🔮 The anthropocene realised; Stripe’s banking platform & Sequoia’s Black Swan predictions; Dollar longevity; talking trees & bionic soldiers ++ #300

Hi, I’m Azeem Azhar. I convene Exponential View to help us understand how our societies and political economy will change under the force of rapidly accelerating technologies.

This Friday, I asked members for their thoughts on the actions taken against Facebook in the US. 

🇸🇪 Finally, I had a fantastic conversation with the CEO of IKEA, Jesper Brodin, about the company’s plans to transform into a climate positive enterprise by 2030. IKEA currently emits 0.1% of annual global greenhouse emissions, and Jesper is open about the challenges ahead, but he also emphasizes that this is the only way they - or any other company - can stay relevant.

The near future

🌍 New evidence indicates that the Anthropocene has truly arrived. The combined mass of human-made objects now exceeds the mass of natural objects on Earth, according to Emily Elhacham and colleagues. The mass of plastic, at 8Gt, is double that of animals.

👍 Matt Stoller says the antitrust cases against Facebook and Google show that w…