Category Archives: Evolution

2022 Channel Predictions: The 6 Paradigm Shifts that Will Force MSP Evolution

The "New Year predictions" article has always been my favorite to write because it's totally forward-looking and filled with enthusiasm for the future. Traditionally, on RCP, it has been titled "Marching Orders." I'm glad we're changing it this year because I have always felt the old title reflected a very Microsoft-like attitude toward partners, basically telling them what they need to be doing at any time.

The most successful partners have traditionally ignored that attitude and determined their own futures.

Everything else I'll talk about in this post will be based on a very specific definition of the seriously overused term, "digital transformation." What I've seen over the past several years has been gradual but tremendous change in the ways people use technology to improve their work and their lives. The people have transformed. How they approach life has transformed. Much of technology has adapted to accommodate them. In my 40 years as a citizen of the channel community, this is the most exciting, fulfilling development I've ever seen in tech. This makes it critical that we approach the future with eyes, and possibilities, wide open.

Going forward, the most competitive posture anyone can adopt is one of continuous digital transformation.

The Critical Role of the MSP as Transformation GuideYour role as the technology thought leader for your clients could not be more important. To be in a constant state of transformation requires always being current on emerging technologies -- including the value and advantages they can deliver -- and innovating ways that you can deploy them to your own benefit.

For most clients, this is an enormous ask. Most lack the time to keep up with the continuous flow of new developments, new applications, new technologies and new techniques our industry produces. They have their own jobs to do. Think about how much time you yourself invest in keeping current with emerging tech. It's a full-time occupation!

But that's the whole point, isn't it? You spend a major proportion of your time learning about what's coming down the road. You fulfill your role in the lives and businesses of your clients when you take that new knowledge and apply it to each client's business challenges. You do the innovating and propose the next transformation (and the transformation after that) to each of them. As transforming becomes your clients' constant state, they absolutely need you to keep feeding the momentum with new ideas, new applications and new ways to improve their operations and increase their profits.

Shifting ParadigmsThe fundamental way you look at technologies and how they integrate into businesses will evolve this year. Here are a few ways in which changes we've already seen begin happening will flourish in 2022 with your help.

1. Augmented ThinkingThere's that famous old story about Einstein's teacher's thinking he was simple because he never remembered things. When then the teacher asked Einstein why, he explained that he didn't see the point in memorizing anything he could easily look up. As mobile devices and the SaaS that serves them become ever more sophisticated, and AI improves its ability to anticipate, we see mobile devices coming closer and closer to Alan Kay's original vision of the Dynabook, the personal digital assistant that could bring its user any information they needed at any time from anywhere, all transacted in natural language.

Bill Gates' original vision for Microsoft was "information at your fingertips." Please remember, that was 1975. In 2022, that's table stakes. "Google" has become a verb. When just about anybody needs to know something, they google it. That's Kay's and Gates' visions fulfilled. It also changes who we are and how we interact with our world, profoundly.

2. PlacelessnessThe COVID pandemic forced many transformations to kick into overdrive. A quarter-century ago, the CEO of Novell told us, "Work is now an activity, not a destination." Since March 2020, that has become overwhelmingly true.

The word "workplace" is already on its way to being completely redefined. In 2022, more people will come to realize they don't know where the person they're working with is physically located. And they don't really care! The entire nature of employment will change as hiring decisions are made without regard to physical proximity to any given office location. Technologies will emerge to make the work-from-home experience effortless and pleasant. Collaboration will expand to include AI participants. The content of our thoughts will become "king."

Nobody will know exactly where you're at. And they won't care!

3. Cloud UbiquityUp until now it's been a safe bet that everything is hybrid, mainly because everything has been in transition from on-premises to public and private cloud. For some, 2022 will be the year in which they achieve complete migration and find themselves fully in the cloud. In fact, many companies credit their sudden migration to WFH to the pandemic, with the switch being significantly easier thanks to their previous migration to the cloud. It also accelerated the completion of many such migrations.

The operational and financial possibilities are exciting. Cloud ubiquity -- the point at which cloud is a utility computing platform similar to gas, electric, telephone and water -- may not arrive in 2022 but we'll see significant progress toward it.

4. Automation EverywhereThere are still those who fear automation will replace humans and put many out of their jobs. Others are finding that the automation of things that really should be automated -- repetitive tasks or those requiring little thinking or decision-making -- is relieving them of many burdens and freeing them to do more meaningful work. Their satisfaction with their working lives is improving as a result. As more managers find more low-level work to automate, we're seeing a dramatic expansion of technologies and techniques.

Especially when all compute operations are executed in the cloud, the need for automation skyrockets. I anticipate seeing more and more MSPs also become automators of their clients' IT environments, applying sophisticated scripting and technologies to make more operations work by themselves. People get to focus on their work and not on the tools they do their work with.

5. DIY Low-Code/No-Code AppsPutting more capability back in the hands of users, an astounding number of new platforms have emerged enabling anyone who knows their business processes to map them into applications without writing a stitch of code. Most of these are point-drag-click solutions that take a "building-block" approach to give users great flexibility and, again, much more power. Coding is becoming outmoded.

6. A Subscription EconomyEven now, you can subscribe to several different brands of automobile rather than own one. You can subscribe to a robot floor sweeper that will request replenishment of its consumable supplies as needed without your involvement. Computer ink-jet printers will re-order ink in a similar fashion. Ownership may start become an unwanted burden in 2022, or it might take a bit longer, but the potential for a more agile customer experience is breathtaking. That which you do not own is far more easily replaced when necessary, or desired.

This is totally consistent with the evolution of computing. The goal for so many of our newest technologies is to keep everything loosely coupled. That is, the failure of any one component should not cause cascade failure of everything else. We are living in a time of literal dis-integration, keeping the hardware, the software, the data, the transport, the storage, everything completely divorced from everything else. This makes everything instantly swappable and removes all the dependencies that have caused so much trouble in the past.

There is so much more transforming all around us, but let's focus down on what I suggest you enter 2022 doing.

Think DifferentlyNot a new concept, but totally necessary as our transformational velocity accelerates. One of my favorite quotations comes from legendary sales coach Zig Ziglar: "If you're doing what you've always done, you're probably getting what you always got."

Actually, I submit that you're getting less. For 2022, do new stuff.

Posted by Howard M. Cohen on December 13, 2021 at 3:59 PM

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2022 Channel Predictions: The 6 Paradigm Shifts that Will Force MSP Evolution - Redmond Channel Partner

To return from the U.S., as I did last week, is to see the federal governments Omicron-blocking efforts unmasked as borderline incompetence.

The Canadian customs area was a super-spreader event jammed with a thousand bleary-eyed passengers in multiple zig-zagging lineups less than a jabbed elbow apart.

