Ready for the Future?
Artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, virtual reality, self-driving cars, drones, robots, or the Internet of Things are a mainstay in the news, but are we ready for the future? Do we have the necessary skills, intellectual and psychological, to take advantage of these new technologies? Or do these technologies drive us over the edge?
Digital transformation and “deep tech” are multi-disciplinary topics—perhaps the most complex of our time. The purpose of this documentary film project is to start a conversation about the digital future and how humans fit in it. Is it complicated and inevitable, or can we finally create the future we want?
The Documentary Project
Digital Transformation is a work in progress that consists of interviews with scientists, psychologists, artists, entrepreneurs, futurists, and authors in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan who speak about their views and hopes for the future. Technology offers amazing tools, many of them are useful, others less so, some even dangerous for our health and wellbeing. Can we cope with ever faster rates of change, mental stress, and the socio-economic and geopolitical paradigm shifts that new technologies unwittingly bring about?
This documentary project started in 2017. Its purpose is to feature diverse outlooks about the digital future and to encourage a lively conversation about the emerging role of technology in our lives.
Interviews
Interviews for this project take place with people who think about the impacts of technology on life and work in the digital age. So far, thought leaders from Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Austin, Toronto, Bern, Zurich, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, and Sydney have already participated.
Location Photos
Interviews for this project took place in Europe, America, and Asia. Here are location photos from the journey.
Press
A Project by Manuel Stagars
Manuel Stagars is a Swiss film director and author. His documentary films focus on science, innovation and technology and their impact on society.
Special Thanks
Next to all interviewees, many people are supporting this project in many ways. Special thanks for your time, feedback, access to networks, and other help in the course of making this film! This list constantly updates as the project continues (list in alphabetical order).
- Grit Abe, IBM Research Zurich, www.zurich.ibm.com
- Iris Belle, Tongji University, www.iris-belle.com
- John Best, BIG Fintech Media, www.bigfintechmedia.com
- Noe Blancpain, Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, www.wbf.admin.ch
- Nicolas Buerer, Digital Switzerland, www.digitalswitzerland.ch
- Elissa Butterfield, SpaceX, Tesla, www.spacex.com, www.tesla.com
- Marco Cuesta, FirstBlood, www.firstblood.io/about
- Heather Daly, Courageous Hearts, www.courageoushearts.org
- Andrew Devoy, Virgin, www.virgin.com
- Daniel Doll-Steinberg, Blockchainsmokers, www.blockchainsmokers.com
- Kay Firth-Butterfield, AI Austin, University of Texas, IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems, www.ai-austin.org, www.law.utexas.edu/faculty/kay-firth-butterfield, www.ieee.org
- Matthias Frey, www.linkedin.com/in/mfrey
- Sonya Fricker, ISO-20022.ch, www.iso-20022.ch
- Daniel Grassinger, nexussquared, www.nexussquared.co
- Christopher Halmo, Casa Giallo, www.casagiallo.com
- Oliver Heiler, Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, www.wbf.admin.ch
- Alessandra Hochuli
- Frank Hochuli
- Marty Katon, Katon Art, www.katonart.com
- Roman Klingler, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), www.ethz.ch
- Barb Kunz, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org
- Stephanie Lüpold, Digital Switzerland, www.digitalswitzerland.ch
- Ruedi Maeder, Agentur Am Wasser, www.agenturamwasser.ch
- Jenna Marshall, Santa Fe Institute, www.santafe.edu
- R. Jesse McWaters, WEF, www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/jesse-mcwaters
- Felix Moesner, Swissnex China, www.swissnexchina.org
- Anish Mohammed, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Blockchainsmokers, www.linkedin.com/in/anishmohammed/
- Dezso Molnar, www.dezsomolnar.com
- Martin Mueller, UX/UI & Interaction Design, www.martinxd.com
- Susan Orozco, IBM Switzerland, www.ibm.com
- Jummee Park, Full Spectrum Retreat, www.fullspectrumretreat.com
- Flora Paterson, Founders Intelligence, www.foundersintelligence.co
- Jenna Pilgrim, Blockchain Research Institute, www.blockchainresearchinstitute.org
- Robert Poor, Cool Energy World, www.coolenergyworld.com
- Roy Schedler, Swiss Science Center Technorama, www.technorama.ch
- Liselotte Schneider, Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan, www.sccij.jp
- Nadine Schuster, Blockchain Research Institute, www.blockchainresearchinstitute.org
- Aryan Sheikalian, Blockchain Research Institute, www.blockchainresearchinstitute.org
- Todd Siegel, www.uxobjects.com
- Martin Stürchler, Swissnex China, www.swissnexchina.org
- Kyoko Suzuki, Embassy of Switzerland in Japan, Science & Technology Office Tokyo, www.eda.admin.ch/tokyo, www.stofficetokyo.ch
- Tim Taylor, Santa Fe Institute, www.santafe.edu
- Team Woz, www.woz.org
- Sherry Turkle, MIT, www.mit.edu/~sturkle
- Rik Willard, Agentic Group, www.agenticgroup.com
- Roman Wyden, Roster, www.roster.la, www.romanwyden.com
- Tatiana Wyden, Creable, www.creable.com
- Nataliya Zakrevska, Virgin Media, www.virgin.com
- Lijun Zhang, Swissnex China, www.swissnexchina.org
- Christine Zhu, Shanghai Industrial μTechnology Research Institute, www.sitrigroup.com