Intervention: The Impact of New Businesses & Technologies - The 6th meeting of the KCI - UNFCCC

 

Intervention: The Impact of New Businesses & Technologies - The 6th meeting of the Katowice Committee on the Impacts of the Implementation of Response Measures

My Name is Gihan Soliman, from the International-Curricula Educators Association with the WMG.

1- In discussing new technologies, it’s important to research their impact on people with multiple intersecting vulnerabilities, yet a heightened co-benefits to people and the environment, such as indigenous women in developing countries (I can give an example of this if time permits). Technology is mediated by the socio-economics of Neoliberalism and therefore has the effect of intensifying inequality among people and nations. 

2- We discuss AI in an instrumental sense; as a tool, but we’ve been warned by great scientists, such as Steven Hawking, against AI dominating our socioeconomics and gaining independence from the human purpose. I suggest that this research element be advanced in any study of the impact of new technologies on response measures. 

A strong example of this is the indigenous women of the Salar Uyuni in Bolivia whose, livelihood, low-profile (but nature-preserving) technology, and ecosystems are threatened by lithium mining critically linked to some response measures such as increasing the efficiency of electric vehicles, for instance. 

Recommendation: Make sure the language reflects the need to focus on people with multiple vulnerabilities and heightened environmental co-benefits. Taxation of automation is one way to support those communities as the world continues to reap benefits from their unpaid environmental roles/services in protecting soils and the atmosphere. Additionally, more funding for research on knowledge-transfer pros and cons, balances and checks, and the role of women in community development is very much welcome. 

[Due to time limitations, only text in black were read]

WMG STATEMENT at the 7th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for SDGs

Watch on Youtube

7th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals

Thu 05 May 2022, 9.00 am — Fri 06 May 2022, 6.00 pm

Friday, May 6th

Special Event 3: Supporting national capacities and the Partnership in Action for STI4SDG roadmaps

SPECIAL EVENT

12:15 PM-1:15 PM

[STATEMENT}

WMG Statement 

Gihan Soliman, BA, PGCE, MSc, RSci, Soil Sci

International-Curricula Educators Association

Presented at the 7th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals

www.icea-global.org

03/05/22

As we look forward to fully recover from COVID 19; thanks to the advances in science, technology, and innovation (STI), we also worry about the injustice STI brings to the table. Technology has surely enhanced human performance to an unprecedented level yet intensified inequality among individuals and nations. The pandemic exposed such paradoxes in the uneven distribution of vaccine and medication, for one. In fact, the year 2021, witnessed three STI paradigm shifts in the human history, introducing boundless opportunities as well as fears for the future beyond Covid 19; 1) the STI-triggered emergence of a self-replicating xenobot [1], 2) the ‘Human Augmentation’ thinkpiece [2] published by the UK Defence and Military, accepting that technology is a form of evolutionary Selection resulting in an ‘augmented’ existence of the human kind comprising physical, biological as well as socioeconomic dimensions [3][4][5]; 3) and finally, the issuance of the first 1-12 AI curriculum by the UNESCO [6], marking a significant adjustment of the educational system to accommodate our relationship to machines. Despite the improved overall capacity [7], our interaction with technology is generally mediated by a global economic system deeply rooted in Neoliberalism: cut-throat competition and inequality among people, genders, age-groups, and nations. Responses [8] include, but not limited to, a) Transformative education and interdisciplinary research, assessing the environmental and socioeconomic implications of the ever-evolving human-machine symbiosis; b) Media literacy (and indeed democracy). c) Incentivising STIs solutions that boost synergies among people, species, genders, and nations and empowering indigenous women, in harmony with the dynamics of nature. d) Weighing opportunities against risks as we evaluate nature-based solutions against massive-scale industrialisation and reliance on automation. Without systemic change and active involvement of all stakeholders, structural inequalities and human rights violations will continue to shape our post-pandemic world.

Full document and Reference List

Gender Equality in the Era of 'Human Augmentation': Technology Transfer for Conservation, Quality Education & Gender Equality; Case Studies from the Global South

 

A side event to the 7th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum), to be held on 5-6 May 2022 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs - Sustainable Development.

Gihan S. Soliman 

International Curricula Educators Association

Gender Equality in the Era of 'Human Augmentation': Technology Transfer for Conservation, Quality Education & Gender Equality; Case Studies from the Global South