Clearly overwhelmed border officers were not checking vaccinations, PCR tests or ArriveCAN apps, none of which had been examined at the U.S. departure gate either, with some travellers being directed into the unfortunately-named triage line for further questioning.

And there was no sign not even a room where it could be done - of any government-ordered testing of arrivals from beyond the United States. One Ottawa man I talked to had flown for 26 hours from Kenya via Paris having only had his boarding pass and passport checked.

Now, its possible my arrival was just a freak rush hour and not a much-quieter more vigilant norm.

But to watch the multi-levelled goings-on Wednesday, as the Omicron noose was tightened symbolically by the federal government with Ontario going aggressive on boosters, large crowd bans and rapid testing, was to see signs of hope for a common sense evolution in coping with COVID-19 in Canada.

While harsher responses were reportedly on the table in the prime ministers conference call with premiers, the feds opted for a travel advisory instead, putting a series of discouraging nouns and verbs to international travel plans for the next four weeks.

With that action, the feds clearly realized Canada cannot test every arrival by air without causing total airport paralysis. They seem to sense they cant reverse the Christmas travel frenzy, which is already throttling up. And they surely know to mothball the airlines again would trigger bankruptcies requiring a massive bailout to fix.

But, it will be seen for what it is advice. And for passengers with non-refundable getaways booked or destination weddings to attend, it will be ignored.

Still, beyond this flailing-about, optics-only federal response to the many unknowns about the Omicron variant, there were dangled hints that Canadians may soon be treated as self-reliant adults instead of rule-breaking children forced to behave under big brothers unblinking stare.

For starters, public health officials admitted a complete travel ban would be pointless given how the rapid escalation of cases is occurring inside Canadian borders.

Both chief public health officer Theresa Tam and deputy Howard Njoo repeatedly shrugged off reporter questions over why the drawbridge wasnt being raised to all travel, preferring to focus on why the Omicron spread will only be broken with proven prevention methods.

That means getting back to basics, which worked best through the first four waves, they said. You know them by now: masking, hand washing, social distancing, smaller gatherings, rapid testing, good ventilation and an all-out effort to get boosters into adults and two doses into kids.

It was some recognition that, subject to change without notice if this variant mutates into a killer, Canadians might rebel against another round of total lockdowns, restaurant closures, family reunion vetoes and ridiculous park shutdowns. The 2020 era when bylaw enforcement officers wielded supreme power to ticket parents for taking their kids to the closed playground is long gone.

In other words, were mercifully pivoting back to the initial goal when the rallying cry was to "flatten the curve" in order to keep empty beds in ICUs instead of chasing rainbow fantasies that this insidious virus can be exterminated by washing your vegetables.

So heres hoping the feds embrace realistic responsibilities in this fourth - or is it fifth? - COVID-19 wave: Secure the kid doses and adult boosters, get millions of rapid testing kits into provincial hands and keep the economy flowing through a border as immune as possible to variant invasions.

While Im hearing whispers of more border controls coming on Friday, one hopes theyre just tinkering with existing testing rules rather than launching a radical lurch into sovereign self-isolation, which would do nothing to detour the virus from its avalanche sweep into every corner of Canada.

Its time vaccinated Canadians were allowed to chart their common sense prevention path through this never-ending pandemic, leaving anti-vaxxers to decide the right time to call an ambulance if Omicron fills up their lungs.

Thats the bottom line...

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Don Martin: Borderline incompetence gives way to a common sense evolution in the fight against Omicron - CTV News

NASAs Hubble Space Telescope snapped this picture of the Centaur LD2 as it orbited near Jupiter. NASA / ESA / J. Olmsted / STScI

In the far reaches of the solar system, between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune, a multitude of city-sized chunks of rock and ice, known as Centaurs, circle the sun. Occasionally Jupiters gravitational tug flings one of these Centaurs into a new orbit that takes it into the inner solar system. As it approaches the sun it heats up and various gases, including water vapor from ice locked in the objects interior, are released. As solar wind pushes this material away from the object, it can form a distinctive tailand a comet is born.

And while more than a dozen robotic missions have studied comets and asteroids in our solar system over the last two decades, weve thus far never observed a comet at its moment of birth. But if an ambitious project goes ahead, that will change. The idea, put forward by University of Chicago physicist Darryl Seligman and his colleagues in a study accepted for publication in Planetary Science Journal, would see a spacecraft parked near Jupiter; when a Centaur is flung toward Earth, the spacecraft would follow along, effectively hitching a ride on the inbound object.

If you could ride along with a comet as different ices turned on, then you could see that entire process happen, in real time. Youd see not only the comets start, but its evolution, says Seligman. Scientifically, it would be incredibly useful to watch H2O turn on for the first time, and to see what that looks like, as a function of the objects distance to the sun.

Seligman even has his eye on a particular targeta Centaur known as P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS), or LD2 for short. (The objects are likened to the mythical half-human, half-horse creatures because of their hybrid nature: theyre a bit like asteroids, which are generally inert chunks of rock; and theyre a bit like comets, which are more active due to the emission of gases as various frozen ices vaporize, in a process known as sublimation.) LD2 is estimated to be about eight miles acrossabout the size of Staten Islandand is currently orbiting the sun with a period of about 12 years, in an orbit that keeps it close to Jupiter.

Preliminary data suggests that LD2 will have a particularly close encounter with Jupiter in 2063a brush which, according to computer simulations, will likely send the object toward the inner solar system. Once its on its new path, it will be a Jupiter-family comet, a particular class of short-period comets that pass near the sun every few years. However, because these calculations involve a certain margin of error, the exact inward trajectory that LD2 will take cant be pinned down precisely.

Seligmans studyexamines the characteristics and orbital dynamics of Centaurs, and predicts that many more such objects likely remain to be discovered; it also details how a spacecraft could be sent to LD2 at relatively low cost. They suggest a launch date of 2061, with the spacecraft rendezvousing with LD2 shortly after its 2063 encounter with Jupiter.

Its a very exciting idea, says Laura Woodney, a planetary scientist at California State University, Santa Barbara, who was not involved with the current study, but has worked on similar investigations for possible Centaur missions. The proposed target, LD2, is one of these pristine, outer-solar-system objects that would be really fascinating to follow, to study, to see what its composed of.

When the solar system was forming4.5 billion years ago, give or takeit was likely awash in countless rocky and icy bodies constantly smashing into one another. The largest chunks of material coalesced into the eight major planetsplus the sun, of coursewhile the smaller bits became the minor bodies, mostly asteroids and comets, that account for the remainder of the solar systems mass. Because LD2 has not yet ventured close to the sun, astronomers see it as an undisturbed relic, its composition closely mirroring that of the early solar system. Studying it can shed light on the building blocks from which the Earth and the other planets formed.

