Photo licensed from Adobe Stock. 

Text: Essi Ryymin (ENG/FIN)

There are so many of them! Remarkable master minds working in AI! Still, society often puts up barriers that hold them back. Yet, we rely on their expertise: they shape, among the other things, the quality and reliability of artificial intelligence. In other words, without their work, AI systems would be much more biased, which could seriously harm both individuals and society.

In the next two posts, I'll briefly (meaning: you can have a look over your coffee break) introduce twelve AI gurus and pioneers who have changed the direction of history. I chose them simply because they sparked my personal interests. In this first post, I'll focus on six brilliant talents whose work has shaped the development of AI and how we understand machines capable of learning. In the next post, I will highlight six exceptionally gifted researchers who have created practical AI applications.

Note: The bold text above is intentional. 

Note 2: I don't normally do APA7 formulated reference lists for blog posts. I've made an exception this time for my auntie Karen, who basically demands it, also for her shopping lists. My uncle Ken, on the other hand, does not, and he has made that very clear. Mostly because he knows  that evidence-based information is just another opinion. Anyway, the full list of references for the curious minds is down below, after the Finnish version of the text.

1. Grace Hopper (1906–1992) 
Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, Pioneer of Computer Programming

Grace Hopper created some of the first high-level programming languages and compilers, which helped software development grow. Her work made computers easier to use and set the stage for modern software engineering (Hopper, 1952; Sammet, 1969). Without these layers of abstraction, the complex software behind today’s AI would not exist. (This photo is absolutely stunning!🔥) 

Photo: Grace Hopper by Lynn Gilbert, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57587522

Photo: Margaret Hamilton standing next to a printout of the program code for the Apollo Guidance Computer that she and her MIT team produced for the Apollo Project. Restoration, created 1 January 1969. Uploaded 6 June 2017 via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(software_engineer) 

Photo: Barbara J. Grosz by Bengt Oberger (2015), CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_J._Grosz 

4. Julia B. Hirschberg (1950– )
Percy K. and Vida L. W. Hudson Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University

Julia B. Hirschberg has been important in developing speech recognition and conversational systems. Her work on prosody and speech structure helped make interactions between people and machines feel more natural (Hirschberg, 2002; Hirschberg & Manning, 2015). She has also pointed out biases in speech technology, especially those linked to gender and accent, which can impact how well these systems work for different users.

See Julia B. Hirschberg’s portrait on Columbia Engineering’s website: https://www.engineering.columbia.edu/faculty-staff/directory/julia-b-hirschberg

Photo: Fei-Fei Li speaking at AI for GOOD Global Summit by ITU Pictures, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/itupictures/35011409612/

Photo: Timnit Gebru speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 by Kimberly White / TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/52522100@N07/30671211838

Let’s, finally, call a spade a spade, plainly enough to make the faint-hearted uneasy. Let’s see whether, based on these individual examples, we might sketch some kind of continuum of AI development, even though such an exercise, based on a small and random sample, is strictly a no-go in science.

The development of artificial intelligence has progressed from building computational capacity and software engineering foundations toward learning models based on neural networks. This progress has been driven in particular by the availability of large datasets, scalable computing, and deep learning. The current phase is especially marked by the rise of generative language models, multimodality (text, image, and audio), as well as research into AI ethics and critical reflection.

I ran the chapter above by the prompted AI and it lowkey roasted the description for being too simple and skipping over a bunch of other parallel trajectories. This is a good start.  

#AI #researchers #developers #engineers #inventors #AIhistory #AIdevelopmenttrajectories 

Note 3. I used Grammarly to proofread this text. Translators say it sounds robotic, but I'm sticking with it for now. That said, I’ve checked the contents personally, so any mistakes are human-hallusinated.

Edited for clarity 7.4. 2026  Revised: "...how we understand machines capable of learning" (Originally: "...how we understand learning machines"). Revised: "...a printout of the program code" (Originally: "...listings of the software"). Revised: "...models for processing natural language" (Originally: "...create models for language understanding").  Thanks to my brilliant software engineering colleague, who is becoming an AI guru herself!

Tiivistelmä suomeksi: 

He tuntevat tekoälyn, mutta me emme tunne heitä. Osa 1. 

