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green tech improving business

Six ways green tech can benefit your business

  • min read
    • Two-thirds of customers place importance on a brand's sustainable or eco-friendly image. Buoyed by this growing consumer awareness, business investment in becoming more sustainable is at record highs. Staff are concerned too – 97 percent of executives say their company has been negatively affected by climate change. IT and enterprise leaders must get involved in this new age of corporate social responsibility (CSR.) But these new environmentally conscious ways of doing business can benefit your company in other ways. Here are six ways green tech is improving business while reducing its environmental footprint. 1.   Saving on energy bills Oxford Economics says data-driven tools like smart meters, smart plugs and self-regulating energy systems can cut energy costs by up to 5 percent. It may not sound like much, but will add up to billions by 2030, with the biggest savings likely in small-to-medium businesses. These smart solutions are an easy way for businesses to predict better, optimize and conserve energy, meaning cost savings while reducing climate impacts of energy production, which across the world, is still mostly done by burning fossil fuels. 2.   Gaining more organizational insight These smart devices don't just help save energy and resources. They give businesses improved insight into process efficiencies. There's been huge uptake of 'internet of things' (IoT) devices in industry and manufacturing, largely driven by their ability to predict maintenance needs, maximize productivity and reduce factory downtime. Over 55 billion devices will be connected and talking to one another by 2025, according to market researcher IDC. One example is modular house-building factories –robots are better than humans at arranging patterns to get the most cuts from a piece of wood. 3.   Improving employees' working lives According to international consulting firm McKinsey, remote, digital, and hybrid technologies will define the future of work. Many employers are using online tools to book on-demand flexible office space, vehicles and virtual desktops, cutting resource consumption and travel-related greenhouse gas emissions. Employees relish more opportunity to work flexibly, widespread since the pandemic – whether working from home or across hours that better suit family life. Commuting is no small contributor to climate change. In the US, 75 percent use driving as their main means of getting to work. 4.   Saving on carbon costs With many countries operating internal carbon markets, reducing carbon emissions can, on its own, reduce operating expenses. These schemes require companies to buy carbon credits for emissions they produce, while those that create carbon sinks, like forestry, can make money by selling credits. Renewable energy microgrids are one way to cut carbon emissions. Other companies are replacing fossil fuel-powered vehicle fleets with electric and hybrid vehicles. These can also have health benefits for staff through reduced air pollution, vibration and noise. 5.   Reducing eWaste Our growing mountains of electronic waste are not easy or cheap to recycle, but practice is improving. Green tech can also help here, like using cloud-based file storage and backups, where multiple businesses share the same IT infrastructure. (This, in turn, makes strong, automated cloud security indispensable.) Virtual desktops also mean you needn't constantly equip and re-equip staff with dedicated laptops and PCs, meaning less waste to landfill. Choose your data center wisely for minimum environmental impact – they can use much electricity and water, and create a lot of heat. Doing your research will reveal the most low-impact options, like using data centers in countries where most electricity is generated renewably. 6.   Increasing productivity One UCLA study found employees at companies that voluntarily adopt high environmental standards were 16 percent more productive than peers at less eco-friendly organizations. Reasons might include distance learning, telecommuting and real-time collaboration tech. Artificially-intelligent software personalities and automated helpers may also help employees work without needing to travel while taking over repetitive tasks that reduce focus. Green tech for business will mean many operational benefits alongside all-important protection for our resources, climate and atmosphere. Companies should aim to stay ahead of customers' expectations and move more quickly than regulation requires. The coming years will only bring more environmental scrutiny and awareness, so it will pay to invest in greener tech today.