Although the first Centaur was discovered a century ago, it was only in the 1970s that astronomers came to think of them as a distinct collection of objects. Theyre believed to originate beyond the orbit of Neptune, migrating inward as a result of the gravitational effects of the giant planets. Once they arrive at Jupiters orbit, however, theyre in a gravitational shooting gallery, says Jordan Steckloff, an astronomer at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. Jupiters powerful gravity typically flings Centaurs either outward or inward after a few million yearswhich sounds like a long time, but is pretty quick in astronomical terms; it means that Centaurs should be thought of as objects in transition. Orbital changes that normally take a few billion years suddenly happen much faster, says Steckloff. And in the case of LD2, the transition is expected to happen on a human time scalewhich is what makes this so exciting.

Most of the ice in comets is frozen water, but they can also contain carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide, along with trace amounts of other frozen gases. Because carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are more volatile than water, theyre the first to vaporize as a comet approaches the sun. LD2 already shows small amounts of activity, due to the sublimation of these more volatile gases.

The sublimation process is important because it can affect a comets trajectory: if gases spew out of one side of an object more than the other side, it will be nudged in the opposite direction. Since ice is a key component of a comet, when water starts to sublimate, the comet is also in danger of breaking apart. Comets eventually run out of steam and disintegrate after a handful of close approaches to the sun, Seligman says, to the point where theres nothing left. (Exceptions exist to this break-up rulesome, like Halleys Comet, have proven relatively stable; Halley, which is believed to have originated from further out than the Centaurs, returns to the inner solar system about every 75 years and has survived at least 30 orbits.)

A better grasp of the mechanics of cometary break-ups can help astronomers understand the population dynamics of the Centaurs themselves. For example, the faster that comets fall apart, the higher the rate at which new, more remote objects must be migrating into the Centaur region to replace them. Understanding these processes should also help researchers predict how many more objects like LD2 they might expect to see kicked into the inner solar system in coming decades.

When LD2 eventually becomes a short-period comet, it could display a bright tail that would make it visible to the unaided eye.

While the mission that Seligman envisions sounds complex, it could be realized with previously tested technology, he says. For example, NASAs Juno mission reached Jupiter in just five years; and the OSIRIS-Rex mission and also Japans Hayabusa 2 spacecraft have shown that its possible to follow a moving target through space, with both craft successfully collecting samples from an asteroids surface. NASAs Lucy mission, meanwhile, has just been launched on a 12-year journey that will see it rendezvousing with eight different asteroids.

Seligman stresses that the idea that he describes in the paper is just a demonstration of the feasibility of a concept, a fairly common practice for astronomers and physicists at the first stages of dreaming up a possible space mission. A full-fledged mission concept study, involving dozens of scientists and engineers examining every possible thing that could go wrong with a mission, may follow sometime in the future, he says; that would be followed by a pitch to a space agency and to funding agencies. (By comparison, he notes, a journal article is relatively cheap.)

Aside from learning about the early history of the solar system, studying these small worlds is also vital for understanding the danger presented by objects in Earth-crossing orbits. Astronomers believe that most such objects originate in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, not from the more remote realm of the Centaursbut its impossible to rule out the possibility that a comet might one day pose a threat to Earth, Seligman says. Thats also a good reason to study the break-up of comets: If an object that splits into, say, a dozen pieces as it passes near the sun, and those pieces in turn break apart on subsequent orbits, that would create a greater flux of potentially hazardous debris. So although comets dont top of the list of likely hazards for our planet, the more we understand about their composition and motion, the better, says Seligman.

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The Ambitious Idea to Study the Evolution of a Comet - Smithsonian

Oxygen is a fundamental part of life on Earth. Following a surge in this gas in the atmosphere, roughly 2.5 billion years ago, multicellular life on our planet began to thrive.

The timing is no coincidence, yet oxygen can't take all the credit. According to some scientists, there's another element out there also crucial to this evolutionary boom, and its name is iron.

In a new review on the availability of iron for life throughout our planet's history, University of Oxford Earth scientist Jon Wade and team propose this metal's fluctuations helped to drive evolution on Earth.

Today, iron is a necessary element for virtually all life. It's what allows cells to sense oxygen, generate energy, replicate DNA, and express genes. In fact, there are only two known organisms on our planet that currently do not require this metal to survive.

In the early days of Earth, there was plenty of geological iron to go around, especially in the mantle and crust. The solid iron located here was probably 'seeded' by meteorites from outer space, and because this material could dissolve into ancient oceans, iron was also abundant in the marine environment.

Following the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), however, conditions began to change. Soluble iron began to grow scarce and competition for iron among cells increased.

Life-forms therefore had to figure out how to recycle iron from dead cells, steal iron from live cells, or live in another cell and use its iron-grabbing apparatus to stay alive.

These battles over iron are what some scientists believe first triggered multicellular evolution.

"Infection, predation, and endosymbiosis are all behaviors that switch the focus of iron acquisition from mineral sources to other life-forms, and each of the three behaviors may evolve into the others over time for example, initially exploitative infections may become mutually symbiotic," the authors explain.

Compared to modern eukaryotes, or multicellular organisms, older forms of single-celled life, like bacteria and Archaea, are thought to have relied more on iron to survive.

This suggests modern organisms have learned to use the element more efficiently over millions of years, as its presence in the environment fluctuated.

According to this new theory, Earth's oceans lost most of their soluble iron because of an increase in atmospheric oxygen.When water and solid iron interact in the presence of oxygen, the iron is rapidly oxidized which is tougher for living things to make use of.

To grab the element in this form requires cells to evolve small organic molecules, called siderophores. Today, almost all bacteria, plants and fungi have these structures, but billions of years ago, this represented a new form of survival.

As life-forms with siderophores began to gather near a limited number of iron-rich geological sources, researchers think crowding inevitably led to "increasingly complex cell-cell interactions".

Archaea in the thermal springs of Yellowstone, for instance, can only reallythrive on iron oxide mats.Whereas modern eukaryotes can live outside of these geological sources, as long as there are biological forms of iron available.

"Despite the depletion of bioavailable iron, throughout the rebound of life post-GOE and its subsequent diversification (and passage through other successive mass extinction events), iron has retained its preeminence in biological systems," the authors write.

"Presumably, this is because iron has unique electrochemical properties that make possible, or make efficient, a range of biochemical processes such that other elements cannot be broadly substituted for iron within proteins without causing a significant disadvantage."

The sheer lack of replacement for iron means organisms either had to compete, cheat, or cooperate to survive following the GOE, and these developments could very well have caused extreme adaptations in genomes and cellular behavior over time.

When the more recent Neoproterozoic Oxygenation event occurred, about 500 million years ago, it merely exacerbated these changes.

