TechPlus+

Best Films – 2022

1 January 202314 January 2023

Raul Zambrano

ICTD

I read somewhere that 2022 was an excellent year for filmmaking. After all, the pandemic has become endemic (learn to live with it, no matter what). And previous virus constraints have now evaporated. Back to 2019, so to speak. Almost. Read more

Chatting with ChatGPT

15 December 202228 January 2023

Raul Zambrano

Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Governance, Human Development

OpenAI’s new shiny chatbot, with the not-so-brilliant name of ChatGPT, has taken the world by storm, surprising most, company staff included. Evidence of the latter stems from the fact that whenever one tries to access the platform,  a message announcing Read more

How Green is AI?

1 December 202215 January 2023

Raul Zambrano

Artificial Intelligence, Climate Change, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Playing Games My father taught me how to play chess when I was nine years old or thereabouts. He played his fair share of games while he was studying engineering. He told me that a few of his classmates quit Read more

ICTs and Emissions – V

19 November 202213 December 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Walking Around the Main Gallery Unlike its basement, the abode’s main gallery is noisy, crowded and chaotic, offering a maze-like layout we need to navigate safely. Indeed, one can easily get lost, and while checking in is pretty simple, finding Read more

Digital Technologies and Sustainable Development: The Missing Link

12 November 202213 November 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Context Nowadays, digital technologies occupy most interstices of society. While the global pandemic exposed glaring gaps, especially in developing countries, avoiding their mantra seems torturous. Undoubtedly, their rapid diffusion in the last 30 years is historical (Comin & Mestieri, 2018). Read more

ICTs and Emissions – IV

5 November 20229 November 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Environmental Footprints As previously mentioned, data centers (DCs) depend not only on energy consumption but also require plenty of water for survival, just like humans. We thus have increasing competition for a critical resource, especially when droughts and wildfires are Read more

ICTs and Emissions – III

27 October 20229 November 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development

The Abode is a Humongous Shopping Mall As some pundits have observed, data centers (DCs) are the backbone of the digital realm – hiding in plain sight, I would add. However, they do not live alone in their noisy, albeit Read more

ICTs and Emissions – II

20 October 202222 October 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Cyberspace Mansions In 2009, amid the Global Financial Crisis, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) announced plans to create a 1.2 billion dollar data center (DC) in Utah. Indeed, surveillance once again proved it is immune to economic disasters, regardless Read more

ICTs and Emissions – I

1 October 202212 October 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Digital technologies’ social ubiquitousness is indisputable. Indeed, escaping their mantra seems unreal, almost dystopic, regardless of location or connectivity. The TINA (there is no alternative) principle appears to be entirely at work here. It is thereby paradoxical new ICTs are Read more

RegTech is Here!

20 September 20221 October 2022

Raul Zambrano

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Economics, Governance

Modern FinTech saw the light of day with the launching of ATM machines in the late 60s. A few years later, NASDAQ was born, credit cards exploded and banks started to deploy mainframes and minicomputer computers to support their operations. Read more

Economic Growth and Sustainable Development

10 September 202226 September 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Human Development, ICTD

In a previous entry, I explored the connections between digital technologies, economic growth and the environment, using the concept of Sustainable Development (SD) as analytical reference. The figure below depicts yet another way to see the three development outcomes that Read more

More Carbon Inequality

1 September 202211 September 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Human Development, Inequality

IPCC reports usually include an annex containing a climate glossary where key terms are succinctly defined. The latest report is no exception, providing an extensive dictionary consuming over 30 pages of text – yet less than 1% of the report’s Read more