Science & Technology

Science & Technology

Is the Internet immoral?

31/05/2016 Paul Levy

A colleague recently described the internet as “immoral”. Some might think it is “amoral” – a neutral place, where it is we, human beings, decide whether it is good or bad. But this colleague was adamant. The internet, right from its very foundations (even deeper, from its roots) is substantially immoral. It’s bad, rotten to the core. That immorality may have been made in ignorance by its originators, or it may have been consciously chosen. So says my colleague. (Read More)

Science & Technology

Five new ways to think about privacy in social media

20/05/2016 Paul Levy

We have tended in recent years in the realm of social media to think of privacy as the opposite of transparency. Companies such as Facebook have espoused an ideology in favour of transparency. Whilst stating that privacy is a human right, they have mined our data in order to sell it to third parties and better “target” us with advertising. This is built on a basic business model of social media being free in return for access to this behavioural data. (Read More)

Business & Economy

Apple – Genuinely Happy 40th Birthday or Looming Mid-life Crisis?

01/04/2016 Paul Levy

The ripe old age of 40 is often a time to reflect on your success in life, either looking ahead to more of the same or beginning to worry that the next forty years might be a road downhill. So is Apple set to hold on to its position as the world’s most profitable public company , or is it about to enter its own mid-life crisis, facing stagnant mediocrity, grey hair and the label “has-been”?
(Read More)

Science & Technology

Snooping digitally creates a toxic silence

15/03/2016 Paul Levy

Managers and bosses now have the right to snoop digitally on their staff. They might just find that the transparency they think they have won leads to a deeper transparency flying out of the office windows as people zip up, minimise and, more dangerously, take the conversations underground. We then end up with a kind of toxic silence. (Read More)

Science & Technology

What if our children are the screen-obsessed couch potatoes of the future?

06/03/2016 Paul Levy

The idea of “digital addiction” has returned to the fore with UCL researchers suggesting physical activity should displace the compulsive watching of television, internet surfing and video gaming. Often it’s suggested that at least gaming is more active and engaged than merely passively watching television, but the UCL study’s authors regard gaming as “just a different way of sitting down and relaxing”. (Read More)

Science & Technology

Paul Levy | Fry quitting Twitter is part of a larger social media problem

27/02/2016 Paul Levy

Likes come very cheap, and, as things stand on most social media platforms, there is no dislike button. So likes tend to be thumbs up, love hearts and instant one liner “amazing”s. Negative reaction tends to be phrase-based, even paragraph-based, is more elaborate and often experienced as more of an attack. I have written about how this can get quickly descend into chat rage as comments get out of hand and the subject of the reaction can feel threatened and attacked from all sides. (Read More)

'Investigations' / CC
Science & Technology

Why established companies offer better digital protection

23/02/2016 Alastair Stewart

Threat alerts are something to be mindful of but very few can profess the specialty of knowing the intricate ins and outs of how digital protection. Whether every website is as safe as the other is a factor which doesn’t rate with many people when considering when to submit their bank details into a payment form. Whether a website uses Visa, MasterCard, PayPal or any other big name, it not as important as to the website on which these services are available. (Read More)

Environment & Energy

Mother Nature or nuclear weapons is our choice of death

02/02/2016 Alastair Stewart

At Darrow we do not seek to take sides in this debate, but rather to promote different thinking – new angles to old problems and promote reframing exercises. Today’s political climate is far too black and white. Old problems are returning, but in a setting never seen before. The political establishment, be that in Brussels, London or Edinburgh, by and large try the same ideas from the past but expecting new outcomes. New, fresh thinking is necessary to deal with the brave new world we are facing, a world filled with new and familiar dangers that are ever-shifting. (Read More)

Environment & Energy

COP21 in review: A scientific viewpoint

27/01/2016 Chris Holdsworth

These are three of the main components of the Paris deal so why is the language quite so vague? Most likely it is because producing clear legislation that, in some cases is legally binding, for dates that are often decades into the future is extremely difficult. (Read More)

Apple Music / Alastair Stewart
Arts & Culture

Review: Apple Music v Spotify

06/01/2016 Alastair Stewart

With that in mind the announcement of Apple Music presented a tantalising, albeit suspicious, opportunity. Apple’s march into gimmickry recently began with their watches and looks set to continue. There’s even rumours that they’re launching their own mobile network. Novelty has replaced revolution and you wonder if they’d be on the market at all if Steve Jobs hadn’t uploaded to the big iCloud in the sky. (Read More)

Science & Technology

Geological time: It’s a big deal

26/10/2015 Chris Holdsworth

Imagine the Earth was 45 years old, not 4.5 billion. On this timescale the dinosaurs died out 8 months ago; the first humans evolved just yesterday; agriculture only began within the last hour and the industrial revolution happened just one minute ago.
(Read More)

Arts & Culture

Review: Digital Inferno by Paul Levy

29/09/2015 Alastair Stewart

Paul Levy’s latest book is a necessary counter-balance. He doesn’t embark on a proselytising Luddite crusade beginning with ‘back in my day’. From the outset he predicates his analysis with the claim that while technology is good and here to stay, we’ve never had a real discussion on how much it impacts on our lives and changes how we think. (Read More)

Photograph: Pexels
Science & Technology

Your digital devices are watching and listening to you

24/02/2015 Paul Levy

Samsung has advised users of its televisions not to speak aloud in front of it! I’m serious. Specifically the corporation suggested not speaking personal information aloud. You see the device, which can be voice activated, is in a constant start of alertness, ready for your command. It is recording all you say and, according to Samsung (as reported by the BBC), “Such TV sets “listen” to every conversation held in front of them and may share any details they hear with Samsung or third parties”. (Read More)