The initiation of terrestrial life may therefore have started from an abundance of iron, but only when iron became scarce did those life-forms begin to grow in complexity.

Given that a rise in atmospheric CO2 could increase iron deficiency in the food chain, researchers say we need to know more about how life copes with the ebbs and flows of this crucial element.

The findings also indicate a possible way to measure the potential of life on other planets, like Mars, where iron oxide can also be found in the mantle. If this planet is rich enough in iron, it could indicate a possible harbor for some of the simplest forms of life.

The research was published in PNAS.

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This Element Could Have Been Crucial to The Evolution of Complex Life on Earth - ScienceAlert

"X-Men: Evolution" is a perfectly named series. Not only is the title literally accurate, as the cast is young and has toevolve, it's also figuratively apt. This was, at the time, a totally new version of the X-Men that hadn't been seen before in any medium. It was, in that sense, the next step in the franchise's evolution.

However, "X-Men: Evolution" wasn't the first name that came to mind for the show's creators. As Steven E. Gordon revealed to The Dork Review, the show's original working title was "Children of the Atom," a common X-Men moniker in the comics. The phrase had gained further popularity at the time, as "X-Men: Children of the Atom" is also the title of a 1999 miniseries and a 1994 video game.

The comic book seriesis notably similar to "X-Men: Evolution." "X-Men: Children of the Atom," written by Joe Casey and illustrated by Steve Rude, Esad Ribi, and Paul Smith, is a retelling of the team's origin story that focuses on its teenage heroes coming to terms with their powers and lives. Did the show's creators find inspiration in this premise?Perhaps. It's enough to make one wonder how a title like "X-Men: Children of the Atom" might have affected the cartoon's fortunes.

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The Untold Story Of X-Men: Evolution - Looper

Cape Town, South Africa--(Newsfile Corp. - December 6, 2021) - PhotoChromic, a blockchain protocol enabling ownership and control of user identity back to the individual, asserts that self-sovereign identity and decentralized identity are the key elements to unlock maximum security, privacy, and utility.

The introductory idea behind the internet was to create a digital network that enables connectivity and utilization of digital services. Although, the developers involved in the initial architecture did not create a native identity security layer for people.

This shortcoming has led to people's identities being stolen and misused. With the emergence of Web3, the world has seen a significant improvement in identity management. While Web3 has begun to address several problems, it still cannot give unfettered access to the user's identity back to the users.

With the introduction of blockchain technology, a new concept of decentralized identity evolved as a critical technological priority to enhance native Web3 applications. A robust decentralized identity infrastructure, such as PhotoChromic, can effectively solve the issue of identity theft and create a safer private space for users.

Decentralized identity (DID) is a popularly accepted standard that ensures identity systems can interoperate across various platforms and networks. A DID is stored in a DID document that records information, such as data encryption, sign-in data, communication, and more.

DID acts as an identity hub, but with the added advantage of solely being controlled by the user itself. Some of the interesting use cases offered by decentralized identity include complete control, security, privacy, and portability of the internet. This enables the ability to authenticate and verify NFTs, unlocking the next phase of DeFi, and empowering DAO organizations.

Decentralized identity and self-sovereign identity introduce a new layer of privacy among Web3 applications. Individuals enjoy unrestricted access to their private data. PhotoChromic expertly demonstrates the potential of blockchain technology in securing digital identities.

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PhotoChromic - Biometrically managed self-sovereign identity on the blockchain.

PhotoChromic is a framework for creating and managing user identity on blockchain networks, software services, and decentralized applications. The project uses NFTs to make people's identities programmable, verifiable, universally addressable, and digitally secured while being utilized for blockchain-based identity verification and Web3 applications.

The driving force for creating self-sovereign identities on the blockchain is to put the power back into the individual user's locus of control. This way, users can safely and securely participate in the plethora of services offered by dApps, blockchain apps, and Web3 applications.

To learn how PhotoChromic develops biometrically managed self-sovereign identity, visit https://photochromic.io/.

About PhotoChromic

PhotoChromic is a blockchain-based protocol that tokenizes an individual's identity through an NFT that is programmable, verifiable, universally addressable and digitally secured, verifying the link between the analogue and digital worlds. The product aggregates biometric proof of life, with government-backed identity verification and unique personal attributes, into an on-chain asset that is utilized for blockchain-based identity verification and Web3 applications.

The benefits that the protocol offers include:

Immutable security and independent management of your online identity

Attestation of true biometric identity, tethered to your physical and digital assets

A multi-chain protocol to run initially on Ethereum, Polygon (MATIC), and Cardano

By developing and deploying this protocol onto key blockchains, there are a host of value-added benefits and commercial opportunities that will be created as a result. These can either be pursued by PhotoChromic in isolation, developed in joint-venture with other parties or proposed to third parties who consume the protocol for their own commercial risks and return.

Official PhotoChromic Links

Website: https://photochromic.io/Medium: https://medium.com/photochromicTwitter: https://twitter.com/photo_chromicLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/photo-chromicTelegram: https://t.me/photo_chromicTelegram Announcements: https://t.me/photochromic_blasts

Media Contact:

Email: info@photochromic.io

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/106806

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PhotoChromic Drives the Evolution of Decentralized Identity - Develops Biometrically Managed Self-Sovereign Identity - Yahoo Finance

Alone, one hospital may not have a financial incentive to do contact-tracing, but a game-theory analysis shows if every hospital took this additional step, they would all benefit economically from slowing the evolution of these bacteria.Image: Shutterstock

From antibiotic-resistant bacteria to pests that threaten to undermine global food production, the world is facing harmful evolution that has been accelerated by human behavior.

In a new paper in the journal PLOS Biology, researchers suggest that in order to slow this adverse evolution, experts must view the problem through a lens of economics, studying human behavior and how behavior changes could result in long-term economic benefit.

Evolution responds to biological changes, but it can also respond to policy changes," he said. So we must think about the theory of evolution while also factoring in human behavior, or economics.

In their research, McAdams and collaborators from Queens and Penn State universities present mathematical formulas to determine when it is economically beneficial to invest in measures to manage evolution, such as when its beneficial for a farmer to intentionally plant an unprotected corn crop that will be destroyed by the Western corn rootworm.

In the short term, planting this sacrifice to pests makes the farmers overall crop smaller. In the long-term, luring the pests to consume unprotected corn could stop the larvae from becoming immune to the methods used to control it. This means current genetic modifications to corn plants that protect against rootworm damage could work on the pest for many more years, McAdams explained.

Evolution can be sped up or slowed down by human behavior, and therefore, can be managed.David McAdams, Fuqua School of Business

The researchers take the mathematical model further by implementing game theory, which analyzes how individuals decisions are interconnected and how they impact each other such as how doctors treat superbug infections and whether those infections spread to other patients in a clinic or hospital.