Climate change threatens IT infrastructure disruption

How to make IT infrastructure resilient against extreme weather

  • min read
    • Almost nothing in the world will be unaffected by climate change. From more storms and wildfires to rising sea levels, the impact of extreme weather events will only grow. Infrastructure, too, faces tough challenges from sudden and damaging floods, hurricanes and heatwaves. IT networks and systems, and the vital data they hold, may be most at risk. We've already seen what can happen. Wildfires can take out cell towers, preventing those affected from calling for help. Flooding has taken on a UK data center used by a mobile phone network. Businesses that plan to rely on driverless tech should be aware it's not yet working well in severe weather. For enterprises, preparing for the impacts of climate change is no substitute for doing all they can today to reduce emissions and sequester (store) carbon. But business and IT leaders can protect their vital IT infrastructure for more extreme times ahead. Why invest in infrastructure resilience? According to 2018 OECD policy paper, Climate Resilient Infrastructure, if we don't adapt infrastructure, climate change will increase extreme weather infrastructure damage in Europe ten-fold by the end of the century. Bryan Strawser, CEO of experts in crisis management and business continuity Bryghtpath, expects climate change and its associated risks will have a growing impact on IT resilience and business continuity in the coming years. "We'll see impacts from physical risks like flooding and a continued increase in extreme weather events. There will be changes in how we think about using power, water and other natural resources. It will impact large data centers and other technologies that use these resources," Strawser told me. What business leaders should consider When assessing risk from climate change, business leaders must consider a wide range of impacts. There are urgent short-term issues, like intense rainfall and cyclones, and chronic long-term problems like rising sea levels and temperature increases. But with the right partners and resilience plans, business can successfully manage the challenges climate disruption will bring. Dealing with each issue in isolation is unworkable because of the sheer number of events that could pose a threat. Strawser advises that instead, work out a comprehensive IT resilience program aligned with your business continuity plans. "It's critical your C-suite and board have good visibility of the overall resilience program. Align the program with the organization's sustainability strategy and goals to ensure unified effort across the organization," Strawser says. Raising the environmental standard of business While IT infrastructure's contribution to carbon emissions is comparatively small, there is a role for IT managers and leaders in establishing sustainability frameworks internally around things like IT procurement, choosing data centers and adopting other solutions that reduce emissions. Mike Davis, Executive Business Consultant at business and IT consultancy Waterstons, highlights the role of meeting international standards. "ICT managers should encourage and take part in organizational compliance with standards like ISO 14001, which covers practical tools to manage environmental responsibilities, and ISO 50001, for energy management." He adds, "[Companies should] consider supporting change to their organization's fundamental stakeholder value proposition by seeking B Corp membership or something similar." B Corporations are certified as meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. IT climate risk is risk on a new scale No two organizations will take the same approach to securing their IT infrastructure, as the exact climate change resilience strategies are unique to an organization's own risks. For some enterprises, data centers will need extra protection or relocating, while others may need strengthened alternative communication lines to ensure backup is available in areas prone to weather disruption. Join forces with others One company may have a limited impact on the global climate, but efforts amplify when organizations work together to build up industry capabilities and technologies. Spending time and money researching new and improved ways to construct IT infrastructure can pay dividends by reducing risk long-term. Luis Neves, CEO of Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI,) supporting IT firms to act sustainably, believes we must encourage a new wave of research and development "centered on climate-resilient innovation, aiming to generate energy-efficient gadgets and components fit for forecasted climate circumstances and to promote ICT user and sector adaptation." Neves also thinks, "This could spur new learning processes inside the industry and help it adapt to climate change by increasing flexibility and diversity." Getting fast responses right For businesses that don't set up a clear and comprehensive strategy to address IT resilience issues, unforeseen weather episodes can cause far more damage than for those who create a plan when climate change-driven events strike. Neves says Deutsche Telekom shows how an organization should respond to devastating damage to IT infrastructure. Extensive flooding in Germany in July 2021 destroyed or damaged much IT infrastructure, with around 250,000 people losing mobile network connection. Deutsche Telekom immediately set up a fast reaction team and four-phase plan. First, they created a single point of truth for customer help, then tackled technical and network disaster recovery. Finally, they set up a company-wide emergency team. With catastrophic weather events growing in frequency, business must adapt to a new normal where damage to IT infrastructure is common. Through comprehensive planning, they can be more competitive and ensure the availability of life-saving communication lines. "These effects are already felt and will only worsen," says Neves of GeSI. "Long-term plans that address national priorities for sustainable development and progress toward international commitments will be crucial."