Heitä on niin paljon! Hämmästyttäviä AI-neroja nimittäin. Vaikka yhteiskunta asettaa heidän työskentelylleen jatkuvasti hähmäisiä esteitä, sama taho tarvitsee heidän osaamistaan kipeästi: he vaikuttavat muun muassa tekoälyn laatuun ja luotettavuuteen. Toisin sanoen ilman heidän panostaan tekoälyn vinoutumilla olisi merkittäviä haittavaikutuksia ihmisille ja yhteiskunnalle. 

Esittelen kahdessa seuraavassa postauksessa kaksitoista AI-gurua ja pioneeria, jotka olen valinnut oman kiinnostukseni perusteella. Ensimmäisessä setissä tavataan kuusi johtajaa, jotka ovat vaikuttaneet laajasti tekoälyn kehityssuuntiin ja ymmärrykseemme koneälystä. Myöhemmin, jahka ehdin ja jaksan, julkaisen toisen tekstin, jossa syvennyn lahjakkaisiin talentteihin, jotka ovat kehittäneet tutkimukseen perustuvia konkreettisia tekoälysovelluksia. 

Huom. Ylläolevat boldaukset ovat tarkoituksellisia ja ehkä vähän provokatiivisia.  

Grace Hopper (1906–1992)
Grace Hopper kehitti varhaisia korkean tason ohjelmointikieliä ja kääntäjiä, mikä mahdollisti ohjelmistokehityksen skaalautumisen. Hänen työnsä teki tietokoneista laajemmin käytettäviä ja loi perustan modernille ohjelmistokehitykselle (Hopper, 1952; Sammet, 1969). Ilman näitä abstraktiotasoja nykyinen tekoälyn kehitys, joka perustuu monimutkaisiin ohjelmistojärjestelmiin, ei olisi mahdollista.

Margaret Hamilton (1936– )
Margaret Hamilton johti Apollo-ohjelman ohjelmistokehitystä ja loi keskeisiä periaatteita ohjelmistojen luotettavuudelle. Hänen työnsä mahdollisti virheenkestävät järjestelmät, jotka pystyivät priorisoimaan kriittiset toiminnot lennon aikana (Hamilton, 1976). Nämä periaatteet ovat tärkeitä myös nykyisessä tekoälyssä, jossa järjestelmien luotettavuus ja turvallisuus ovat ratkaisevia erityisesti korkean riskin sovelluksissa.

Barbara J. Grosz (1948– )
Barbara J. Grosz on varhainen tekoälytutkija, joka kehitti malleja kielen ymmärtämiseen ja moniagenttijärjestelmiin. Hänen työnsä loi pohjaa älykkäille systeemeille, joissa tekoäly toimii yhteistyössä ihmisten kanssa ja huomioi toiminnan kontekstin sekä tavoitteet (Grosz & Sidner, 1986; Grosz et al., 2004). Grosz on myös pohtinut tekoälyn kehittämisen eettistiä näkökulmia ja muistuttanut sen yhteiskunnallisista vaikutuksista (Grosz, et al., 2019).

Julia Hirschberg (1950– )
Julia Hirschberg on pioneeritutkija puheentunnistuksen ja keskustelujärjestelmien kehittämisessä. Hänen tutkimuksensa esimerkiksi puheen rakenteesta ja prosodiasta (eli puheen "melodiasta") on auttanut rakentamaan luonnollisempaa vuorovaikutusta ihmisten ja koneen välillä (Hirschberg, 2002; Hirschberg & Manning, 2015). Hän on myös nostanut esiin vinoumia puheteknologiassa, erityisesti sukupuoleen ja aksentteihin liittyviä eroja, jotka vaikuttavat järjestelmien toimivuuteen eri käyttäjäryhmille. 

Fei-Fei Li (1976– )
Fei-Fei Li on vaikuttanut ratkaisevasti syväoppimisen läpimurtoon luomalla ImageNetin, laajan kuvadatan, joka kiihdytti neuroverkkojen kehitystä erityisesti vuoden 2012 jälkeen (Deng et al., 2009; Krizhevsky et al., 2012). Tutkimus loi perustan sovelluksille, joita käytetään nykyään terveydenhuollossa, liikenteessä ja digitaalisissa palveluissa (LeCun et al., 2015). Li on korostanut datan kriittistä arviointia syväoppimisessa: Mallit oppivat aineistosta ja heijastavat myös sen mahdollisia vinoumia (Mehrabi et al., 2021; Buolamwini & Gebru, 2018). Fei-Fei Li suosittaa ihmiskeskeistä tekoälyä, jossa tekninen kehitys linkittyy aina vastuullisuuteen ja yhteiskunnallisten vaikutusten huomioimiseen (Li, 2018).