In the example of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, hospitals could go above and beyond to control the spread of superbugs through methods like contact-tracing, McAdams said. This would be an additional cost on their part that doesnt necessarily provide immediate benefit. Alone, one hospital may not have a financial incentive to do this, but a game-theory analysis shows if every hospital took this additional step, they would all benefit economically from slowing the evolution of these bacteria. Game theory gives you a systematic way to think through those possibilities and maximize overall welfare.

[This article has been reproduced with permission from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. This piece originally appeared on Duke Fuqua Insights]

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Applying economics and game theory to evolution can slow antibiotic resistance - Forbes India

The firearms hunters carry afield vary considerably, from antique replica muzzleloaders to modern AR-style autoloaders, but they all have one thing in common. Make, model and action, they all originated for use in military conflict and were subsequently adopted by sportsmen, some eagerly, others reluctantly.

At the outset of the American Revolution, muskets were the most common military weapon. They were loaded through the muzzle with loose powder, patch and ball and had smooth barrels. As a result, they werent particularly accurate, but when firing into a crowd of soldiers standing in parade formation, they were effective.

It didnt take the rebels long to figure out that wasnt a very practical tactic, and they soon switched to guerrilla tactics like hiding behind trees and stone walls. While frowned upon by military purists, they gave smaller forces an advantage. However, longer shots required greater accuracy so the patriots replaced their muskets with rifled-barrel guns. Tiny spiral grooves machined into the barrels made the bullets spin, and fly straighter over long distances.

Over time, flintlock ignition systems were replaced with more reliable caplocks, just in time for the next conflict between the states. Loose powder loads were replaced first with paper cartridges, particularly in handguns. Then came the enclosed cartridge a brass case containing primer, powder and bullet. Rather than through the muzzle, it could be loaded into the breech, one cartridge at a time. It was slow, but still a much more reliable system. Johnny went to war with a muzzleloader but he came marching home with a breech loader, and took it hunting.

The latter part of the Civil War also saw early examples of firearms capable of firing multiple shots without reloading like the Gatling Gun the Devils Breath. Next came smaller versions of repeating rifles in either bolt or lever action. Shooters could reload simply by working the action, and the number of shots was limited only by magazine capacity.

While cowboys preferred the lever action, bolts were de rigueur in the military and the most common firearm carried during the first war to end all wars. They remained popular into the outset of the second war to end all wars, but were soon replaced with another innovation.

Ever seeking new and better tools, manufacturers perfected means of using recoil to automatically cycle another round, and the autoloader or semi-automatic was born. It was most prevalent in guns like the M-1 Garand and the M14, the latter of which was later morphed into Rugers immensely popular Mini 14. With a little tweaking, they eventually found ways to fire, reload and fire again, and again with a single pull of the trigger a fully automatic firearm.

With the return of peace time, fully automatic weapons never really caught on with the sporting crowd, but they were quite popular with gangsters, until the federal government restricted ownership by private citizens. Semi-autos, on the other hand, became immensely popular with hunters, some popular examples being the Browning BAR, the Remington Model 740 and Winchester Model 100. Those, and the next big advancement in military arms represented changes in form, but not in function.

Gearing up to battle the global threat of communism, gun makers took the same auto-loading or semi-auto actions, replaced the fancy walnut stocks with synthetics and added a pistol grip behind the trigger. Among the first such weapons to see widespread use was the M-16, later replaced by the AR-15 (AR standing for Armalite Rifle).

When hostilities ceased, hunters werent as quick to adopt these post-military weapons into their arsenals. Thats probably in part because they offered no mechanical advantage to mainstream sporting arms, and they werent particularly attractive. Even at gun shows they were segregated into separate areas for tactical weapons or black guns.

Remington was the first U.S. manufacturer to build and sell production autoloaders based on the AR-style platform with their R-5. It took a while to catch on, but sportsman slowly realized while the collapsible, tactical stock lacked the comfort and style of polished walnut, it allowed for custom length-of-pull adjustment and compact transportation. And, these ARs were particularly accurate for an autoloader.

The recent proliferation of AR-style guns is somewhat akin to craft breweries. While most of the major gun makers like Winchester, Ruger and Browning stuck with their existing old-style guns, dozens, and then hundreds of smaller companies started to spring up, making whole guns and components. Unlike most other modern sporting arms, ARs are modular. Shooters can mix and match uppers, lowers, stocks and barrels from various manufacturers to build a gun that suits their personal preference. Rail systems also allow for the addition of accessories like optics and lights, making these guns particularly popular with varmint and predator hunters.

Because recent conflicts are still fresh in our minds and these modern sporting arms are somewhat intimidating, but thats largely a matter of perspective. Your grandparents or great grandparents probably had a similar reaction to semi-auto actions replacing the bolt. Theirs likely had a similar response to enclosed cartridges and breech loaders instead of loose powder and muzzleloaders; and a few generations earlier they might have cringed at the idea of rifled barrels instead of smoothbores.

Times change. Four-channel black and white TVs with rabbit ear antennas have been replaced with smart TVs, AM radios the size of a small bureau with satellite radio you can listen to on a smart phone and increasingly more cars run on electricity rather than fossil fuels. Change doesnt always come easily, but its inevitable.

Bob Humphrey is a freelance writer and Registered Maine Guide who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at:[emailprotected]

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Hunting: Change gets adopted by hunters in evolution of firearms - pressherald.com

An adult and two juvenile individuals of the dinosaur Tethyshadros insularis showing the different appearances exhibited by immature and mature specimens in the ancient environment of Villaggio del Pescatore, the first locality in Italy preserving many dinosaur individuals of the same species. Credit: Davide Bonadonna

A dinosaur trove in Italy rewrites the history, geography, and evolution of the ancient Mediterranean area.

Italy is not exactly renowned for dinosaurs. In comparison to its excellent artistic and archaeological heritage, dinosaur fossils are very rare. Not surprisingly, the discovery of the first isolated remains from these animals, in the early 1990s, generated quite an excitement, but were shortly after considered nothing more than an exception to a general rule. During the reign of dinosaurs, between 230 and 66 million years ago, the ancient Mediterranean area would have been hard to map, formed by countless small islands far from all major mainlands Europe, Africa, and Asia unsuitable to sustain large animals like the dinosaurs. Or so we believed.

Now, a new study published on Scientific Reports and coordinated by researchers from the University of Bologna unveils the first palaeontological site with multiple, exceptionally complete dinosaur skeletons from Italy: the Villaggio del Pescatore site, located in the Duino-Aurisina municipality, near Trieste, in north-eastern Italy.

