxon en el primer tercio de la obra. Tan sólo sigue sin convencer las forzadas...
The general framework for the development of the digital economy and society have been a self-regulatory environment. Certainly, there has been in place, mainly in Europe, some rules for protecting privacy and establishing some limitation for the usage of personal data, but even these are thought for a market of responsible actors with few instruments for enforcing its application. In spite of some minor conflicts, this framework was thought to be working until last year, when a chain of...
Ojos de agua by Domingo VillarMy rating: 3 of 5 starsProbablemente no es la mejor novela negra que en estos momentos pueda leerse, pero tiene la suficiente calidad para hacer pasar un buen rato. El autor traslada al lector a los paisajes de las Rías Bajas y el urbanismo imposible de Vigo, haciendo sentir la humedad y oler el salado del mar. En el primer plano, un crimen que rezuma ensañamiento y rencor, con el uso de un arma imposible. Domingo Villa guarda en su relato la arquitectura clásica...
The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition by Jonathan TepperMy rating: 5 of 5 starsFrom time to time a book on economy reaches a certain success among the general public. The popular success usually goes hand in hand with achieving influence among the elites as an inspirational book for public policies making. It was the case of Pickety´s "The capitalism of XXI Century" , and up to certain point "The myth of capitalism". Both books are complimentary visions of how growing...
Two of my readings so far this year have brought to my mind the idea if the combination of AI and Big Data may bring a renewed version of communism. Firstly, the book on platforms and data titled "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" authored by Shona Zubboff. Afterwards the work on captalism and competition called "The myth of capitalism" written by Jonathan Tepper. The former includes some reference a the dystopian world of permanent surveillance instaured by the Chinese credit system. The...
We take as guaranteed the digital transformation of economy and society. It is almost impossible to imagine a world that will not be fully digitised in few years taking into consideration the pace of adoption of the sucessive wave of innovations, however we should not discard that black swans exist. The black swans may be already flying over our heads as a collection of events that have broken the needed confidence to continue the accelerated adoption of digital technologies. Trust and...