Timnit Gebru (1983– )
Timnit Gebru on tekoälyn eettisen tutkimuksen suunnannäyttäjä. Hänen työnsä on osoittanut miten suurten datakokonaisuuksien ja mallien taustalla olevat valinnat tuottavat merkittäviä vinoumia ja haitallisia vaikutuksia (Gebru et al., 2018). Gebru tutkii jatkuasti kehittyvien kielimallien riskejä ja korostaa toiminnan läpinäkyvyyden ja datan laadun merkitystä (Bender et al., 2021).

Ajetaanpa lopuksi mutkat suoriksi niin, että heikompia hirvittää. Kokeillaan voisiko näiden yksittäisten esimerkkien pohjalta rakentaa jonkinlaista tekoälyn kehityslinjojen jatkumoa, vaikka tällainen pelihän on tieteessä tietysti täysin no go. Tekoälyn kehitys on edennyt laskentakapasiteetin ja ohjelmistotekniikan rakentamisesta kohti neuroverkkoihin perustuvia oppimismalleja. Kehitystä ovat vauhdittaneet erityisesti suurten tietoaineistojen saatavuus, skaalautuva laskenta ja syväoppiminen. Nykyvaihetta leimaa erityisesti generatiivisten kielimallien kehitys, multimodaalisuus (teksti, kuva ja ääni) sekä tekoälyn eettisyyden tutkimus ja kriittinen pohdiskelu. 

Promptasin erästäkin tekoälyä arvioimaan edellistä kappaletta tekoälyn ja ohjelmoinnin historian tutkijan ymmärryksellä. Vastaus herjaili kuvauksen olevan aika simppelsson ja jättävän huomiotta monia muita samanaikaisia kehityslinjoja. Joskus on siis mentävä tarkemmin pikseleihin, mutta nyt lähdettiin liikkeelle näillä ratapölkyillä.   

Huom. Käytin tämän tekstin oikolukuun Grammarlya. Ammattikääntäjien mukaan sen korjaukset kuulostavat robottimaisilta, mutta jep. Olen tarkistanut sisällön, joten kaikki virheet ovat vain ja ainoastaan ruudun tällä puolella hallusinoivan ihmisen. 

References

Bender, E. M., Gebru, T., McMillan-Major, A., & Shmitchell, S. (2021). On the dangers of stochastic parrots: Can language models be too big? Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 610–623. https://doi.org/10.1145/3442188.3445922

Buolamwini, J., & Gebru, T. (2018). Gender shades: Intersectional accuracy disparities in commercial gender classification. Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency, 81, 77–91. https://proceedings.mlr.press/v81/buolamwini18a.html

Deng, J., Dong, W., Socher, R., Li, L.-J., Li, K., & Li, F.-F. (2009). ImageNet: A large-scale hierarchical image database. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 248–255. https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPR.2009.5206848

Gebru, T., Morgenstern, J., Vecchione, B., Vaughan, J. W., Wallach, H., Daumé III, H., & Crawford, K. (2018). Datasheets for datasets. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1803.09010

Grosz, B. J., Grant, D. G., Vredenburgh, K., Behrends, J., Hu, L., Simmons, A., & Waldo, J. (2019). Embedded EthiCS: Integrating ethics across CS education. Communications of the ACM, 62(8), 54–61. https://doi.org/10.1145/3330794

Grosz, B. J., Kraus, S., Sullivan, D. G., & Das, S. (2004). The influence of social norms and social consciousness on intention reconciliation. Artificial Intelligence, 142(2), 147–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artint.2004.08.006

Grosz, B. J., & Sidner, C. L. (1986). Attention, intentions, and the structure of discourse. Computational Linguistics, 12(3), 175–204.

Hamilton, M. (1976). Computer gotchas. Datamation, 22(4), 68–76.

