Go Outside #4: "Internet May Be Just a Passing Fad"
July 4th 🥵, the history of human innovation and this week's Climate 3.0 news
Have you been outside today?
Climate Report:
July 4th was earth’s hottest day on record 🥵
Scientists say it is likely the highest global average temperature reached in about 125,000 years
Founders Intro:
Hi Stewards,
Around 3 million years ago, our ancestors figured out how to use the first tool (perhaps the Oldowan), a million years after that we conquered the art of controlled fires and cooking. Fast forward to this century and we have innovated tools like antibiotics, to tools that help us land on the moon, to the tools of the Internet and AI. Fast forward to this week and we have our latest social app tool, Threads. Who was part of the first million to sign up?! (Threads now has 55 million sign ups in less than three days)
We probably think that we’re the only generation in history to have lived through so much innovation overnight. Millennials love to recount to Gen Z how we would sit through dial-up everyday after school (who can still hear that sound now?) or how we had to beg for a smartphone. I will always remember the time in high school I fried my flip phone as I kept it “on” and charged for a month while we went to China so I wouldn’t miss any texts from friends.
Innovation and growth is the key characteristic of being human and we can adapt overnight. If you haven’t seen Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, 9/10 would recommend it for a long flight. It’s a fictional film following the overnight sensation of “talkies” or films with sound in the late 1920’s. The first sound film The Jazz Singer debuted in 1927, a few short years later silent films were obsolete. That same decade, colored films were the norm by the end of the 1930's.
Where there are innovators, there are also traditionalists who prefer to maintain the status quo. We saw this notion play out in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s as people thought the internet was overhyped and were calling it quits.
Oftentimes we forget that these are tools by us and for us. It can be easy to forget the humanity part of innovation and technology, believing in the notion that algorithms and AI will take over the world when we are the engineers and creators.
Here at STEWARD, we also believe that we are tools. We are the creators of this transition into web3 and we are the stewards of collective impact in the digital world while safeguarding our physical world. We believe that we have autonomy and agency during this next tech revolution. We had a choice: vilify this new tech as “evil or unnecessary” or roll up our sleeves and infiltrate from within to ensure it’s an inclusive and just space.
No matter how daunting the innovation may be, the decision is ours. Your web3 and climate journey continues here.
One Home,
Steward Sophia & Steward David
What’s going on in Climate 3.0?
Blockchain technology offers new solutions to protect endangered wildlife through improved monitoring, supply chain traceability, and innovative fundraising platforms.
Sotheby’s announces the inaugural launch of its new Gen Art Program, celebrating the renowned generative artist Vera Molnár.
STEWARD is collaborating with Wild Awake for our first IRL San Francisco event, an ocean soundbath and yoga flow along the coast. If you’re in the Bay Area, join the waitlist to be notified if spots open up!
Stewards of the week:
Helena Merk is the powerhouse behind Streamline Climate, an AI-enabled tool to support climate tech companies in sourcing and writing grants. She also founded Spirals, a regenerative finance company for climate impact.
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