France created a national mechanical telegraph system in the 1790s; in 1834, a pair of crooked bankers named François and Joseph Blanc launched the first cyberattack, poisoning the data that went over the system in order to get a trading advantage in the bond market. (more…)
What’s the first name that comes to mind when you think about a smart city? Elon Musk? Jeff Bezos? Travis Kalanick? It’s natural that we should leap to the technologists. Smart cities are, after all, about technology: driverless cars, drone deliveries, and Minority Report-style signs that change depending on who’s looking at them. But I’ll tell you who I think of first: an English physician called John Snow. An unusual choice, perhaps, given that he died in 1858. The reason I mention him is that as we think about the future of our urban spaces, it’s important to recognize that…
Discover more from Erkan's Field Diary
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.