data cooling center

How Ireland is using waste heat from data centers to warm homes

  • min read
    • Home to the physical servers that keep the Cloud aloft, data centers have become vital pieces of global IT infrastructure. These centers now provide computing horsepower for billions of connected devices. But our digitized world needs a lot of energy to function. Data centers consume over 1 percent of the world's electricity. With thousands of servers to run and keep cool, large data centers can use as much electricity as a small city. Ireland's favorable geography and regulation have so far attracted over 70 data centers, powering global Cloud services for tech giants like Microsoft and TikTok. Managing the energy footprint of data centers is a challenge that will only grow. Ireland's energy regulator says data centers could use almost 30 percent of the country's electricity by 2027, endangering climate goals. Adding to the energy toll, over 75 percent of data center electricity becomes waste heat. Could the way data centers act like giant radiators help reduce some of their climate impact? Data centers make great heaters Ireland's weather is famously cold and wet at almost any time of year. Keeping homes and businesses warm, mostly using gas or oil boilers, makes up nearly a third of Ireland's carbon emissions. For John O'Shea, Energy Systems Analyst at Dublin energy agency Codema, the synergy between Ireland's heating needs and its data centers' waste heat is clear. "In winter, a data center can provide heating up to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius) similar to a gas boiler, with better energy efficiency than a heat pump in a new house." O'Shea and his team are part of the Tallaght District Heating Scheme through the EU-funded Heat Net project. And it's on track to turn data center heat waste into a sustainable heat source for the Dublin suburb's homes and businesses. From 2022, water cooling servers in Tallaght's Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center will be upcycled through a new district heating network. A new way to approach an old solution As a way to heat buildings collectively in urban areas, district heating schemes are nothing new. In Scandinavia, the 1970s oil crisis made sustainable heating a priority for urban planners. In Copenhagen, almost 95 percent of heating comes from reused waste heat from factories and other heat emitters. Although data centers have been used to power existing district heating networks in Scandinavia, Tallaght might be first to build a new heating network around a data center. Using data center waste heat to provide low cost, sustainable heating is a rare win-win climate solution. O'Shea says, "From phase one, we'll save 1,500 tonnes of CO2 each year by using something that's otherwise vented into the atmosphere." He thinks the solution has global potential, pointing to a paper he co-authored showing unconventional heat sources like data centers could provide 10 percent of the EU's total heating and hot water. With efficient heating comes efficient cooling The district heating program also helps reduce another big environmental impact of data centers: Water use. Many data centers use evaporated water to cool servers. At peak times, one data center can use over a million liters of water a day. In return for transferring waste heat to the network, the center gets cooler water back, reducing or even removing the need for evaporation cooling. O'Shea says the system's benefits go even further. "Because our network is always monitoring heat output, we've got an extra set of eyes on the health of the data center cooling system." This extra monitoring could save money and hardware damage – a recent study of 41 data centers by leading digital infrastructure provider Vertiv found the average cost of a downtime event was over 506,000 US dollars. The most common cause was power or cooling failures. Beyond district heating Paul Deane, a researcher fellow at Ireland's MaREI Environment Research Institute, agrees the Tallaght heating solution has big potential but notes combining data centers with district heating "is not a magic bullet." Deane points out that in Ireland alone, data centers may contribute "around 1 million tonnes [of C02] each year by 2030." He thinks data center energy use demands a combined approach. "We need proactive solutions like district heating and other measures like greater renewable energy use and carbon offsetting." Some in the Irish parliament have described growing numbers of data centers when the government is reaffirming its commitment to a carbon-neutral future as "out of control," but Deane sees a silver lining. "You can look at data centers in two ways: As part of the problem or part of the solution. I like to look at them as a solution." He adds, "We need data centers, but we also need them to be cleaner." For Deane, proactive solutions like Tallaght's district heating system are a step in the right direction. With free heat from an industrial by-product and dramatically reduced CO2 emissions and water use, it's hard to argue with that.

