Making Sense of the Week that was: The Wrap #28 — a Grey Swan Guild Publication, July 30, 2021
Grey Swan Guild — News Wrap Edition: July 30, 2021 #28 of Vol. 1
Breaking: Emancipation, RIP Ron “Pocket Fisherman” Popeil, 7 Medal Winner , Canada’s Mark Spitz, Penny Oleksiek, VaxWars, Openess and Closing.
Theme: Illigitium non-Caborundum (in mock Latin — don’t let the b*$%^# grind you down) Lead Editor: Rob Tyrie
Each week we publish a series of stories and headlines we’re tracking in the Grey Swan Guild’s Global League of Sensemakers Newsroom. We think of them as ground zero for ideas, news and data that may become viral.
Here is The Great, the Good, the Bad, the Ugly, the Uncertain and a Tapestry of what we observed this week, consider it a slot machine of imagery, perspectives and ideas.
Check the Grey Swan Calendar ← here— there are new events each month.
We are on summer hours but the next Grey Swan Guild Sensemaker Core & Hive Team Planning Session is coming up on Wednesday, Aug 4th.
We are also canvassing for a small intrepid group of people to join our Tech Swans group. We just hosted an Atelier on future technology applications and uses. Now we are hosting the workshop to deliver the 300 most interesting use cases in the world. Interested?
This week we have added guest News Wrap editors looking at AI patents, sports, chemical, travel and other things magical. Wrap kudos to Denise Tsang, Su McVey, Scott Phares and Daveed Benjamin for their sizzling contributions.
This week was one of changes and pressure. Lots of emergent tech from mushroom clothing, to jets and drone inspectors, policy shifts on vaccines, protests, space Hail Marys and masking across the world.
We have had an eye on the big profits in Big Tech and Big Pharma and hope the regulators are watching too. That wasn’t all — we found music. beaches, vacations and Caribana in Toronto. There’s new science on the likeliness of variance and the Fall looks like a time of resignation.
July 30 is International Day Friendship — so call a friend today and ask the eternal question “what is your update”, show you care. We beckon an article from the guild’s Wave II effort The Campaign for Real Friends Part I and Part II. There are Facebook friends and Linkedin connections but why not make them real.
PS, Speaking of long-time friends that rock the free world, Happy Birthday Mick, we are pretty sure you got what you wanted on your 78th this week.
Meanwhile, let’s Wrap. And then talk about it.
Why not join us on Sunday, August 1at 8am (PST) | 11am (EST) | 4pm BST on Clubhouse to explore this wrap, have your say and engage with your favourite Grey Swan Guild Wrap Editors including Sean Moffitt, Agustín Borrazás, Rob Tyrie, Ben Thurman, Louise Mowbray, and Antonia Nicols.
The Great 😇
1.He took a big yellow taxi there. A 60’s lost recording by Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell serenading to the Cafe Hibou jazz and folk crowd of 1968 Ottawa era was found. The Dawntreader song is transcendent. And Jimi wrote in his diary on that day, “ Went down to the little club to see Joni — fantastic girl with the heaven words”. Jim recorded her with a portable reel to reel at her feet on the low riser stage. The rest is history. Take a listen to The Dawntreader, and, btw, you’re welcome. https://youtu.be/g-lyx5aW1EU
2. Free at last. At least freedom to buy without talking to a doctor in Britain. Contraceptive pills can be bought over the counter in UK pharmacies for the first time. Purchasers will need to have a consultation with pharmacists before being sold two types of progesterone-only, so-called “mini pills — but will not require a prescription from their GP. A boon for giving power and choice to people who desire it. Freedom.
3. Magic. Mushrooms are being transformed into sustainable luxury materials. The fashion and sportswear brands are on a mission to create a greener future with fungi, from Stella McCartney to Lululemon.
The Good 😀
1.Cruel to be kind. Simone Biles, on arguably the biggest stage in the world, walked away from competing in the much-anticipated team event. Not because she was physically injured, but due to mental health issues. In that courageous, brave moment, she has done more to normalize mental health as a legitimate health issue than millions of dollars in communication and advocacy efforts. She is a true champion and hero. Also introducing the term “twisties” to the rest of us non-gymnasts.
2.Homeward bound. Robots replacing carpenters. Modular homes are constructed in days instead of weeks. Amazing how building constraints are being solved by robots. Swing that hammer Rosie.
3.The bridge over troubled water will be printed. The future of building. We hope so. This AI-designed, 3D-printed bridge is beautiful to a lot, but not all people. Amazing how organic and amazing given how efficient organic structures like skeletons and exoskeletons are. Not everyone likes them, but yeah, that's robot-fear talking.
4. Windy. When the tech starts piling up, we need to add more and more sensors. Drones and Helping Workers Inspect Wind Turbines — inside and out. What will drones inspect in the future? Going up a ladder is one of the most dangerous games, with apologies to Mr. Lennigan.
