New World Same Humans #4
Life inside augmented modernity. Regulators vs Big Tech. Should we act to reverse economic growth?
Welcome to New World Same Humans, a new weekly newsletter by TrendWatching’s Global Head of Trends and Insights, David Mattin.
This week a viral video got me thinking about how new technologies are set to collide with the highest forms of human experience.
Plus the regulation of Big Tech. And new possible futures for capitalism.
Life inside augmented modernity
Online, we swim in an ocean of media. Most of it is forgettable. But occasionally you see something new and the world seems forever a little altered. One such moment came last week, via a video that had everyone talking.
In this two-minute video we see a mother interacting with her young daughter inside virtual reality. They are being reunited after a long time apart. The mother sobs and reaches out to her child. They sing a birthday song, and eat seaweed soup. We see the woman’s husband and three other children looking on via a monitor in another room.
The mother in the video is Jang Ji-sung, from South Korea. Jang’s daughter, Nayeon, died three years ago from a rare blood disease. The Nayeon that appears to…