The skeleton of Bruno, an adult individual of the dinosaur Tethyshadros insularis described in this new study. Credit: P. Ferrieri (courtesy of Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio del Friuli-Venezia Giulia)

These beautiful skeletons belong to the species Tethyshadros insularis and represent the biggest and most complete dinosaur ever found in this Country. The team describes the skeletons of some of the most beautiful and pristine dinosaurs from the site (in particular of a new individual nicknamed Bruno) and highlights the occurrence of seven (probably eleven) individuals at the Villaggio del Pescatore.

Skeletal reconstructions of the two individuals of Tethyshadros insularis, with the immature specimen nicknamed Antonio (above) and the mature, newly described skeleton of Bruno below. Credit: University of Bologna

Dinosaurs are not the only fossil remains from the site: fish, crocodiles, flying reptiles and even small crustaceans provide a vivid picture of an ancient ecosystem that has no equal worldwide. The unique fossils collected from the Villaggio del Pescatore can be admired in Trieste at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, granted on deposit by the Italian Ministry of Culture.

The palaeontological site of Villaggio del Pescatore, with people from ZOIC working to extract the fossils from this astounding dinosaur trove. Credit: ZOIC s.r.l.

The study also reviews and rewrites many evolutionary hypotheses to interpret the ancient Mediterranean context. Originally, geologists interpreted the area that today is the Villaggio del Pescatore site as part of an island in the middle of a proto-Mediterranean ocean called Tethys. This supported the incorrect interpretation that the relatively small, first dinosaur skeleton found at the site (nicknamed Antonio), was actually a dwarf species, an example of the so-called island rule (the evolutionary miniaturization of bigger animals in an insular environment due to the scarcity of resources).

The bones of Antonio under the microscope, showing the bone cells (black, circled dots): the fossilized bone tissues were analyzed to infer the relative age of the dinosaur skeletons at the time of their death. Credit: University of Bologna

In this new study, the research team documents that Antonio is an immature individual, whereas Bruno, which is bigger in size, represents an older individual and that could have been still growing at the time of its death.

The skull of Bruno, the newly described skeleton of the dinosaur Tethyshadros insularis. Credit: A. Giamborino (courtesy of Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio del Friuli-Venezia Giulia)

New geological data gathered by the team also provided the age of the site and its fossils: approximately 80 million years ago, in the Cretaceous period. This is about 10 million years older than previously thought: quite a long time even when dealing with dinosaurs. At that time, what is now north-eastern Italy was a land facing a vast ocean but connected to western Europe and Asia. This means that not only small islands characterized the ancient Mediterranean, but many migratory routes for large terrestrial animals like the dinosaurs might have been possible across land bridges of what we nowadays call Italy.

A simplified evolutionary tree showing where Tethyshadros would fit between its hadrosauriform relatives, the so-called duck-bill dinosaurs. Credit: University of Bologna

This new research highlights not just a first in terms of exceptional findings, but most importantly the pivotal role of the Italian dinosaur fossil record for evaluating important scientific hypotheses on these ancient animals. As the site is already protected from the Italian institutions, new research and didactic activities may represent an opportunity to include the geological and paleontological heritage in the must see list while visiting the Belpaese.

Reference: An Italian dinosaur Lagersttte reveals the tempo and mode of hadrosauriform body size evolution by Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, Matteo Fabbri, Lorenzo Consorti, Marco Muscioni, David C. Evans, Juan L. Cantalapiedra and Federico Fanti, 2 December 2021, Scientific Reports.DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02490-x

The researchers involved in the study are: Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza (University of Vigo), Matteo Fabbri (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago), Lorenzo Consorti (University of Trieste and Geological Survey of Italy ISPRA), Juan Cantalapiedra (Universidad de Alcal), David Evans (Royal Ontario Museum and University of Toronto), Federico Fanti and Marco Muscioni (University of Bologna).

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Incredible Dinosaur Treasure Trove in Italy Rewrites History, Geography, and Evolution - SciTechDaily

In advance of the L.A. Auto Show, I'm at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures for the west coast launch of the new Range Rover. Auto show aside, this is the perfect city to launch the new model. Los Angeles is practically the Range Rover capital of the world--you see so many of them on the road, it's like parent company Jaguar Land Rover has set up RR dispensers every few blocks.

Outside the venue, a long line of well-heeled Los Angelenos is forming, Instagramming selfies, eager to see the new vehicle in person. Me with my press pass, I've snuck into the staging area. On the stage in front of me are two unmistakable Range Rover silhouettes covered with sheets. They sit on turntables. In between them stands a mic'd up Gerry McGovern, automotive designer and JLR's Chief Creative Officer, very precisely directing a small army of technicians on how he wants the launch to unfold, minute by minute: When a certain image should come up on the screen behind him, when the cars should rotate, when and where they should stop rotating so he can discuss specific design elements on the part of the vehicle facing the audience.

One of the organizers wants him to announce the celebrity musical act at a certain time, and McGovern's not having it. "No no no," he says. "It's got to be about the vehicle first."

At one point the attendants appear to be struggling to keep up with McGovern's very specific instructions. "Look, I'm sorry, I'm an artist," he says. I've heard finicky creatives preparing a presentation say that before. But then, as McGovern comes close to exasperation, he says something I don't often hear higher-up designers say: "Lookthere's over a thousand people that have worked on this," he says, pointing to one of the Range Rovers. "I'm meant to represent it."

The unveiling goes off with nary a hitch, and the next day I'm able to get a short sit-down with McGovern. I start off by mentioning that I'd witnessed the launch prep, and I recount the paragraph above.

"Probably more than a thousand people," McGovern says. "When you think about the designers, the engineers, the purchasing people that bring the parts in, the manufacturing people that put it together--it's a massive ecosystem, isn't it? Sometimes I think when we present these things, we're too quick to think about the marketing part, and not actually think about the sort of people that have created these things. And so I do."

I know that McGovern, whom I'd met before, takes design and his position seriously. He takes himself seriously. (I think he'd be a tough person to work for, which I intend to ask him about in the interview.) But he's also not above poking a bit of fun at himself. During an earlier press event, he joked about a colleague's posh English accent; McGovern's is unmistakably working class. At one point during our chat, realizes he's going off on a tangent and stops himself: "I'm philosophizing," he sighs. "I'm in danger of disappearing up my creative backside."

I should point out that Paul Owen, Jaguar Land Rover Design's Head of Design Communications, sat in on the interview; he comes up a couple of times.

Here are excerpts from our chat.

Core77: Judging by the launch event demographics, or just by driving around L.A., the Range Rover clientele is pretty diverse: Men, women, creatives, suits, young, old, famous people, regular people. Maybe the only thing they have in common is tax bracket. When designing for this type of clientele, what kinds of things do you have to be plugged into?

