Joi Ito's Web

Joi Ito's conversation with the living web.

AC Retreat Nov. 2016 PhotologAC Retreat Nov. 2016Fri, Nov 11, 17:59 UTC

My first visit to Kuwait to receive award for MIT »

Joi
Nov 30, 2016 - 17:32 UTC »

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I visited Kuwait November 20 and 21 to accept an award from the Emir of the State of Kuwait on behalf of MIT. The award was for "the extraordinary role of the Media Lab in creativity and innovation of science and technology." Last year, Bill Gates won the award.
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This is the inscription on the award: "H.H. Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah Informatics Award has named Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) -USA- the recipient of the Informatics Badge of Honor for the extraordinary role of the Media Lab in creativity and innovation of science and technology during its 16th annual awarding ceremony under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Emir of the State of Kuwait and the humanitarian leader."

The hosts were amazingly gracious and I really enjoyed meeting everyone. Thank you so much for the honor as well as for the hospitality and the engaging conversations. Very excited to visit again.

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On November 30, 2016, last night, I presented the award to the MIT Corporation Chairman, Robert Millard, and congratulated him and MIT.

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Hundreds of MIT Faculty Members Sign Statement Upholding the Value of Science and Diversity »

Joi
Nov 29, 2016 - 21:48 UTC »

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Over 300 400 members of the MIT faculty, including myself, have signed the statement below. (You can see all the signers on the mitvalues.org page.) My quote included in a press release issued this afternoon was:

"Academic institutions have historically been havens to protect diversity of opinions and the freedom to express those opinions when the political climate has impinged on this freedom. It appears that we are entering a period where the political climate requires us to assert our leadership to protect and foster diversity and scientific inquiry itself."

The President-elect has appointed individuals to positions of power who have endorsed racism, misogyny and religious bigotry, and denied the widespread scientific consensus on climate change. Regardless of our political views, these endorsements violate principles at the core of MIT's mission. At this time, it is important to reaffirm the values we hold in common.

We, the undersigned faculty at MIT, thus affirm the following principles:

  • We unconditionally reject every form of bigotry, discrimination, hateful rhetoric, and hateful action, whether directed towards one's race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, disability, citizenship, political views, socioeconomic status, veteran status, or immigration status.

  • We endorse MIT's values of open, respectful discourse and exchange of ideas from the widest variety of intellectual, religious, class, cultural, and political perspectives.

  • We uphold the principles of the scientific method, of fact- and reason-based objective inquiry. Science is not a special interest; it is not optional. Science is a foundational ingredient in how we as a society analyze, understand, and solve the most difficult challenges that we face.

For any member of our community who may feel fear or oppression, our doors are open and we are ready to help. We pledge to work with all members of the community - students, faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers, and administrators - to defend these principles today and in the times ahead.

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Conversation with Peter Seligmann, the Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Conservation International »

Joi
Nov 26, 2016 - 12:27 UTC »

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I met Peter in Marrakech at a private meeting that he and others had organized during COP22. Peter is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder of Conservation International, one of the most effective conservation efforts I know of. I caught up with him on Thanksgiving after we were both back in the US.

We talked about biodiversity, COP22, sustainability, conservation, indigenous people, climate change, complex systems and the theory of change.

The audio is available on SoundCloud and iTunes.

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Conversations with Christopher Filardi »

Joi
Nov 26, 2016 - 12:18 UTC »

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I met Christopher Filardi in Marrakech at a conference running along side of COP22. He's an evolutionary biologist and a conservation activist. I was fascinated with his description of the role of indigenous people in conservation. I recorded a short conversation that I had with him over Skype when I was in a lounge in Dubai Airport and he was at his home in Montana. Apologies for the poor quality of the video and audio. The audio is available on iTunes....

Conversation with Robleh Ali, former head of the Digital Currencies team at the Bank of England »

Joi
Nov 26, 2016 - 12:11 UTC »

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A conversation with Robleh Ali, the former head of the the Digital Currencies team at the Bank of England. It was a wide ranging conversation about Bitcoin, economics and the role of central banks and regulators. Audio of the conversation is available on SoundCloud and iTunes....

Conversation with The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi about Disciplined Compassion »

Joi
Nov 26, 2016 - 12:08 UTC »

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Had a conversation with The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi about disciplined compassion. You can find the audio on SoundCloud and iTunes....