Hirschberg, J. (2002). Communication and prosody: Functional aspects of prosody. Speech Communication, 36(1–2), 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-6393(01)00024-3

Hirschberg, J., & Manning, C. D. (2015). Advances in natural language processing. Science, 349(6245), 261–266. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa8685

Hopper, G. M. (1952). The education of a computer. Proceedings of the ACM National Meeting, 243–249. https://doi.org/10.1145/609784.609818

Krizhevsky, A., Sutskever, I., & Hinton, G. E. (2012). ImageNet classification with deep convolutional neural networks. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 25, 1097–1105. https://proceedings.neurips.cc/paper/2012/hash/c399862d3b9d6b76c8436e924a68c45b-Abstract.html

LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436–444. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539

Mehrabi, N., Morstatter, F., Saxena, N., Lerman, K., & Galstyan, A. (2021). A survey on bias and fairness in machine learning. ACM Computing Surveys, 54(6), Article 115. https://doi.org/10.1145/3457607

Sammet, J. E. (1969). Programming languages: History and fundamentals. Prentice-Hall.

Photo licensed from Adobe Stock.

Text: Essi Ryymin

We’ve been describing the skills of the future over a decade. Analyses, frameworks, future visions, policies, heat maps, the lot. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 does it again, mapping the roles that are growing and the skills they’ll demand. Helpful? Yes. Sufficient? Not anymore. The messy is now the new normal of working life and the only way through it is to finally live the skills we keep talking about.

Skills instability is structural 

Roles are remixing faster than job architectures can keep up. Burning Glass Institute’s research shows skill profiles inside roles are churning. New skills rise, others fade, and the half-life of what you “know” keeps shrinking. This is a standing feature of modern work. The peaceful moment after an occasional rush is not coming anymore. The new normal, messy is like gravity, not weather.

The World Economic Forum’s outlook backs this up at a macro scale. Tech and green transitions are rearranging demand across entire occupations, while skills gaps sit among the top barriers to transformation. What does this mean in practice? Your job is less a noun and more a verb, a moving one.

Human-centered skills are the fastest-rising

Yes, AI skills are hot. But the most durable advantage is surprisingly analog, meaning, how you relate, frame, and decide. LinkedIn’s recent data, reported by Axios,  puts communication at the top of employer demand, again, while leadership, collaboration, and adaptability remain perennial chart-toppers. The more tech pervades workflows, the more those human interfaces matter.

OECD’s latest synthesis adds rigor. It reveals that social and emotional skills reliably predict labor-market outcomes and well-being, not just grades. In other words, being able to read the room, regulate your reactions, and build trust has measurable career ROI.

GenAI isn't closing gaps but accelerating them

Generative AI acts as a force multiplier, especially for people and teams who are ready to learn and adapt. McKinsey’s 2025 AI survey shows that more organisations are using AI, but many still struggle to use it effectively. The companies that get the most value from AI are strong in areas like strategy, leadership, and new work methods. When these areas are weak, AI tends to increase the performance gap between teams and companies.

In the job market, AI is spreading faster than many workers can reskill, which is causing both excitement and worry about jobs. Policy experts and business leaders are now more open about how disruptive AI can be, especially for people starting their careers. This does not mean humans are out of the picture, instead, it makes uniquely human skills even more valuable in stressful times

Success at work is no longer about what you know, but about how you respond when the situation gets messy

However, ambiguity, well-being, and productivity in the workplace are shaped by continuous development. When stakes are high, and situations become unclear or emotionally charged, employers prioritise how employees respond under pressure over “by textbook” solutions. In critical moments, it is not just knowledge, but four key behaviours that enable workplace communities to navigate challenges: 1) Making sense of ambiguity, 2) taking others’ perspectives, 3) regulating emotions, and 4) creating psychological safety, trust, that encourages honesty.

Let’s look more closely at supporting scientific research:

• First, sensemaking is the ability to interpret complex, unclear situations by constructing coherent explanations, identifying possible options and tradeoffs, and selecting a path forward despite incomplete information.
• Next, perspective-taking is the skill of understanding and clearly expressing an opposing point of view, and using that insight to help guide a group. This is not just about being pleasant, but about reducing political friction and improving collective outcomes.
• Additionally, emotion regulation is the ability to maintain curiosity, composure, and openness when facing challenges or criticism, rather than reacting defensively or emotionally.
• Finally, fostering psychological safety is about making sure everyone feels comfortable raising concerns, giving honest feedback, and speaking up without worrying about negative consequences. When people feel safe, it supports their well-being and helps the team perform, innovate, and learn better.
  
  

These capabilities are difficult to replicate, automate, or scale in the absence of a shared cultural commitment. Developing these skills requires a collective sharing within the workplace community. They cannot be cultivated in isolation or assigned to individuals alone.