Gerry McGovern: If I'm honest, when I'm designing products like this, or directing them and editing them, I'm not thinking about the customer. It might sound a strange thing to say. But luxury has been around since time began. Luxury is a visceral desire for people to enrich their lives, and there are many forms of luxury products, and a vehicle is one of them. If I do think of the customer, it's sort of subliminal, because I am a luxury consumer. So a lot of what I think is "right" drives how the vehicles end up being.

You do need to be cognizant of what's going on in the world of automotive in terms of technology, in terms of innovation, et cetera. But quite frankly, I don't look at what anybody else is doing, particularly from a design perspective. Our brand represents certain values and we have a design philosophy [that we adhere to]. It talks to integrity, purpose. And really three things:

Desirability, which is probably the most important. When I look at this thing, do I desire it?

Behavioral: When I've got this thing, does it work?

Last but not least, Reflective: Once I've owned it, used it, experienced it, do I still love it? Does it still work? Most importantly, am I building a lasting relationship with it, which reinforces why I bought it in the first place?

Ultimately, for me, it's about giving people things that enrich their lives. It's not about being a commodity or having the latest this, that and the other. It's about creating things that are truly special. We're not trying to capture every customer. My compass, if you like, is people who generally love well-designed, beautiful things. And when you have a brand that has certain values that resonate with them, then that's all you need to start with.

The job I do is curate the two creative hubs of the business: The creativity of the products itself and the creativity around the storytelling, the brand, the look, the feel, the tonality, the language. And they're inextricably linked, what drives that ultimately is the product and that design philosophy. They're at one, if that makes sense.

I don't want it to sound arrogant, "I don't take any notice of the customer." My ultimate goal is to enrich the customer's lives. But they can't tell me how to design it. We know through experience, or intuitively, what's "right" and what's "wrong," and you never create great products through committee. You never create great products by overzealousness on the part of looking at data. You just end up with normality in most occasions. It's what you actually bring in terms of the creative perspective that will bring customers to you.

In interviews, and on stage, you're very specific with your language. You've said the design of the new Range Rover isn't "minimalist"I gather you find the term too reductive to convey what you're trying to do. I've also heard you bristle at designs being referred to as "evolutions." Can you talk about that?

Yeah, maybe there's a level of sensitivity there, because in the automotive design world, there's always this thing about, "Oh, you've got to be different each time for the next one." I think there's confusion, particularly for younger designers starting out, this view that [the next version] has to be something that's completely different, and that's the conversation about how that thing's "evolved."

This evolution bit is the evolution of the DNA, not the evolution of certain specific design cues, because the aesthetic is just one part of it. I could argue it's the most important part of it, because it's the bit that starts the ball rolling and creates that emotional connection. But then it has to be the integrity of the engineering. It has to be the innovation around the technology and all those other things which are fundamentally important to what Land Rover's about, and always has been: The supremacy of its technical capability to go anywhere and do anything.

The evolution part [should be] in the essence of what they represent. With Range Rover it's the fact that you still sit high, you've got that "command" driving position. You've got that level of formality. You've got a certain ethos. But it's not about "That line on the new car, is like that line on the old car, modernized."

For me, modernism is always about trying to move it forward. And if you can use technology to take it to the next level, as we've done on this, you've got flush glazing and things that we wouldn't have been able to do for the last generation because we didn't have the technology to do it. So that technology has enabled us to take this to next form of modernism, return to that reductive approach.

When I came back from America and returned to the brand, years ago, I felt it needed a dose of design literacy. So what we've tried to do over the last dozen or so years, is to get a more balanced view to consumers, to our clients, of what the brand represents. And that is a balance of not just being over-focused on one thing, which I think we were in the past. We were all about capability, which people admired, but we weren't true luxury in the sense of a product that enriches life.

Now I'm trying to move these brands on, to think about themselves as luxury brands, to stop thinking about themselves purely as automotive businesses. Omit the word automotive. Yeah, they're automobiles, but the brand is more than just the product, and in the future, it'll be more and more.

What are some of the product designs you yourself admire?

You still wouldn't go far wrong for looking at Apple in terms of the way they do things. Design is there as part of their philosophy, that sense of detail and perfection and precision, those are the things I admire in Apple. Because if you looked at that and compared it to a Dell, they do the same things, but one is far more desirable than the other, isn't it?

There's a lot of great product design out there. One of the things that always intrigues me is that a lot of the great luxury brands aren't necessarily modern in the execution of their products, but quite often they're very modern in the execution of their look and feel, their imagery, the way they communicate, the way they present themselves is very modern. Louis Vuitton, for example, if you look at some of the products, they're quite traditional. But look at how they're presented.

You often talk about design being a discipline with multiple outlets. What made you decide to focus on automotive?

Money. (Laughs.) No, it's funny, when I was growing up I wanted to be a painter. I've always been interested in fashion and art and architecture, from a very young age. And then I wanted to be a footballer. I fell into the automotive thing by chance, more than anything, and then it just evolved.

And where did the strong interest in modernism come from?

I've always been interested in Modernism as a philosophy, because I grew up in Coventry, which was bombed during the war, and it was rebuilt by this Miesian advocate, a guy called [Sir Donald Edward Evelyn] Gibson. So that Modernist approach, I think has been indelibly stamped into my psyche, it always resonated with me. When I first started off with automotive design tools, I didn't necessarily know whatit takes years to realize what you're about, and it's evolved.

If we go back several decades, the different form factors of vehicles was very clear: That's a car, that's a truck, that's a station wagon--

And it was quite naive at that time as well. It really lacked sophistication compared to now, because things have moved on massively. Having said that, when I look at automotive design--or let's call it "styling," back then-- when we look at America and the style wars of the 1950s, there was a great sense of exuberance then. And okay, it was styling driven, and a lot of it was building in obsolescence, changing the look of the vehicles every two years in terms of the aesthetic, but not the mechanics, but there was something quite exciting about that then. They were raw, they were quite crude, but there was something quite visceral about it, which I think has been lost completely.

And a lot of it had to do with volume and size, which in America worked, because you've got the scale. But they were trying to replicate it back in the UK, and we were getting these smaller vehicles that were emulating a style that doesn't work on something that size, you know?

Because I could never look like Paul [points to Paul Owen], because I'm not big enough, but I'm prettier than him. [Laughs.] Maybe not.

Nowadays the form factor categories of cars has become a lot more vague.

You're right. There's lots more niche type products out there, there's not these definitions. If you think about the Range Rover Velar, the Range Rover Evoque, before we created them, there wasn't actually a definition for those. What is the question? Are we going to carry on with that, or...

What I'm getting at is, the original Land Rover and Range Rover were shaped the way they were because of their function. So the modern versions are perfectly able to transition into today's SUV archetype. But the third part of your brand, Jaguar, has me puzzled. Jaguar's original well-known form is this low-slung, two-person GT car.

