While Artemis II was circumnavigating the Moon in strict live broadcast, bombs fell and rained miserably on Beirut, the US president announced the liquidation of an entire civilization in a flash and the IMF warned us to prepare for the worst. While we were telekinetically watching the Moon, the permanent global war accelerated its homicidal and lunatic impulses on Earth. And this, when freely looking at the Moon is a universal right all over the world that, for now, no one has managed to prohibit or commercialize. Yet. It won't be for contradictions or antagonisms, nor because one thing doesn't deny the other –or does it– nor because they steal our attention every day, the most profitable contemporary business, while they steal our wallet every night. Improbable balance, if indispensable scientific knowledge excites me with every advance, the geopolitical lunar imperial race terrifies me with every step. Words of Montaigne: "Anaximenes wrote to Pythagoras: how can I occupy my time solving the secret of the stars, if I always have slavery and death before me?".To that film titled Don’t look up –don’t look up and don’t become aware, in the era of the anthropocene, of how we are destroying the planet–, we could add Don’t look down –avoid always looking at the devastating social consequences of capitalism in its rogue, warlike, authoritarian, and sociopathic phase–. Even, they also subtly order us never to look to the side –not to worry if the neighbor is about to be evicted, if their mental health is faltering, or if loneliness is consuming them–. That is to say, almost generally, the systemic systematic order is that, between the navel and the spaceship, we look nowhere. And that we only look at the screen, where the algorithm –which already knows you better than you do– will make you happy with addictive dopamine. Without giving up any battlefield, those we choose and those we don’t, I can’t help but say this week that is ending: I wish libraries were filled more than TikTok. I wish. And if they say, as a metaphor, that Yuri Gagarin blurted out "I don't see any God up here", one wonders, down here, where the hell is God in Gaza. Nowhere?Journey to the Center of the Earth, it turns out that the urge to escape to conquer the Moon clumsily connects, in a revived geopolitical space race, with the real repeat offenders. The steppe wolves of the free market and the pimps of power – so often Martian, so often alien –. The hidden face of the Earth has nothing hidden about it: it would be not what is not seen, but what we do not want to look at. What we see every day and refuse to accept. An Essay on Blindness, Saramago would say. Artemis II will cost 93 billion dollars. 3.8% of a runaway global military budget. It is the same amount with which the UN has estimated the cost of eradicating hunger completely from the face of the Earth – not from the Moon –. Meanwhile, in space, we are doing the same as on Earth: polluting it into an infinite landfill. It is officially estimated that more than 10,000 tons of debris and scrap metal are already orbiting the Earth. A poem –A Farewell to the Astronauts– by Hans Magnus Enzensberger delves into the wound: "Only on planets / where no orange trees grow / nor walnuts nor vines / do I give little value. [...] Poor in imagination and rather conservative / I stick to older / promises: / the earth to the earth / and the dust to the dust".Neither technophile nor technophobic nor technoneutral nor technofascist, many years ago I read a small gem of sublunary terrestrial ethics called People Who Don't Want to Travel to Mars (Catarata, 2004). It was written by the good Jorge Riechmann, a philosopher, professor, and committed citizen. Today Jorge is facing prison sentences, in two trials scheduled for May in Madrid, for protesting, peacefully and scientifically, against inaction in the face of the climate emergency. Things that happen on Earth and not on the Moon, because surely there are other worlds, but I would say they are all here. In that book, which I revisit often, I read a phrase by Stanisław Jerzy Lec: "Don't try to reach the Moon. It should still last us a billion years." It is quite likely that nihilistic technofantasy makes us believe in other planets because we no longer believe in this one, and that it makes us believe in technological transhumanism because we no longer give a damn about the ambiguous and ambivalent human condition. Completely abandoning terrestrial exploration – let's say – of social justice, ecosocial transition, political democracy, or freedom among equals. Close to the ground, between the right to look at the Moon and the duty to preserve the Earth, we must radically resolve that one thing is the imperial colonization of space under the brutal law of the far west and another, very different and antagonistic, the humble wisdom of Carl Sagan. Long ago, about this pale blue dot where we still live, he wrote this, regarding the face – neither hidden nor dark – of the Earth:«Look again at this spot. It is here, it is our home, it is us. In it all of those whom you love, all of those whom you know, all of those of whom you have ever heard, every human being who ever lived, lived out its life. The sum of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and gatherer, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor or explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a speck of dust suspended in a sunbeam.Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood shed by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties committed by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel upon the hardly distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill each other, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturing, our imagined self-importance, the illusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this pale dot. Our home. That pale dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The universe is a very big place in a very big cosmic arena. Our posturing, our imagined self-importance, the illusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this pale dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The universe is a very big place in a very big cosmic arena. Our posturing, our imagined self-importance, the illusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this pale dot.Our planet is a lonely point in the great expanse of cosmic darkness. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from anywhere else to save us from ourselves. Earth is the only world known for now to harbor life. There is no other place, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle down, not yet. One way or another, for now, Earth is the place where we must make our stand. Astronomy has been said to be an experience of humility and character building. Perhaps there is no better demonstration of the folly of human prejudices than this distant image of our tiny world. For me, it underscores our responsibility to treat each other more kindly, and to preserve this pale blue dot, the only home we have ever known. Amen.