Recycled plastic rocket fuel has lift-off in waste-free space

  • min read
    • The space rocket was once thought an achievement of human ingenuity so grand that the pollutants it generated were hardly considered. But now we're seeing several launches a month, their carbon dioxide (CO2) output is adding up. Scottish space company Skyrora thinks it's found an answer: A high-grade fuel manufactured from petrochemicals sourced from previously unrecyclable plastics. They believe Ecosene, a fuel similar to kerosene, could disrupt the fossil fuel economy. Recycling plastics isn't the solution many of us imagine as we dutifully rinse our milk and shampoo bottles. A paper published in Science Advances estimates we're recycling less than nine percent of plastic at the end of its life, and encouraging more recycling can't address the reasons for the low rate of plastic recycling. In 2015, a paper in the journal Science estimated that up to eight million tons of plastic enter the oceans each year. The Ocean Conservancy calculates seas will contain 250 million tons of plastic by 2030. A proven eco-fuel I spoke to Derek Harris, Business Operations Manager at Skyrora. "We need a way to extend the life cycle of plastics – one that doesn't include burying or burning them," Harris explains. "We developed the first batch of Ecosene at a small test facility in Slovakia, turning about a ton of unrecyclable plastic into about 600kg of high-performance fuel for rockets or commercial jet aircraft." That's enough for an efficient jet to fly over 24,000 passenger kilometers – further than London Heathrow to Auckland, New Zealand. Skyrora's engine test using its Ecosene fuel To further reduce aviation's footprint, Skyrora hopes to make a transportable system called a 'skid' that allows processing materials to make Ecosene at airports. Making the eco fuel at its site of use would cut another environmental cost of aviation: Transporting fuel from where it's made to where it's needed. Manufacturing innovation meets recycling breakthrough "We use plastics like polystyrene, polyester and polypropylene that are usually unrecyclable when clean," Harris clarifies. "Ecosene's production process means we can even use unclean waste plastics." Mixed plastics, some harder to recycle than others, and unclean plastics, are barriers to effective plastic disposal and recycling, which has motivated some countries to burn plastic waste, releasing pollutants into the air. Being able to use unclean plastics stands this eco-fuel apart as a recycling option. The fuel's developers have produced plans for marine vehicles that would collect plastic waste from oceans and perform the first step in the Ecosene manufacturing process onboard. The vessels would then transport the waste to nearby facilities for the next steps to convert the plastics to eco-fuel. Manufacturing petrochemical fuel can produce damaging waste, which Ecosene also addresses. "Processes similar to Ecosene production release harmful gases, but we use these for heating, recycling some of the waste within the manufacturing process." Ecosene also contains less sulfur than the form of kerosene rockets use (RP-1 kerosene.) As an atmospheric pollutant, sulfur causes respiratory disease, acid rain and tree and crop damage. Others have tried to recycle petrochemical plastics into usable fuels before, often failing because it's hard to extract excess the paraffin waxes manufacture generates. Skyrora's breakthrough was a low-temperature catalytic pyrolysis process that separates the paraffin waxes, leaving an effective eco-fuel. Too good to be true? Ecosene boasts more commercial competitiveness and environmental effectiveness than fuels from other energy companies. Having followed Ecosene's journey from inception to testing to launch, I had to ask Harris if it was all too good to be true. He told me, "Before I agreed to take over the Ecosene project from Skyrora, I wanted to see the process working and tested. 21 tests later, including an upper-stage rocket engine for low-earth orbital missions and support, we found Ecosene was one to three percent better than kerosene in energy characteristics. Their claims stood up to scrutiny, and there were signs we could further improve the formula." Harris continued, "That said, I wouldn't claim it's the ultimate solution to the plastic waste crisis. We must address the climate crisis at source, but in the meantime, we've found a strategy to address one of its many symptoms." With hydrogen and biofuels on the rise, Ecosene will see its share of competitors. While reliable and designed to address plastics mitigation at its core, Ecosene is still a CO2-producing fuel that can't contribute to carbon neutrality targets. But hydrogen fuels and engines struggle to produce the power needed for flight: Airbus says their commercial hydrogen jets would be ready to fly around 2035. In the meantime, in rockets and jets, Ecosene makes a compelling replacement for traditional kerosene.