5. A 5,000 Year Low. Sometimes Wall Street analysts talk in terms of 12 month or even 5 year lows and highs. Try a 5,000 year low. Based on some digging Bank of America has done with partners they have determined this cycle period puts us at a 5,000 year ebb in interest rates. Are we valuing the cost of capital appropriately? What have been the knock on effects? Does this mean the rubber band could snap back the other way. Time will tell.
Bad 😬
1.Money Money. The Big Tech winners get really big in the time of pandemic. Google is too big to fail we guess. What is the bad part? The big gains were compared with the pandemic trough of 2020, so 2022 gains will have a hard time being so good, not that retail investors notice stuff like that. The media isn't helping with its irrational exuberance. As with named storms, Alphabet is going to have to add letters to the alphabet to record all its winnings in The Great Reset. Is there a moral hazard in Google spinning news and fake news in troubled times? $38.5B from Search Ads and $7B from YouTube… an 83% increase. Try that in your startup. Remember when you thought it was crazy when Google bought YouTube for $1.65B in 2006. The taxman cometh.
2.I can’t get no satisfaction. The Delta COVID-19 variant rises in the UK and in the US and Canada too, putting pressure on vaccine programs and plans for the Fall as the next wave is on people. As with the last waves, this one will be different and affect different segments of the population. Annual booster shots? Ouch, and oh my.
3.Don’t let me be misunderstood. Robot Lawnmowers through the eyes of luddites are fearsome, noisy things, They might just fail with huge liabilities, like the Boeing Max…. The DW writer Kate Ferguson actually conflated lawnmowers to jets out of fear of tech failure. What’s bad here is the DW article’s sloppy duality. If this author wrote in 1900, she would have decried the new washing machines and the possibility of catching a finger in the roller rather than think about releasing women from a job that needed to be done.
4.Leaving on a jet plane. A 23% increase over pre-pandemic tourism highlights the struggle to preserve the beauty of Maui while inviting the return of important revenue streams — tourism accounts for ~20% of the state’s GDP. How can the industry mitigate over-tourism during post-pandemic re-entry and make tourism sustainable for people and the environment? On the other hand, maybe all tourists really want is to be taken care of and have all their desires met…even those they didn’t even know they needed. In related news, post-pandemic travel is being reconsidered.
The Ugly 😱
1.Mask it up. Across the world, normalization of masks is happening, even in places that have strong vaccines program in Canada, the US and Europe, Medical advice is for the public to still wear masks inside in policy reversals. In 30 out of 96 French Departments, the guidance is to wear masks even outside. Alongside, there is a new study that shows why COVID Strain will continue to emerge.
2.Stir it up. Judges in the German capital have moved to ban a number of weekend demonstrations amid fears they will lead to a rise in coronavirus infections. Police expect protesters to travel to Berlin nonetheless.
3.Not so free at last. The Hong Kong High Court convicted a former waiter of “terrorism” and “inciting secession” in the first trial conducted under a national security law that was imposed by China to stamp out dissent. The watershed ruling marks a new phase in the city’s changing legal landscape that is becoming more aligned with that of communist-ruled mainland China. The accused allegedly drove a motorbike into a group of policemen at a protest. The secession charge was for waving a flag with the slogan “ Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our time” on it. Inadvisable -for sure, but the basis for conviction seems just a tad trumped up we think.
4.Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame of fools. Three weeks ago, sports fans were rooting for the Montreal Canadiens in their quest for their 25th Stanley Cup, hockey’s ultimate prize. This week the storied, respected franchise was pilloried by many, including the Canadian Prime Minister, for drafting an 18-year-old, who has been convicted of sharing a picture of a girl in a sex act without her permission. In Canada, this is a crime. Lifelong fans are disappointed, appalled and worried about the message this sends to young boys who aspire to be just like their hockey heroes. The act was bad enough, but to reward and amplify it tells me the bro-culture and toxic masculinity are alive and well.
5.We are the world. PASF (forever) chemicals were big news pre-pandemic with many communities becoming aware of the dangers and starting to manage and mitigate the pollution. Now researchers from Lancaster University have found them in the Arctic but at twice the levels found in North Sea samples. The result of their investigation indicate PASF snow and a found attachment of the chemicals to brine plus the ability to concentrate within it creating a danger to the base of our food chain. Who could predict those chemicals would travel to the Arctic via the atmosphere? How do they end up concentrated in the Arctic? What other chemicals are waiting to be found?
The Grey Zone of Uncertainty 🦢
1.Take this job and shove it. The Great Resignation. Some odd 40% of workers are considering changing jobs as found in a UK study of 2,000 workers. Well, maybe not that odd. It’s another wave. We think strategists and executives should think of this as worker migration. The focus needs to be placed on where people are going. It is a reaction to a recovery and reinforcement from the Pandemic and shifts to hybrid work. Keep an eye out for the boomerang workers, returning to companies they leave in 2021. Being gentle in your exit interviews should be on your minds, whatever side of the table you are on.