WATCH VIDEO

Technology has surely enhanced human performance to an unprecedented level. Technology may also have its downside in that it intensifies inequality among people, genders, species, and nations. The 'Human Augmentation: The Dawn of a New Paradigm' is a recent publication by the UK Ministry of Defence designed to set the foundations for more detailed research and development of Human Augmentation. Human Augmentation [1], also known as, the Human Enhancement or Human 2.0 is not in fact a new concept. What’s new, and indeed considered a paradigm shift, is that the publication accepts Human Augmentation as a form of evolutionary advancement in the Darwinian sense (as seen in the illustration). A concept that I presented back nine years ago in a form of an Open Letter to the IUCN World Congress 2014 proposing that ‘We Are NOT just another species’ [2] and that the correction of the human taxonomic identity is way overdue; that we are rather a highly-complex kingdom of life, so to speak, comprising a biological, physical, and socioeconomic entanglement that I called the Homocybernetica [3]. The issue with the Human Augmentation perspective, though, is that it reduces the evolutionary advancement in the human organisation to a matter of ‘size’ with an implication that enhancement is guaranteed. It also represents human beings as mere users of technology and subject to its modification, disregarding the fundamental distinction as the ‘innovator’ or the maker of technology and thus overlooking the role of communication and socio-economics, as well as justice and equality in this evolution. Such disregard is alarming because technology is generally mediated by a socio-economic system deeply rooted in inequality and competition and might, if not appropriately addressed, continue to intensify injustice among people, genders and species - and that is a recipe for failure in the long run. The more viable route is to focus on the unity of kind, the role of communication, and the mobilisation of energy into our organisation through social and eco-friendly innovation not necessarily as a moral choice but simply for survival. We need to remember that the first form of technology was ‘making a fire’ and the first form of mass technology was organic agriculture and that augmentation does not necessarily make us better, more adaptive, or more efficient as the expression and illustration imply. Two study cases from Mexico (De la Chinampas) and Bolivia (PROINPA) showed alternative technology integrated successfully into the community with other non-invasive forms of technology to enhance production, social solidarity, and resilience while preserving the environment and species.

Reference List:

[1] Human Augmentation – The Dawn of a New Paradigm. 2021.A think-piece designed to set the foundation for more detailed research and development on human augmentation. Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom.

[2] G. Soliman. 2014.We are not Just another Species;An Open Letter to the IUCNWorld Park Congress 2014,Australia. International-Curricula Educators Association.Available at http://www.icea-global.org/Publications.html. Accessed on 03/05/22.

[3] G. Soliman. 2019.‘Cybernetic Recombination, on the Biology of Technology, Revisiting Linnaeus Kingdom Minerals’ in G.Soliman. 2022.The Cybernetic Animal & the Shortfall in Taxonomy.The Cybernetic Society.Available at https://cybsoc.org/?p=2206&fbclid=IwAR15hpQCu2bpGaaYULVsjjeDy3oklBA6YbZ6zksEOmi5QGXnTlNLuSuFlWA.Accessed on 03/05/22.

Janet Frame: International Women's Day Story Time!

Janet Frame 1924 – 2004

Escaped a scheduled lobotomy when, just days before the procedure, her short stories collection debut was unexpectedly awarded a national literary prize. Lobotomy was a cruel mind-altering procedure performed mostly (84%) on women who were expected to be docile and submissive, but instead, were (annoyingly) anxious and ambitious. The procedure was often performed without requiring the consent of the 'patient' and sometimes without their knowledge.

Between lobotomy and witch hunts that allowed murdering 'suspected' women with no repercussions, intelligent women were often penalised (and conditioned into) passiveness and imposed incompetence. Today many women around the world are still facing modern forms of lobotomy and witch hunts as well, in addition to the well-established gender bias in the field of science and technology, leadership and land ownership.

Another form of 'taming' women into docility and submission is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Female is the forced removal of external (young) female genitalia with the aim of curbing their sexual drive so that they are better and 'calmer' future wives. Despite the global condemnation of the practice, more than 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut as such. FGM is mostly carried out on girls between infancy and age 15.

The long-term consequences of such historic and ongoing conditioning of women are devastating for women, communities, and the planet. Gender inequality has resulted in an economic system based in extraction and exploitation while a body of evidence shows that expanding opportunities for women and girls reduced poverty and enhanced ecosystems (ILO 2016; UNDP 2016a; UN Women 2014; World Bank 2011). 

Dear women, you are wonderful, you are capable, you can do it! Keep fighting for your rights and those of your sisters in humanity for a better future.

Here the story ends, or does it?

Happy International Women's Day!

Medicinal & Nutraceutical Fungi

10 description sheets of medicinal & nutraceutical fungi. 

Authors: David W. Minter (CABI) & Gihan Soliman (Permaculture Association Britain)

Publisher: CABI

The Cybernetic Animal and the Shortfall in Taxonomy

 The Cybernetic Animal and the Shortfall in Taxonomy 

Publisher: The Cybernetics Society

Author: Gihan Soliman

Transforming the Food System - COP26

Event: We Are Zero Nation! by the Scottish Communities for Climate Action Network - COP26

🧩 Gihan Soliman – Transforming the Food System through Green Innovation, Conservation and Sharing Economy

Gihan Soliman is a food scientist and a soil scientist concerned about transforming the food system toward sustainable abundance. Soliman is a Trustee of the Permaculture Association Britain and a coordinator for the International Permaculture Network in Africa, Mediterranean, and the Middle East (IPNAMME); She believes that solutions come from the people. Soliman devised multiple actions reliant on green innovation, conservation, and environmental activism. She established the Gigi Moringa Ltd to harness the power of Moringa, pulses, fungi, and quinoa in one vegan food-product for integration into the daily diet. Moringa provides highly nutritious food plus other economical, medicinal and environmental services while standing in the soil holding it together and providing shelter for wildlife as well as storing carbon. Soliman is also working, among other scientists, on a quinoa-associated fungi biodiversity project in the Andes to protect biodiversity in habitats that might get affected by quinoa food production, for healthier and sustainable ecosystems.