history of electricity

Electricity’s history has surprising lessons for innovation

  • min read
    • Innovation is sometimes in seeing what's right in front of you. "Why is electricity valuable?" asked William Gladstone, British Prime Minister from 1868 to 1874. Renowned physicist Michael Faraday replied, "One day, sir, you may tax it." He understood electricity's vast potential and how to get Gladstone's attention. Today, without electricity, most economies would falter. It powers nearly all technologies. With several landmark anniversaries for electricity in 2020, the story of electricity has a lot to tell us about potential. Electricity was never invented Electricity occurs in nature. Civilizations gradually worked out how to use it. Ancient Egyptians thought electric fish protected other fish. In the Roman Empire, people touched these fish, thinking the powerful jolt could cure gout and headache. The ancient Greeks thought amber had magnetic, magical properties after seeing that rubbing amber with cats' fur attracted feathers – the triboelectric effect, or static electricity. 200 years ago, in 1820, Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted noticed his compass needle deflected from magnetic north when he switched his battery on and off. His research showed electric currents produce a magnetic field. The race to illuminate the world was on. Mavericks on dangerous, high-voltage quests The Baroque era was the unlikely birthplace of electronic music. The Golden Dionysus, created in 1748 by Czech theologian Václav Prokop Diviš, used electrically-charged magnets to excite keyboard strings, creating sounds that mimicked other instruments, like the harpsichord, lute and flute. It also performed a practical joke on its player: Giving them an electric shock. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite with a metal key attached during a lightning storm. This, and similar experiments by others, led to the lightning rod's invention and understanding of positive and negative charges. The 1870s brought the race to commercialize electricity and the war of the currents. Nikola Tesla demonstrated his invention, alternating current (AC,) by dazzling audiences with an illuminated lightbulb held in his hands – a neat trick using his body as a conductor. Thomas Edison, who developed direct current (DC,) played dirty. He dubbed AC a menace to public safety and made sure the electric chair used AC, so people would associate it with danger. Later, the rival technologies merged as AC/DC, bringing electricity safely into workplaces and homes. 19th-century engineers like Bell, Kelvin and von Siemens turned electricity from a curiosity to an everyday essential. The incandescent lightbulb let factories operate around the clock, and the electric motor accelerated the industrial revolution. Welcome to the mass communication age The electric telegraph launched the mass communication age – initially delivered via telegraph poles before underwater cables were laid transatlantic. Communication no longer relied on newspapers or snail mail. Radio's invention began mass broadcasting. In 1900, priest Roberto Landell de Moura transmitted his voice five miles across São Paulo, Brazil. In November 1920, the first commercial radio station broadcast the results of the US presidential election from KDKA in Pittsburgh. A hundred years later, the same story will go out on digital platforms, including HD radio and web streaming. Music to manifest the future Radio technology also allowed the commercialization of electronic music. Around 1920, Moscow scientist Leon Theremin was researching how to measure the density of gas using audio proximity sensors. Also a cello player, Theremin realized his work could bring about a new way to make music. The theremin seemed to symbolize the enigmatic futurism of electricity. Blessed by Soviet leader Lenin, it wooed (literally, the theremin has an ethereal, warbling sound) concert audiences throughout the world as a manifestation of Lenin's 'Soviet power through electrification.' Some of those in the amazed audiences thought it was magic. Despite its shortcomings – a strange appearance and difficulty playing traditional western melodies without keys or strings – many players worldwide still try to tame this enchanting instrument, I among them. The theremin's technologies later brought the synthesizer and drum machine. Without it, we may never have heard electronic music – from Kraftwerk to Hip Hop. In 1927, Leon Theremin used similar technologies to invent the first wireless television, but much of his pioneering inventions were