2.Stick it. Boris Johnson has been accused by cabinet ministers of denying people their fundamental freedoms over plans for vaccine passports. The prime minister has announced plans to make vaccine passports mandatory in indoor venues such as nightclubs and conference centres from September. The need of the few or the needs of the many, which will rule?
3.Fly me to the moon. It’s not only drones that are flying. #postpandemic Leading indicators… Airlines buying planes to reset. Boeing benefits. This is the First Profit Since 2019 as Covid, Max Woes Ease. Boeing Co. earned a profit for the first time in nearly two years, surprising Wall Street and hinting at a potential turnaround after one of the worst financial crises in the planemaker’s century-long history. The shares jumped. We hope these planes are carbon neutral if not carbon friendlier.
4.Sledgehammer. South Africa has become the first country to award a patent that names artificial intelligence as its inventor and the AI’s owner as the patent owner. It was denied by the UK, US, and European patent authorities on the basis hat it isn’t a ‘natural person’. If patents advance knowledge, then perhaps the world gets more technologically advanced quicker with less open source. Seems like it lends to perpetuatng imbalance and inequities like today’s Internet where a small number of players that the most patents dominate.
5. Coudn’t win the first time, try, try again. We are torn on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin gambit to win back a contract NASA already given out to what may be Amazon’s future rival SpaceX. SpaceX won it fair and square but now post-space flight experience, Bezos has thrown $2 billion on the table to get it back. Is this the benefit of competition making space exploration cheaper for all, including the taxpayer? Or is this sour grapes and 1910s’ era power capitalism at play? Hmmm…
We continue to mine uncertainty and would love your help in our Weathervane survey #4 — Here to Stay or Going Away.
Tapestry
The mosaic of ideas and images generated by the Zeitgeist and her agents and the unconscious.🎨🖌
Emerging — Lockdown Protests Germany
People are angry. The pictures are dramatic, but it is still fringe.
Lexicon — The Term of the Week:
What is the ‘Querdenker’? The Querdenker, or lateral thinker group, is Germany’s main anti-lockdown movement.
It has been monitored by the country’s intelligence agencies amid fears of its links to far-right and extremist groups.
Meme of the Week:
A|B Charts of the Week:
Video Clip of the Week:
The little drone that could, inspecting a windmill intimately.
Photos of the Week:
Trends of the Week:
No editorial here but fascinating to see the 30 year precipitous decline of religiosity in the USA. Longitudinal statistics from Gallup.
Trends of The Millenia
I wonder what Mad Money’s Jim Kramer would say about this cycle.
That’s the Wrap! Your thoughts?
Why not join us on Sunday, Aug 1, 2021 at 8:00am (PST) | 11am (EST) | 4pm (BST) on Clubhouse led by Howard A Fields and Agustín Borrazás to engage with your favourite Grey Swan Guild Wrap Editors, including Sean Moffitt, Rob Tyrie, Ben Thurman, Louise Mowbray and Antonia Nicols. let’s talk Edition #28.
See you next week for Edition #29 where we will ponder and ruminate on the week that was, what it means for the future and Wrap it for you.
Atelier #5 — The Future of Work
Every month we host an extraordinaily relevant workshop — this one is a doozy. The Future of Work Mastery on August 13th. Join us for the exchange.
The GSG Medium is The Message
Visit our Medium channel every Friday for a weekly wrap on the world’s biggest challenges and other fresh articles and points of view The Guild is sharing. Please drop by our Grey Swan Guild website (greyswanguild.org) for more publications and articles about how we make sense of the world ongoing and also the raft of possibilities to participate as a Sensemaker.
This Week’s Grey Swan News Wrap Editor: The Zeitgeist and some AI from the labs, with human-in-the-loop help from the Editorial Team: Sylvia Gallusser, Sean Moffitt, Louise Mowbray, Agustín Borrazás, Ben Thurman, Rob Tyrie,and Antonia Nicols.
Grey Swan Guild — Making Sense of What’s Next
Every 2nd and last Wednesday of every month we onboard new members with the co-founders of the guild. Come Join Us.
We call these sessions Regattas and Bank & Wedge sessions. Why not join us and learn more about becoming a member of our movement? Come and ride our wave alongside our 2nd thousand members who are flocking in.
Regatta Onboardings: 2nd Wednesday of every month.
Bank and Wedge Onboardings: Last Wednesday of every month.
Grey Swan Guild Weathervane #4 — A Pulsecheck on the Post-Pandemic Future
It’s easy to say something is true in hindsight, we want you to postulate what might happen next to our post-pandemic lives. Weigh in on our 11 questions.
Grey Swan Guild
Our mission is to Make Sense of the World’s Biggest Challenges — curating and creating knowledge through observation, informed futurism, sensemaking and analysis. Our proposition is to inspire the world to think differently through Sensemaking intelligence, The Foundry learning and The Leader’s Alliance business activation realms — it’s the Grey Swan Guild Way. 🦢