This week Anthropic has presented an AI that it has decided not to sell because it considers it too dangerous; Meta has launched the first closed model in its history and has abandoned the commitment to open source that it had preached as a moral obligation, and OpenAI is preparing GPT-6 while a journalistic report uncovers very questionable practices by the director. All three together paint the portrait of an industry in a race without brakes, incapable of self-governance or not interested in doing so.

When you open the mobile app to order a taxi, when you pay by card, or when you watch a series on Netflix, these applications do not work in isolation. Behind them is an invisible network of digital infrastructures: APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). They are the digital backroom that makes the mobile ecosystem work, and without them, 80% of current applications would stop working.

It all began with the solidarity and involvement of some young people during the covid-19 pandemic, in 2020. They asked people to donate tablets to recondition them so that the elderly people in hospitals or residences could communicate with their families, who could not visit them due to mobility restrictions. In fact, more than one person was able to say goodbye to their family thanks to these devices.

Beth Noveck (New Jersey, USA, 1971) makes it clear in each of her answers that she refuses to fall into defeatism. She offers solutions, gives examples of success, and argues that AI can help improve the functioning of institutions. And she knows what she's talking about, not only because she is an expert in how to use technology to make governments more open, but because she knows institutions from the inside: she was the first Chief Technology Officer of the United States during the administration of Barack Obama. She visits Barcelona to sponsor the presentation of the Pompeu Fabra University's 2026-2037 Strategy.

I had a really messed up dream last night. I dreamt there were some puppies, and one of them had been enhanced with artificial intelligence. I was terrified and kept thinking: how did we get to this point?

It has been ten years since a phenomenon that revolutionized the streets and phones of thousands of people around the world. The Pokémon Go app, an augmented reality game in which players have to go outside and search for creatures with their mobile camera, became a huge success. But the mobile cameras of users have served the game's creator, the company Niantic, to achieve a more ambitious goal. It has used the photos, without players knowing, to create a three-dimensional map of the world that autonomous robots will now use to move through the streets, especially when delivering packages and orders.

Working in digital marketing, and running my own company, often makes it difficult to separate work from family. When I was little, I helped prepare things in my grandmother's shop, and this family business was a place where everyone could contribute, even a child, no matter how small.

Did you know that algorithms decide what ads we see on social media? It might seem insignificant, but it's not. "If you're a young person about to decide on a university degree, it's very likely that if you're a guy, social media will show you degrees in engineering and computer science, and if you're a girl, degrees in education, nursing, and caregiving," says Liliana Arroyo Moliner, PhD in sociology and director of the Chair for Socially Responsible Digital Innovation. Milagros Sainz, a researcher and professor at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), explains that the popular Google Maps app "uses a man's pace to calculate walking distances, which often makes women or people with mobility issues take longer." There's also discrimination when looking for work, in healthcare, and with the algorithms used by banks to decide whether or not to grant a loan, because the mathematical models of these algorithms are applied in very different fields, and many decisions are made taking them into account.

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) once again demonstrated its powerful appeal. In its 20th edition, now an event that generates millions for the city (the organizers say over 580 million), it managed to attract some 105,000 attendees, despite the outbreak of war in the Middle East on the opening weekend, which hampered the arrival of some. Some of the leading companies at this congress, such as Huawei, LG, Samsung, and SK Telekom, are Asian.

Startups in the life sciences and healthcare sector in Catalonia, known as BioRegió, are once again positioning themselves as one of the cornerstones of the Catalan economy. Last year, with a record €517 million in investment in start-ups7% above the 2022 peak, and an upward trend in all system indicators that consolidates Catalonia as one of the epicenters of the pharmaceutical industry in Europe.

