Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It

Young Scottish writer Gemma Milne argues that we need urgently to refine our vision of what is to come if we are to succeed in building the future that we actually want. She believes that we need to redefine the aims we should be pursuing based on a realistic understanding of what is actually going on in science and technology right now. We have to focus on the real innovations that we will require along the way. We need to champion critical thinking by empowering as many people as possible to be able to question what real progress is being made. We need to look beyond the blind idealism and wilful hype which blinkers us as to what is really going on and what is realistically achievable.