09.45 As a society, we need a project, says McCourt. He wants to know where the innovation is, and where we can find the space for discussions regardless of politics, backgrounds, race and ethnicity. Focusing on a single project, such as the race to get a man on the moon, or the human genome project, helps to focus people’s attentions and heighten the likelihood of actually achieving something.
“We’re in a new Cold War,” he says. “We want all democracies to get involved with Project Liberty, but Europe seems like the place to start because they’re ahead in terms of public policy objectives, such as human rights. In the US, our technology is being used much more like it is in China because it’s centralized, our data is scooped up and can be used to manipulate people.”
09.25 If our information is corrupted, everything just becomes noise, says McCourt. Focusing primarily on fixing the inherent problems with social media doesn’t mean it’s the be all and end all when it comes to cleaning up the internet, but it’s a worthwhile place to start because of its disproportionate power. “I just don’t think tweaking what we have is going to work,” he says. “This is the moment right now to fix the internet—and get it right this time.”
09.10 What will it take to remake the internet into a fairer, more equitable place? Frank H. McCourt, Jr, a civic entrepreneur and the CEO of investment firm McCourt Global, believes the current internet is built on a fundamentally broken model. Instead, he believes, we should be looking to a new internet architecture built around the needs of users, rather than corporations.
09.00 Hello, and welcome back to the final day of EmTech 2022! I’m Rhiannon, a reporter at MIT Technology Review, and today we’re going to be focusing on the technologies that hold the biggest potential to change our lives, one innovation at a time.
We’re going to dive straight in with some welcome remarks from our news editor, Charlotte Jee.
Come back to this page for rolling updates throughout the day as we kick off the final day of EmTech 2022, MIT Technology Review’s flagship event on emerging technology and global trends.
Global changemakers, innovators, and industry veterans will take to the stage ??to distinguish what’s probable, plausible, and possible with tomorrow’s breakthrough technologies.
We’ll be hearing from some of the biggest names in the industry, discussing everything from how to get promising ideas off the ground and commercialize space, to building tomorrow’s AI and tackling the world’s biggest challenges.
Today we’ll be focusing on unpacking what the future holds for Web 3.0, body tech, and AI. Yesterday’s schedule explored the exciting technologies promising to change our lives.
Programming starts at 9am ET, and it’s not too late to get online-only access tickets, if you haven’t already.