4 min reading
The Brand Dispatch
Elon Musk takes a giant step into neuroscience with his ambitious brain-computer interface project.
The main goal of Neuralink scientists is to improve the control of digital devices for people with quadriplegia through a microchip implanted in the brain. This chip, which in its first version was called Telepathy, is a brain device based on the brain-computer interface (BCI), the brain-computer interface that enables communication between brain activity and any other external device.
In January 2023, the first chip was implanted on humans, opening the door to a potential new scenario, where people who have suffered motion impairment can interface with the digital world through brain impulses. Musk is keen to emphasize his first intent of always putting science and technology in human hands. Even and especially when the hands, or any other part of the body, are an obstacle to himself.
The main goal of Neuralink scientists is to improve the control of digital devices for people with quadriplegia through a microchip implanted in the brain. This chip, which in its first version was called Telepathy, is a brain device based on the brain-computer interface (BCI), the brain-computer interface that enables communication between brain activity and any other external device.
In January 2023, the first chip was implanted on humans, opening the door to a potential new scenario, where people who have suffered motion impairment can interface with the digital world through brain impulses. Musk is keen to emphasize his first intent of always putting science and technology in human hands. Even and especially when the hands, or any other part of the body, are an obstacle to himself.
What does ESSENTIAL mean today? Wired Next Festival, Italy's largest free participation event dedicated to innovation and digital technologies, tries to answer this question, knowing that today's concept of essential is different, not only from what it was for our parents but also from what it was four years ago.
On the one hand, there is the force of nature, with environmental changes, natural disasters, and pandemics. On the other hand, there is the force of technology, artificial intelligence, and innovation in the science service. Two constantly accelerating drives that are changing at lightning speed the way we think, work, and live, starting precisely with the meaning we attach to the essential.
"This edition of the Wired Next Festival will be a time to think about the real value of innovation as a tool for progress: civil, social, and economic. Indeed, it is necessary to consider technology as a means (and not an end) that can give us formidable help to achieve our goals. But that does not define our essence, individually and collectively. "Essential" therefore means defining who we are, which society or societies we want to build, how we want to do it, and what is the role of innovation that, as always, will not be marginal,” says Federico Ferrazza, director of Wired Italia.
On the one hand, there is the force of nature, with environmental changes, natural disasters, and pandemics. On the other hand, there is the force of technology, artificial intelligence, and innovation in the science service. Two constantly accelerating drives that are changing at lightning speed the way we think, work, and live, starting precisely with the meaning we attach to the essential.
"This edition of the Wired Next Festival will be a time to think about the real value of innovation as a tool for progress: civil, social, and economic. Indeed, it is necessary to consider technology as a means (and not an end) that can give us formidable help to achieve our goals. But that does not define our essence, individually and collectively. "Essential" therefore means defining who we are, which society or societies we want to build, how we want to do it, and what is the role of innovation that, as always, will not be marginal,” says Federico Ferrazza, director of Wired Italia.
From books, we read stories, but sometimes from people, we hear the most interesting ones.
The Human Library, a living library that originated in Denmark, has now spread to many countries. Borrowing the stories of people who belong to more or less marginalized categories or suffer discrimination is the goal of this cultural space, which contemplates different physical locations such as libraries, parks, or cafes. In these appointments, readers choose from a catalog of “living books” a person with whom they can converse for half an hour and ask the most uncomfortable questions precisely to overcome their prejudices and learn something new.
The Human Library project was not simply born out of political correctness, but of the realization that the most interesting stories bloom in diversity. Indeed, what strikes us about books is what we do not expect; the stories that do not follow predefined scripts that tell us something beyond our prejudices and what we already know. People are books to be discovered. The more unexpected, unpredictable, and unexplainable they are, the more listening to their stories could be an extremely enriching experience for us.
The Human Library, a living library that originated in Denmark, has now spread to many countries. Borrowing the stories of people who belong to more or less marginalized categories or suffer discrimination is the goal of this cultural space, which contemplates different physical locations such as libraries, parks, or cafes. In these appointments, readers choose from a catalog of “living books” a person with whom they can converse for half an hour and ask the most uncomfortable questions precisely to overcome their prejudices and learn something new.
The Human Library project was not simply born out of political correctness, but of the realization that the most interesting stories bloom in diversity. Indeed, what strikes us about books is what we do not expect; the stories that do not follow predefined scripts that tell us something beyond our prejudices and what we already know. People are books to be discovered. The more unexpected, unpredictable, and unexplainable they are, the more listening to their stories could be an extremely enriching experience for us.
In a category obsessed with appearance and communication, “The Ordinary” focuses on what should interest a skincare consumer: The active ingredients.
The Ordinary wants to differentiate itself as a functional beauty brand that offers recognized and effective clinical technology, at a fair price and a transparent, naming-free pack. The same positioning is being transferred to Out of Home, designed by Uncommon Creative Studio and launched in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The Ordinary seems to want to revive the concept of Les is More also in cosmetics, but above all, wants to establish a relationship of trust, value, and transparency with its consumers. Indeed, in the beauty industry, integrity is rare. Some now “ordinary” technologies are presented as revolutionary and offered at unjustified prices, which disturbs the consumer.
The Ordinary, excluding a brand identity, focuses on the scientific nature of the products and a message that is a clever provocation. "Our scientists are bad copywriters. That's why we decided not to name our products." Products are identified only by their ingredients and active ingredients. By transitive property, consumers feel like buyers capable of making informed and intelligent choices.
The Ordinary wants to differentiate itself as a functional beauty brand that offers recognized and effective clinical technology, at a fair price and a transparent, naming-free pack. The same positioning is being transferred to Out of Home, designed by Uncommon Creative Studio and launched in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The Ordinary seems to want to revive the concept of Les is More also in cosmetics, but above all, wants to establish a relationship of trust, value, and transparency with its consumers. Indeed, in the beauty industry, integrity is rare. Some now “ordinary” technologies are presented as revolutionary and offered at unjustified prices, which disturbs the consumer.
The Ordinary, excluding a brand identity, focuses on the scientific nature of the products and a message that is a clever provocation. "Our scientists are bad copywriters. That's why we decided not to name our products." Products are identified only by their ingredients and active ingredients. By transitive property, consumers feel like buyers capable of making informed and intelligent choices.