shrouded in secrecy behind the iron curtain. From 1947 until today, and into the future The next evolution in electricity came faster. Mainstream computing started small, with the invention of the transistor in 1947. Integrated circuits now have several billion tiny transistors squeezed onto a small board. By 1959, Bell Labs found they could produce more compact transistors with silicon, starting the silicon or digital age. Electricity's slow move into our homes and workplaces makes me wonder, what if we'd harnessed it sooner? Could society have advanced faster? Maybe not. Nikola Tesla and Leon Theremin found some fame but little fortune in their lifetimes. They were in the right place at the wrong time. And so was Hero of Alexandria. In 10CE, he made the first steam engine and automated devices such as a coin-operated vending machine, inventing both steam power and cybernetics. But empire leaders didn't see the potential, perhaps because Ancient Greece was already powered by a cheap and plentiful source of free labor. Electrical growing pains Growing electricity consumption signals a growing economy. Between 1900 and 1930, US demand grew 12 percent each year. There's now similar growth in China and India. The electricity industry is in existential crisis: How can it help us prosper while negating the effects of climate change? In April 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic slowed industry, the UK went two months without burning coal for the first time in 230 years. Global industry is targeting zero emissions from coal. Investment in renewable energies – like wind, solar and tidal – must accelerate to ween us off polluting coal, oil and risky nuclear power. There's some way to go: Renewables are just 28 percent of global electricity generation. Fortunately, there are many tech start-ups committed to ingenious solutions to meet the challenges of finding new sources of power. New Zealand's Vortex Power Systems generates low-carbon electricity from waste heat from thermal processes. A controllable vortex, similar to a waterspout, is created from differences between temperate and water vapour. This circulates to produce wind, like a controlled tornado, which connects to a wind turbine to produce electricity. Digital technologies use a lot of energy Digital transformation has shifted interactions from the real world to the cloud, but the internet isn't 'green' – Swedish Royal Institute of Technology KTH estimates the internet made up 10 percent of global electricity use in 2019. Data centers alone use as much electricity as some mid-size developing nations. Illegitimate internet use is a new threat. Cryptojacking is illicit hacking of computers for power-intensive cryptomining and the subject of extensive Kaspersky research in 2018. Businesses can take practical steps to reduce their carbon footprint, like optimizing website pages and choosing cloud providers with better environmental credentials. Smarter workplace design can also reduce electricity use. Protecting critical infrastructure Electricity helps industry thrive and communities grow. It means better economic, health and education performance. Like gas, water, and, many now say, the internet, it must operate around the clock. But it's not a right for all: 13 percent of the world's population don't have access to electricity. It's no surprise who's missing out: The worst-off communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. When electricity fails, business and society quickly falter. It's not just developing countries hit. In 1974, the UK responded to an oil crisis with a 'three-day week.' Commercial electricity was strictly limited, with early curfews on TV broadcasts and pub openings. A political flashpoint triggered as coal miners went on strike. People speculated that to keep the lights on, the army may have to be called in to transport coal. Today, cybercrime groups linked to nation states sabotage critical infrastructure. In 2016, an attack on a Ukraine power company left 225,000 citizens in the dark. Cyber safety is as vital as physical safety for the energy industry. Electricity as a human right The evolution of electricity shows mavericks spearheaded innovation, just in time to accelerate the industrial revolution and take us into the digital age. Electricity must become a right for everyone. Nations should enshrine access for all citizens and work with energy companies to protect supply. Lives depend on it. As electricity consumers, in work and life, we must think about the products and services we buy, and how we use our devices, to protect this precious resource.
