Published in OneZero·Mar 31, 2021Member-onlyMoving the Big Boat Did Not Magically Fix the Global EconomyThe big boat may be unstuck, but our deeply technologized, infinitely complex economy is just beginning to get jammed — Welcome to No One’s Driving, a column by novelist and tech writer Tim Maughan about how to understand a world governed by systems and technologies that are spiraling out of control. As I write this, I have an extra tab open in my browser, which has been open all week…No Ones Driving8 min readNo Ones Driving8 min read
Published in OneZero·Feb 17, 2021Member-onlyWhat Really Caused the Supply Chain Mess Over PPE Last YearAutomation and complex distribution software created a nightmare scenario we’re still unpacking — Welcome to No One’s Driving, a column by novelist and tech writer Tim Maughan about how to understand a world governed by systems and technologies that are spiraling out of control. “The mask is the perfect prism with which to understand the world in 2021,” John tells me on a…No Ones Driving14 min readNo Ones Driving14 min read
Published in OneZero·Jan 27, 2021Member-onlyCyberpunk Anticipated the High-Tech Assault on Democracy We’re All Living ThroughIf only we’d have listened 30 years ago — Up until last month, I’d not “seriously” played any video games for nearly a decade. I’d quit after a frustrating career as a producer in the console games industry left me exhausted by the precariousness and working conditions, which in turn had tainted the whole hobby for me. I still…Cyberpunk 20779 min readCyberpunk 20779 min read
Published in OneZero·Nov 30, 2020Member-onlyThe Modern World Has Finally Become Too Complex for Any of Us to UnderstandVast systems, from automated supply chains to high-frequency trading, now undergird our daily lives — and we’re losing control of all of them — Welcome to No One’s Driving — a column by novelist and tech writer Tim Maughan about how to understand a world governed by systems and technologies that are spiraling out of control. One of the dominant themes of the last few years is that nothing makes sense. Donald Trump is…No Ones Driving10 min readNo Ones Driving10 min read
Published in OneZero·Jun 24, 2020Member-onlyDefund the Police, but Don’t Replace It With Surveillance TechIn order to stop a power grab from surveillance companies and tech giants, we need to define what policing is — The weeks of uprisings across America in response to the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and countless others have been overshadowed by just one thing: the response to that response. Protests against police brutality and violence have been met with unprecedented police brutality and violence.Surveillance7 min readSurveillance7 min read
Published in OneZero·Jan 17, 2020Member-onlyHow Science Fiction Imagined the 2020sWhat ‘Blade Runner,’ cyberpunk, and Octavia Butler had to say about the age we’re entering now — When you imagine the future, what’s the first date that comes into your mind? 2050? 2070? The year that pops into your head is almost certainly related to how old you are — some point within our lifetimes yet distant enough to be mysterious, still just outside our grasp. For…Science Fiction11 min readScience Fiction11 min read
Published in Futures Exchange·Jun 26, 2015Special Economic ZoneOver the summer of 2014, writer Tim Maughan accompanied the Unknown Fields Division — ‘a nomadic design studio’ lead by speculative architects Liam Young and Kate Davies — on an expedition to follow the supply chain back to the source of our consumer goods. On the way they visited Shenzhen…China15 min readChina15 min read
Published in Futures Exchange·Jun 18, 2014The future of ed tech is here, it’s just not evenly distributedUsing design fiction to cut through the relentless TEDTalk-like optimism of ed tech marketing — By sava saheli singh and Tim Maughan People talk about the future of technology in education as though it’s right around the corner, but most of us get to that corner and see it disappearing around the next. This innovation-obsessed cycle continues as we are endlessly dissatisfied with how little…9 min read9 min read
Mar 5, 2014Jodorowsky’s ‘Dune’: the most important science fiction movie never madeBefore ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Alien,’ a failed project would change Hollywood forever — Spice Freighter design by Chris Foss Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune — a galaxy spanning tale of power, religion, and aristocratic family rivalries that served as an analogy for everything from middle east oil-politics and the environment to feminism and ‘60s drug culture — was a book that undeniably changed…6 min read6 min read
