TechPlus+ | Technology & Development Redux
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AI and Development
Read more: AI and DevelopmentThe current long wave of digital innovation has finally broken the last bastion of socio-economic resistance. While early advances transformed communications infrastructure and enhanced consumer interactions, the resurgence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and all its relatives, alongside new technologies such as blockchains, have rattled seemingly immovable sectors of the economy thus opening the door for…
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Carbon Removal Policies for the U.S?
Read more: Carbon Removal Policies for the U.S?Founded almost 40 years ago with the financial support of the MacArthur Foundation, the World Resources Institute (WRI) is one of the U.S most prominent research organizations working on environmental issues since its inception. The entity centers its efforts on scientific research and development while explicitly ignoring “ideology” or fostering activism. WRI has a wide…
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Technology and Earth Hacking
Read more: Technology and Earth HackingHacking the Sky Low, angry gray clouds, seemingly non-stop light rain and damp breathing air were hometown weather traits that most bothered me when I was growing up. Like most other children, I had a fascination with airplanes and could spend hours watching them. Going to the airport was one of the coolest things –…
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Deep Learning and Breast Cancer: Improving Detection?
Read more: Deep Learning and Breast Cancer: Improving Detection?A recent paper published under the auspices of Google Health makes a case for using deep learning algorithms to improve breast cancer detection. The research has been positively received by most and widely publicized as yet another victory of intelligent machines over weak, dumber humans. Only a few have been critical for good reasons. In…
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Blockchains in the Public Sector
Read more: Blockchains in the Public SectorMy paper on blockchains for the public sector in developing countries has been published by Frontiers, one of the leading open-access and community-driven academic publishers. The paper develops an analytical framework that combines sustainable development, state capacity and digital technologies. In principle, the framework can be used to explore the adoption of technologies and innovation…
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Best Films – 2019
Read more: Best Films – 2019I have a distinct impression that, in my book, 2019 was not a stellar year for high-quality films. I actually saw a few fewer films this year and lack of time was not really the issue. The latest by Bi Gan and Bon Joon Ho are exceptional. The former is outstanding in terms of cinematography…
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Yet Another Global AI Index
Read more: Yet Another Global AI IndexAs Artificial Intelligence (AI) seemingly continues to permeate all interstices of society, measuring its undaunted progress in the age of data is more than a priority. In a previous post, I share some insights on the Global AI Readiness Index that covered almost all UN member states. The new Global AI Index (GAII), created by…
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The Development Onion
Read more: The Development OnionGovernments in developing countries are just one of the many players involved in promoting sustainable development – in many cases, with direct support from bilateral and multilateral donor organizations. However, governments are, in principle, bound by the overall development commitments they make at the national and international levels. There are indeed several different interconnected layers…
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More CO2: Consumption-based Emissions
Read more: More CO2: Consumption-based EmissionsIn a previous post, I explored the relationship between C02 emissions, country income levels and population looking at production data only. Here, emissions are assigned to the country where goods or services are produced or generated, disregarding final consumption. In a globalized economy, however, we should expect that many products are indeed consumed far away…
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Barefoot, like Abebe Bikila
Read more: Barefoot, like Abebe BikilaThe age of reason. No, not the Enlightenment but rather the age when children supposedly start thinking “rationally.” For some irrational reason, I remember my parents and their adult friends having conversations on the topic in front of us, children, my siblings and I. After all, they believed most of us were still in the…
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A Glance at Carbon Dioxide Emissions Data
Read more: A Glance at Carbon Dioxide Emissions DataLack of data is certainly not one of the issues at the table when discussing energy production and carbon emissions. Well-known sources for the former include the UN Statistics Division, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and British Petroleum (BP). The latter publishes an annual report while IEA data is…
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Blockchains and Food Safety
Read more: Blockchains and Food SafetyTrade is one of the main trademarks of the globalization process. Nowadays, most countries exchange products and services regularly and use local comparative advantages to specialize in specific trade sectors and/or commodities. Food and agricultural products are important components of this process. Within countries, rapid urbanization has increased the demand for food. Simultaneously, the number…
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Measuring Artificial Intelligence Development
Read more: Measuring Artificial Intelligence DevelopmentArtificial Intelligence (AI), including its siblings machine learning and deep learning, has grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade. More importantly, the technology has been deployed effectively in a wide range of traditional sectors, bringing real transformational change while raising fundamental socio-economic (joblessness, inequality, etc.) and ethical (bias, discrimination, etc.) issues. Today, AI,…
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Blockchains and Digital ID, II
Read more: Blockchains and Digital ID, IIThe Evolution of Digital identity The emergence of digital technologies provided the ground to shift from traditional systems based on physical identity. In the past, both foundational and functional identity mechanisms were centralized, with individuals getting a physical document containing relevant personal attributes required by the issuing entity. Document management was totally in the hands…
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Blockchains and Digital ID, I
Read more: Blockchains and Digital ID, IOverview Like previous technologies, such as the Internet, blockchains have been driven by a high degree of techno-optimism not yet backed up by on the ground impact or reliable evidence. Undoubtedly, the technology, which is still rapidly evolving, has enormous potential in many sectors and could promote human development if harnessed strategically. One of the…