how to spot hype

Many hats make light work: How to see the truth hidden by tech hype

  • min read
    • Hype is increasingly playing a big part in the worst decisions around technology. Investors and journalists alike fell for Elizabeth Holmes' shiny pitch for her non-existent blood testing technology Theranos. Fitness tracker Jawbone, once valued at 3 billion US dollars, was among several wearable tech firms to go spectacularly belly-up as it became clear the market wasn't as expected. Seeing past puffed-up narratives and getting to the core of claims means making more informed decisions around technology, investing in the most promising next steps and building a business strategy with concrete foundations. You needn't necessarily wade through the mountains of information we're faced with every day to spot hype. As a science and tech journalist and advisor for Innovate UK and the European Commission on start-up funding, my job is to work out what's hype and what's not. Here are six ways to hone your critical thinking and better understand the complexity, adapted from my recent book, Smoke and mirrors: How hype obscures the future and how to see past it. 1. Understand what hype is for Most people think hype is a bad thing, and it can be a problem in that it sends us along the wrong path. But there's more to it. If 'consensual' fooling is what magicians do (you go to a magic show to be fooled,) 'non-consensual' fooling is lying. Hype could be considered 'accidental fooling' – the messages are not intended to misinform, but the person receiving them can easily get the wrong end of the stick. Hype is powerful. People use it because they're keen to get out what they think are important messages. They want to grab your attention. For example, government health guidelines intend to inform society. They might use hype to ensure people receive the message loud and clear. When you remember what hype is for, you may see a message differently. Ask yourself why the communicator might use hype. Are they trying to sell something, convince you to change your behavior or to expose a problem? Think about why and how the message got in front of you when interpreting it. 2. Find the nuance Many headlines and start-up pitches include absolute statements, like "AI will revolutionize health" or "robots will replace farmers." Statements like these are shortcuts to establish a jumping-off point. They're not necessarily false and normally contain a trace of truth, but they miss out a lot in their simplicity. To find the nuance, say to yourself, "Well, it depends." You're not denying another's expertise but getting yourself into a questioning state. When you start from a place of "Well, it depends," your mind can better explore scenarios that test the statement. For example, "It depends what kind of job I have as to whether a robot will replace me." Just three words can open your mind to nuance in absolute statements. 3. Look for your fanaticism If you work in tech, you're probably a techno-optimist: Someone who believes technology is a force for good. We wouldn't have much innovation without this excitement and optimism, but we need to be conscious of where our excitement turns into fanaticism. Emotional desire can blind us to the reality of societal impact. We can build and promote things that may be harmful to those unlike us. It's more than putting ourselves into other people's shoes; it's taking a step back and asking, "Do we need this?" We know technologies can evolve and lead to related industries, becoming a problem over time. We should ask ourselves these questions in the development process to prevent unintended consequences down the line. Another question to prompt this thinking is, "If this technology were to grow in mainstream adoption, what would be the dystopian science fiction novel written about it?" 4. Wear more hats Searching for the right or wrong answer is hard when faced with a complex question like, "Is AI good or bad?" There's a lot to consider. You need to 'map' the full system of ideas somehow, know the different scenarios in which the question must be answered and draw a conclusion. A simple way to start gathering the nodes is to wear different hats, one by one. Put on your own hat. What does the question mean in your personal life or business? Then put on your supplier or your management team's hats: What does it mean in theirs? Then consider working in a country not your own, in a different industry or being someone working 50 years in the future. This is a way to remove your blinkers and so, see past the hype. 5. Work out what's curbing action Hype can make people think someone else is solving things, so they don't need to do anything. For example, in the food industry, hype around vertical farms and lab-grown meat lets us 'off the hook' of changing their habits. The 'tech will save us' mentality stops us making more considered decisions about what we eat today. We can also work out, beyond the narratives laid in front of us, what fears or cultural tendencies build ideas in peoples' minds they're unwilling to confront. For example, the phrase "We'll find a cure for cancer" exudes hope, tenacity and courage. But it also shields fear that we still have far to go, and, of course, fear of death. This fear and, in some cultures, the taboo against talking about death, means it's become anathema to question those working in this field. It feels like doubting those on the front lines. Our trust rarely wavers. It's not necessarily a bad thing – many efforts in cancer therapeutics are successful – but when anything is culturally sacred and immune to criticism, much-needed constructive ideas are stifled. Consider the culture and public sentiment around the topic you're investigating. 6. Work out who is responsible right now Hype can sometimes give us narratives that relinquish our responsibility around technology. For example, "Robots will steal our jobs." It's an easily spread and understood idea, with an element of truth, but lacks important detail. If you take away the hyped narrative, realize it's a comment on the future of automation and rephrase it to "Company executives are going to choose to replace human jobs with robotic machinery," another element becomes clear. Instead of talking about Terminator storming in to claim your job or the technological singularity and when it might be achieved, immediate discussions around responsibility, decision-making and societal economics come to the fore. We need to work out who is involved in the technology's development right now and ensure their responsibility isn't hidden beneath simplified, hyped narratives. While decision-making in business is often the hardest part of the job, spotting hype in technology – and so preventing yourself and your business from succumbing to it – needn't be difficult. When you next come across a headline you think may be hyped, following these steps will help you make better decisions.
by Innovating leaders.
Innovative tech.
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