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Quentin Hardy
Quentin Hardy

8K Followers

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Oct 31, 2020

The Great Dead End

Learning from the last great art before the Black Death. (This essay originally appeared in a substantially different form as an“ignite talk” I delivered for The Long Now Foundation, an organization dedicated to fostering long-term thinking, on 10/20/2020. Ignite talks are five-minute presentations consisting of 20 slides, which change every…

Politics

11 min read

The Great Dead End
The Great Dead End
Politics

11 min read


Oct 9, 2019

Watermarking Reality

Proving Authenticity, In A Deepfake World Reality has a problem. As if truth and clarity weren’t already hard enough to discern, computer-driven manipulation of digital representations make it increasingly easy for people and other machines to be fooled. The most talked-about versions of this are “deepfakes,” usually comic or slanderous…

Artificial Intelligence

4 min read

Watermarking Reality
Watermarking Reality
Artificial Intelligence

4 min read


Jul 1, 2019

Computing Wants To Be Everywhere

And We’d Better Get Used To It. We’ve had computers in our lives for seven decades, and it has taken almost that long to figure out what they want. They want to be everywhere; finding and annotating patterns, creating insights and efficiencies. …

Cloud Computing

3 min read

Computing Wants To Be Everywhere
Computing Wants To Be Everywhere
Cloud Computing

3 min read


May 21, 2019

The Platform In An Age of Hyperawareness

[The following, with minor editorial changes, is from a monthly newsletter I publish at Google Cloud. Subscribe here.] There is a business attribute that almost every tech company seems to want. Few understand why they want it, though. It’s to be a “platform.” Something has happened to that concept, however, that says much about our sensor-rich world of smartphones, Web pages, interactive software and devices, capable of sensing and responding…

Startup

4 min read

The Platform In An Age of Hyperawareness
The Platform In An Age of Hyperawareness
Startup

4 min read


Jan 31, 2019

Those Who Do, Need To Explain

It’s no longer enough to make great technology: Customers, partners and regulators want to know why you made your choices. There is a little-noticed talent that’s critical for success in a tech-centric world, up there with being a great programmer, a master strategist, or even an innovative entrepreneur. It’s being…

Artificial Intelligence

3 min read

Those Who Do, Need To Explain
Those Who Do, Need To Explain
Artificial Intelligence

3 min read


Jan 7, 2019

Towards a Data Industry Complex

Great industries aren’t born. They grow. [The following, with minor editorial changes, is from a monthly newsletter I publish. Subscribe here.] It’s time to rethink a popular cliche. When tech pundits say “data is the new oil,” they mean it’s core to the Information Age, the way oil was at…

Technology

4 min read

Towards a Data Industry Complex
Towards a Data Industry Complex
Technology

4 min read


Nov 29, 2018

The Abundance Puzzle

What Does It Mean To Live When Things Are Made By The Billion? [The following appears, in a slightly different form, in a monthly newsletter I write in my job at Google Cloud. You can subscribe here.] A few years ago, the head of a chip company told me, “This…

Artificial Intelligence

4 min read

The Abundance Puzzle
The Abundance Puzzle
Artificial Intelligence

4 min read


Oct 31, 2018

Halloween Comes To The Cloud

[Note: This is a modified version of my monthly newsletter about cloud computing. Sign up here for more.] Sometimes the greatest truths make no damn sense. That’s not just a paradox, it’s also the definition of one. Welcome to this month’s issue of The Speed Read, special Halloween edition. In…

Artificial Intelligence

4 min read

Halloween Comes To The Cloud
Halloween Comes To The Cloud
Artificial Intelligence

4 min read


Oct 12, 2018

Computer Security’s Biggest Problem Is People (Forced To Act Like Machines.)

[ The following, slightly modified, first appeared as a monthly newsletter I write about the impacts of cloud computing. You can sign up to receive it at https://cloudplatformonline.com/Speed-Read-Newsletter-SignUp.html ] It’s common knowledge: The biggest problem in computer security is people. But what if we’re wrong? When it comes to hacking…

Cloud Computing

3 min read

Computer Security’s Biggest Problem Is People (Forced To Act Like Machines.)
Computer Security’s Biggest Problem Is People (Forced To Act Like Machines.)
Cloud Computing

3 min read


Jul 21, 2017

Do Smart Machines Make Better People?

Humans do two things very well. What happens when we supercharge both? Most human achievements come from two things: spotting patterns and sharing information.In markets, people share the information of price movements to predict what they should build and sell next. …

Artificial Intelligence

4 min read

Do Smart Machines Make Better People?
Do Smart Machines Make Better People?
Artificial Intelligence

4 min read

Quentin Hardy

Quentin Hardy

8K Followers

Head of Editorial, Google Cloud. Formerly New York Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal.

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