Arnau Pérez de Tudela Guasch is from Valls and runs a communications agency in Altafulla. A few years ago, Gerard Cañellas Prades, from Riera de Gaià, joined the agency. They both always said they had to do something to bring together everything in the world of calçots (where to make them, where to buy them, where to find the sauce...) and one day they had a lightbulb moment. Inspired by the hit app where people noted where to make hearty breakfastsThe CalçotApp has arrived.

On February 4th and 5th, the Montjuïc Congress Palace will once again host EdTech Congress Barcelona, ​​which this year takes a significant leap forward. The event, promoted by Fira de Barcelona and the EduTech Cluster, reinforces its role as an essential meeting point thanks to a new alliance with Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), the leading international authority in the audiovisual sector. Both events will coincide, creating a unique ecosystem where technology, innovation, and education converge.

It works like Google Maps. You open the app and a map appears that allows you to identify "target-rich" environments. When the user taps on one of the marked points, information about the person appears: name, photo, date of birth, and a special number assigned by the government.

Amazon has announced a new wave of layoffs that will affect 16,000 people worldwide, none of them in Spain. This is the second major restructuring by the e-commerce and cloud computing giant in the last three months, following the one in January. will announce the departure of 18,000 peopleOf these, 791 were in the corporate offices in Barcelona. The company attributes this second wave to the restructuring process following the era of overhiring resulting from the pandemic.

"Catalonia plays in the big leagues." This is how Jaume Baró, Secretary of Business and CEO of Acció, explained the situation of the Catalan audiovisual sector in the world during the presentation of the study on this industry, which the Generalitat (Catalan government) prepares annually as a prelude to the ISE audiovisual trade fair, the most important in Europe for this sector, which celebrates its sixth anniversary this year in the Catalan capital. The event will take place from February 3 to 6 at the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona, ​​under the slogan Push Beyond ("go further").

Barcelona will host the annual Strategic Planning Session (SPS) of ICANN's GNSO Council this Tuesday and Wednesday, January 20 and 21, a key meeting for global internet governance. This will be the first time in history that this meeting has been held outside the United States, a significant milestone for Catalonia and for Accent Obert, the domain management entity. .catwhich will be the host organization. Furthermore, the organization asserts that holding the event outside the US for the first time reflects ICANN's desire to "decentralize the debate on internet governance and better reflect its global dimension," they point out.

Sisters Vanesa and Denia Martínez, president and CEO, and vice president, respectively, of Carinsa, the business they had to manage after the sudden death of their father in early 2000, and to which they have dedicated the Alberto Martínez Institute Foundation, entrust their efforts with enthusiasm. One an economist and the other a telecommunications engineer, working in tandem, they have led the company—which develops, produces, and markets fragrances for the detergent, home and personal care, and food and animal industries—to a turnover of €66 million last year and 5,200 employees. Looking ahead, with their characteristic passion, they plan to expand into Canada and the US by 2026, among other projects they explain in the... showroom Esencia, on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona, ​​hosts its client industries and holds immersive, aromatic, and "disruptive" events and sessions in a Gaudí-esque setting, and where they also receiveCompaniesBetween them, her mother, Isabel Chamorro, who chairs the foundation, and an initial partner of her father, make up the board of directors of this family group determined "not to depend on third parties" and aiming to reach 100 million in sales by 2030, unafraid to strengthen its presence, for example, in Venezuela, where they have been operating for some time.

The Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Administration, Óscar López, announced this Wednesday that the government will include Madrid in a joint bid with Catalonia for the European Gigafactory for Artificial Intelligence (AI), a project that could mobilize an investment of around 4 billion euros and that It must be carried out in Móra la Nova (Ebro River Basin). Sources from the Catalan government, which initially promoted the project, confirmed that the Catalan administration is working to expand the project to the Community of Madrid.

A new step towards Catalonia having a chip development and prototyping center. The Catalan government has awarded the contract for drafting the basic engineering project for the construction of Innofab, a project resulting from collaboration between the Spanish and Catalan governments, to the IDP group, part of Bureau Veritas, for €2.6 million. The proposal, which must be submitted in April 2026, will be the starting point for developing the detailed engineering design and the subsequent construction project, which is expected to be awarded in the summer of 2026. Innofab will be Catalonia's leading chip center and will be located in the Parc de l'Alba, in close collaboration with the synchrotron, in the municipality of Cerdanyola del Vallès. It will represent an investment of €400 million, part of which will be financed with resources from the Next Generation EU funds. It falls within the framework of the PERTE (strategic project) for the chip and the European Chips Act. These are two European initiatives that seek to strengthen European technological autonomy, one of Brussels' priorities.