Jamila and Alia from The Albert Einstein Institution »

Joi
Sep 26, 2016 - 17:48 UTC »

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Tenzin and sat down with Jamila and Alia from the Albert Einstein Institute to have a conversation about nonviolent action. You can find the audio on SoundCloud as well as on iTunes....

Conversation with Isha Datar from New Harvest »

Joi
Sep 21, 2016 - 12:13 UTC »

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This year, the Shuttleworth Foundation asked me to be the honorary steward of the September 2016 fellowship intake. This meant that I would help review and recommend the people who would receive the Shuttleworth Fellowship which funds the fellow's salary as well as their project up to $250,000. It's one of the most interesting and successful fellowship programs that I know for funding unique, provocative and unconventional individuals and their ideas. I'm a huge fan. We saw some great applications and I was really happy with the three fellows selected for the round that I worked on, Achal, Isha...

Neha Narula, Research Director of MIT Digital Currency Initiative »

Joi
Sep 18, 2016 - 19:18 UTC »

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Neha Narula wrote a post on Medium last Monday about the MIT Digital Currency Initiative at the Media Lab (DCI) and her new role as the Research Director. Also on Monday, TED posted her talk on the future of money, which I think is one of clearest "what is Bitcoin" explanations I've seen. I saw her a few days later and did a Facebook Live conversation with her which I've uploaded to YouTube, SoundCloud and iTunes. Neha has been working as a member of the DCI for awhile now, but in this new role, she will drive the technical...

The "there goes the neighborhood" Law »

Joi
Sep 14, 2016 - 16:28 UTC »

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There seems to be some sort of general rule that technologies and systems like conversations on the Internet, the US democracy (and its capture by powerful financial interests), the Arab Spring movement and many other things that were wonderfully optimistic and positive at the beginning seem to begin to regress and fail as they scale or age. Most of these systems seem to evolve into systems that are resistant to redesign and overthrow as they adapt like some sophisticated virus or cancer. It's related to but harder to fix than the tragedy of the commons. I want to write a...

Conversation with Adafruit »

Joi
Sep 13, 2016 - 18:38 UTC »

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I recently visited and had a conversation with Limor "Lady Ada" Fried and Phil Torrone of Adafruit. I first met them about ten years ago at SxSW. Limor is an MIT grad that we're super-proud of and Phil is an amazing pioneer in communications, hacking and many other things. Phil and Limor are two of my most favorite people and I aways get giddy just getting a chance to hang out with them. We discussed making, electronics, business, manufacturing, hacking, live video and more. They've been doing live video daily for the last 10 years or so and are...

Conversation with Seth Godin »

Joi
Sep 13, 2016 - 18:32 UTC »

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Seth Godin has taught me so much about communications, leadership, publishing and life that I thought that it was important to stream my conversation with Seth. As usual, it was a great conversation. Seth is on the Media Lab Advisory Council. I streamed it to Facebook Live and posted the video to YouTube and audio to SoundCloud and iTunes....

Recent Comments

Conversation with Isha Datar from New Harvest

Nov 25, 11:11› Sachin: It's good to hear that they are doing it in an open source and collaborative non-profit way. Wishing you all the good luck with your endeavo…

The "there goes the neighborhood" Law

Sep 30, 11:09› Abhay Agarwal: This seems closely related to the innovator's dilemma. As an organization becomes successful deploying a new technology, the establishment o… Sep 19, 13:09› Peter St Onge: Economist Gordon Tullock did some work on decay of revolutions. Essentially that the cost-benefit dynamics mean only committed people get in… Sep 18, 08:09› Ayesha Dawood : After sparks . It requires calm careful effort and leadership.

Visa Waiver form is YOUR responsibility

Oct 02, 06:10› Jacson Lemmon: my assistant was searching for CBP I-94 several days ago and was informed about a company that hosts lots of sample forms . If people are re… May 03, 11:05› john-smith: The Arrival-Departure Record, CBP Form I-94W (green form), must be completed by all nonimmigrant visitors seeking entry to the United States… Sep 17, 10:09› Janson: But have you ever overstayed your 90 days period? Just wonder if the mighty DHS can really find out that sort of thing.

Picture of PSINet Japan POP 1994

Oct 14, 02:10› Peter Bachman : Being asked to run the White Pages Project, c=us, by Eric after it had already fallen deep into ancient Internet history with creaking old… Jul 10, 06:07› Brett Goldring: yes you read that email address correctly, I can still receive emails sent to that address. I was in Canada at our Ottawa Office in the late… Aug 11, 08:08› Eric Bowles: Ahh... brings back memories of the good times, doesn't it?

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