2022 Jaguar F-Type

That's the heritage of Jaguar--and that's the form factor that's going extinct in today's market. So what's the plan for Jaguar? Do you have any idea what Jaguar is going to become, if not the low-slung, two-seater GT?

I know exactly what it is, but unfortunately I can't tell you.

Paul: Because I'm in the room.

Gerry: We will redefine Jaguar as a completely different, new business. We've already said they'll be all-electric. In terms of what these vehicles will look like, they need to look like something you've never seen before. They need to be exciting. They need to be exuberant. They need to be aspirational. They need to be truly compelling and emotionally engaging. That's the direction that the designers have been given, and we've already started to visualize what that means, and it's very exciting.

But there are particular physical shapes and forms, that work better than others. There are certain classical elements and cars that can be made incredibly modern and exuberant and still have a level of relevance. And one of the things that I am preoccupied with is not following fashion or trend. I'm not interested what everybody else is doing. I think great artists, creators, innovators have generally been that way. And that's why I think it's important that you have those sorts of people right at the top of a company and not being dictated to by business people or generalists.

You mentioned "the direction that the designers have been given"now that you're in the C-suite, what is that like? Do you put marker to paper anymore? I assume that at that level you're just sort of overseeing.

Yeah. I mean the reality is that I have a big team. I'm sort of a thinker, if you like. Clearly I come from a background where drawing cars is what I was really good at. I came to America when I was virtually a kid, 21 or whatever, and I was taught here how to draw cars with magic markers and vellum and Rembrandt pastels and all that sort of stuff. If I said to one of my designers, "Draw me a car now with that stuff," they'd run a mile, because they're doing it all on the screen.

My job is to create the vision, and it is quite descriptive. It's this, and it's not that. But I'm not sitting there drawing it on the computer. I do get involved in all the design reviews, and we do them regularly, when I look at stuff and I say, "Yes. No. Yes. No. Move this. Move that." So it's not just saying something then presenting the end result, because that would be delinquent of me. If I'm going to put my name to it, that team needs to be speaking my language.

Looking at the creative personality of the whole business is what I do now. Clearly that starts with these products [gestures towards the JLR booth at the auto show]. And I have some great people around me, that know what I'm on about. Some of my designers have worked with me for 20-odd years. So when I say reductive, when I say free from excess, when I say I want to see more plan shape, I want to see more attack on, they know all that. So they translate what I'm saying.

I think in the automotive world, there's always that desire to have one name to put to a design, while the reality is everything is created by a team effort. But there has to be a singular creative view. That doesn't mean to say you're there drawing it all, but it has to come from a singular creative view.

Range Rover, 1st generation

Range Rover, 2nd generation

Range Rover, 3rd generation

Range Rover, 4th generation

Range Rover, 5th generation

What are some of the challenges of overseeing a staff of automotive designers?

I remember a designer a few years ago that we brought from Audi, an interior designer. He was really good. And I remember looking at his work and it was beautiful. I used to say to him, "I love that designbut that ain't us. You've got to get out of that way of thinking. That isn't a Land Rover." And he really struggled with it. So there is a sort of a philosophy. It ain't just about having designers that are great designers. They've got to understand what the philosophy is and how that transitions and manifests into the product, to the metal, to the architecture.

Were you able to separate him from his design instincts?

In the end, he went, unfortunately. I'd still invite him back. He started to [come around] in the end, but he said to me that he was struggling with it, because he was so used to a particular way of working. Oh, you know Marc Newson, the designer?

Of course.

I remember I worked with him for a while, when I first went to Ford, and he was doing those concept cars about 20 years ago when J Mays was there. The 021C, it was a little sort of push-me-pull-me-shaped car for the Japanese market, which J directed. I always remember meeting him for the first time in Turin, and he'd done a lot of product design by that time, the lounge chairs and all this stuff. And he said to me, "I've never tried designing a car before, Gerry. How do you do it? It's a total mind fuck for me." I always remember that [laughing], it's really funny.

C-Suite Commonwealth guys: You, Ive, Newson, I'd love to have the three of you in a room talking about this stuff.

He doesn't talk very much, though, Mark. He's quite quiet.

Your official title is now Professor Gerry McGovern. Can you tell us about that?

It's a professorship with the Royal College of Art, at which I studied. It is a proper professorship, not just a title, because I do get involved with the college doing three or four lectures a year.

It's also engaging with, through my team, teaching the rudiments of design. I'm very keen, particularly with the Royal College, that we make sure it doesn't drift into becoming too technical. I'm pushing for "let's get back to basics," teaching students to become good at being able to produce design basics. How you design something. How you shape it. How you draw it, whether it's on the screen or free-hand. How you surface something. How you reconcile the technical aspects with the aesthetic aspects. How they work, and how that works together. How you prioritize. That sort of stuff.

I think that there's great young designers out there, but they need to be nurtured. I think you've got to give them the ability to develop their own language, their own design philosophy, but you've got to teach them the basics. A lot of that is you've got to get the right people in the colleges teaching, for a start. I think that there's teachers getting there that spent a couple of years in a design studio and then they teach. You need to spend a lot longer than that to become really competent.

For the young, aspiring automotive designers who want to work at JLR: What is it like working for you? What do they need to have?

Well, they need to look great, for a start. [Laughs.] No, I think they have to be passionate about what they believe in. If it was in my organization, they'd have to share that view of looking forward and not back, not being traditional, but being determined and understanding the basics of proportion, of balance, of line.

And remember, most car designers want to be Exterior Designers. And then if they can't be, they want to be Interiors. But the whole design process now needs different types of designers, like digital designers, too. At the moment, I want to find some really good digital designers who can not only design that interface in terms of what you see on the screen, but how that connects to our language throughout the brand, so there's that consistency, particularly when you think of all the other things we're trying to do with digitalization, sustainability, the difference services that eventually are available on board and relate to off board and all that sort of stuff.

I remember one person who wanted to be an exterior designer, and she was intellectually very capable, but she was preoccupied with wanting to be an exterior designer. She wasn't good. When it comes to exterior design, there is a bit of you've either got it or you haven't. You can't teach it. It's a natural input. There's a natural ability. It could be developed, but some people just aren't good at it, but that doesn't mean to say they couldn't be a great interior designer or they couldn't be a great graphic designer or digital designer. There's also a need for people to help evolve the designer, interface with the engineers and all the other people that we work with.

There's no point just drawing and building a model. How do you bring that to reality? It's a multi-discipline task, and people that can communicate well, understand the vision and advocate it and take people on that journey with them.

I think that generally, young designers today are better educated. They are more knowledgeable about the whole process, and that's great, but they need to understand the basics of design, if that's what they want to be.

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Auto Designer Gerry McGovern on Modernism, Evolution and What Design Students Should be Learning - Core77.com