Smart tools to start practicing with 

But as smart species that we are, we can harness our technology to develop these skills is us. Have you heard for instance about Cyborgs?
It's an awarded Estonian innovation that focuses on rehearsing behaviour in complex, messy work situations, rather than just teaching knowledge. There are plenty of similar applications and platforms (behaviour-first, scenario-based) to practice the skills. See the list of some examples here:

Cyborgs

• Provides realistic, story-driven workplace simulations that help teams build key competencies and soft skills in dynamic, unpredictable environments. 
• Uses interactive scenarios that feel like an escape room challenge — teams must deliver a complex project under tight deadlines to a demanding client. 
• Widely used for developing teamwork, communication, problem solving, and adaptability in professional settings. 
• Focus: behaviour and collaboration under social pressure in workplace-like situations.
  🔗 https://cyborgs.work  

Sopu Academy

• Offers negotiation training designed to help individuals and teams build practical skills for influencing outcomes and reaching agreements in real-world contexts.
• Uses structured modules and scenario-based exercises that focus on strategy, communication, and effective bargaining techniques.
• Widely used by professionals seeking to improve negotiation confidence, conflict resolution skills, and decision-making in both workplace and everyday situations.
• Focus: developing negotiation mindset and interpersonal influence through guided practice and frameworks.
• 🔗 https://sopuacademy.com

 
Kialo

• Provides a structured debate and discussion platform that helps users strengthen critical thinking, sense-making, and reasoned communication.
• Uses visual argument mapping to break down complex topics into clear positions and supporting reasons, encouraging thoughtful dialogue and analysis.
• Widely used in educational, professional, and community settings to enhance clarity of thought, civil discourse, and collaborative sense-making.
• Focus: refining reasoning skills and understanding multiple perspectives through structured argumentation.
• 🔗 https://www.kialo.com

Mursion

• Utilises AI-driven avatars paired with live facilitators to recreate realistic leadership, feedback, and conflict situations.
• Enables participants to practice challenging interpersonal interactions in a safe, controlled environment.
• Widely used in leadership development and professional training—including education and corporate contexts.
• Focus: behavior and communication under social pressure in high-stakes scenarios.
• 🔗 https://www.mursion.com/

Finally, what should then be the first practical thing to do when things get messy? As one wise man once said, “Keep calm and carry on.” That advice is still just as relevant today.

Note: This text uses Google Scholar, a search engine for scientific publications, to find sources and artificial intelligence to analyse and summarise research results (SciSpace, Scholar GPT). It also uses Grammarly for language proofreading. 

#behaviour #socialskills #socialpressure #rapidtransformation #newwork #changeatwork #scenariobasedapplications #futureskills #AI

Tiivistelmä suomeksi: 

Eniten merkitsee se, miten käyttäydyt, kun tilanne mutkistuu

Nopeasti muuttuva työelämä saattaa tuntua toisinaan kuin jatkuvalta ja ennakoimattomasti etenevältä remontilta. Seinät liikkuvat, kahvihuone löytyy milloin mistäkin, ja kytkimestä, josta viimeksi sytytettiin valot, nyt ne sammutetaan. Roolit ja osaamisvaatimukset muuttuvat nopeammin kuin strategiakalvot. Listat tulevaisuuden taidoista eivät enää riitä. Nyt tarvitaan niiden jokapäiväistä toimeenpanoa. 

Tutkimukset kertovat samaa viestiä eri suunnista, osaamisvaatimukset ovat alituisessa liikkeessä. Työ ei ole enää titteli, vaan jatkuvasti kehitteillä oleva tapa tehdä ja oppia. Kestävimmät taidot ovat yhä inhimillisiä. Viestintä, yhteistyö, sopeutumiskyky ja kyky lukea tilanteita ja ihmisiä vaikuttavat suoraan sekä työn tuloksellisuuteen että hyvinvointiin.

Odotamme ja saamme paljon apua generatiiviselta tekoälyltä, mutta se ei välttämättä tasoita työpaikkojen kyvykkyyseroja. Eniten tekoälystä  nimittäin hyötyvät ne organisaatiot, joilla on jo valmiiksi selkeä suunta, toimiva johtaminen, järkevät työtavat ja päivittyvä tiekartta tulevaisuuteen. Tai edes ääneen lausuttu tavoite kehittää niitä tosimielellä. Jos perusta on heikko, myös älykäs kehittäminen rakentuu savijaloille.

