Strolling Through Berlin

Berlin in January at zero degrees under COVID restrictions could be depressing if you don't mentally adjust properly. Last week I had made my way from California to the capital, where under many restrictions smaller events were allowed to take place after all. I spoke twice about Future Angst - the fear of technologies and new stuff in general - and tried to answer questions such as why there is not a single biography on Germany's most important digital pioneers and entrepreneurial founders such as Hasso Plattner and Dietmar Hopp, who founded SAP 50 years ago. There are not only several books on Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, but even movies. The question of how to move from fear of the future to hope for the future should concern us all, not least with the pandemic that has ruthlessly exposed our (digital) vulnerabilities.

Berlin in January 2022

The event at the China Club in the posh Hotel Adlon stood out in that I was able to discuss not only politics and business topics with those present, but I also shared some anecdotes about the hotel and its elevator that the hotel director who was present didn't even know. More about that here.

It was also good to reconnect with friends and acquaintances - surprisingly many of whom live in Berlin - and hear from them, plan new things, and also get to know interesting venues in Berlin. The result was a workshop here, a project there, and a few lectures, but most of all conversations with a number of impressive people again. To pick just one example: the fascinating Kenza Ait Si Abbou, engineer and author of "Keine Panik, ist nur Technik" (Don't panic, it's only technology), had stumbled across my book while looking for her own book at Dussmann and wrote to me after reading it. Here you can see us at Café Mokkabar signing each other's books.

Two authors sign their books

Reading Material

Speaking of books: Do you already know mine? Whether on Silicon Valley, the future, artificial intelligence, the tiresome topic of innovation, the automotive industry or how not to apologize, there's plenty for connoisseurs among them.

Books for the gift table

All books are available on Amazon, from the Plassen and Beck publishing houses, or from your favorite bookseller. They are even available as ebooks here, for example.

Techno | Phil | oSophical

Art | Culture | Comics

Online Workshops

Cancel Culture

A documentary about a clown actor from my childhood brought up memories of a television puppet show that had quickly been cancelled in the 1980s because of the stereotypical role portrayal after only a few episodes. A dwarf and his wife, a mouse, lived in a forest hut and the stories revolved around his laziness and drunkenness, as well as their household management. Since then, many books, series and movies have fallen out of what is now socially acceptable. Think of the German Struwwelpeter (questionable child rearing), Speedy Gonzalez (questionable portrayal of Mexicans), or Pepe le Pew (his pushy behavior toward women). What is less well known is that in addition to James Bond, a number of other agents vied for the favor of film audiences in the 1960s and 1970s, but their films can now only be viewed with much bellyaching because they (negatively) stereotype women, LGBTQ people, dark-skinned people, or foreigners.

Which brings me to the following question: What things or stereotypes that we take for granted today will we see as embarrassing 10 or 50 years from now? Can you think what things that seem normal to us today would no longer be tolerated in a few years? Let me know by e-mail.

And before I forget, I was at CES in Las Vegas and saw some exciting stuff. Here is my collection of articles from the show.

Servus from the West Coast

Mario