Jatkuvassa muutoksessa hyväkin työ hässäköityy monista työntekijästä riippumattomista tekijöistä. Monet tutkijat uumoilevatkin, että ratkaisevaa sekä työn tulokselle että hyvinvoinnillemme on se, miten toimimme, kun tilanne muuttuu sekavaksi. Osaavatko työyhteisöt jäsentää epävarmuutta, ymmärtää erilaisia näkökulmia, säädellä reaktioitaan ja luoda ilmapiiriä, jossa voi puhua avoimesti? (Ei kai kukaan enää tosissaan ehdota rakenteellisiin haasteisiin lisää syväkyykkyjä?)

Kyseessä ovat nyt sellaiset tiheäsyiset ja kulttuuriin kutoutuneet osaamiset, joita on vaikeaa simuloida, replikoida, automatisoida tai kehittää ilman samaa ilman hengittävien ihmisten yhteistä ja tietoista ponnistelua. Älykkäänä lajina voimme kuitenkin valjastaa nerokkaat tukiälymme ja teknologiamme auttamaan meitä näidenkin taitojen harjottelussa. Kokosin ylemmäs listaa mielenkiintoisista ohjelmista, jotka vaikuttavat potentiaalisilta. 

Kannattaa vilkaista uusin tulokas, virolainen innovaatio Cyborgs. Olin juuri tapahtumassa, jossa yksi softan kehittelijöistä esitteli sitä sanoilla: "Hyvä yleisö, tarvitsette tätä, jos olette ikinä olleet töissänne siinä pisteessä, että olette halunneet [noh, eräs kohtalaisen väkivaltainen verbi] jotakuta". Asiantuntijoista täyttynyt yleisö naurahteli vaivautuneesti, mutta nyökkäili.

Huomio: Tämän tekstin lähdehaussa on käytetty Google Scholaria, ja lähteiden tutkimustulosten analysoinnissa sekä tiivistämisessä on hyödynnetty tekoälyä (SciSpace, Scholar GPT). Englanninkielisen version oikolukuun on käytetty Grammarlya. Härmä on jälleen kerran mitä on. 

#sosiaalisettaidot #työelämä #muutos #tekoäly #hyvinvointi #osaaminen #tulevaisuudenosaamiset #jatkuvamurros #tutkimusjatyö

Text: Essi Ryymin

Philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt’s (1906-1975) “The Origins of Totalitarianism” (1951) is a significant work that explores the emergence of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century, focusing on Nazism and Stalinism. Arendt examines the historical, political, and social foundations of totalitarianism, providing insights into how these regimes gained power, how they functioned, and what set them apart from other authoritarian systems. Arendt’s analysis is still strikingly relevant in today’s context. Many current political trends in Western democracies reflect her concerns about society descending into moral and cultural decline.

Masses of alienated and isolated

Like in the past, populism attracts individuals who feel overlooked by conventional political leaders. In many countries, populist movements often arise from a sense of frustration with the political establishment. Voters may feel that their problems are being overlooked and that the system is working against them.

Arendt argued that isolation fosters totalitarianism. Today, technological and social shifts, and globalisation, have contributed to a sense of disconnection among many. The decline of traditional community structures, increasing inequality, and societal fragmentation have created an environment where the masses feel isolated and powerless, making them more vulnerable to populist messages.

Arendt noted that totalitarian movements often gravitate around a charismatic leader who offers hope. Populist movements frequently revolve around leaders who position themselves as outsiders and defenders of the ordinary people. These leaders often promise to take the battle to the political elite and propose simple solutions to complex issues such as immigration and trade.

Declining, destroying, dehumanising

Many populist movements express strong hostility to traditional democratic institutions, including the judiciary, the media and political elections. When these institutions oppose populism, they are often labeled as corrupt or biased, similar to how totalitarian leaders undermine institutions to strengthen their control. This decline in trust in democratic institutions is one of the critical warning signs Arendt highlighted.

Arendt cautioned that the destruction of truth is a crucial step toward totalitarianism. The surge of fake news, disinformation, and “alternative facts” makes it increasingly difficult for many to discern what is true. Arendt pointed out that totalitarian regimes often capitalise on and exacerbate racial and ethnic tensions, using these divisions to strengthen their control. Populist leaders frequently rally their followers by portraying certain groups as enemies of the state or nation. Totalitarian regimes dehumanise and marginalise specific groups to unify the masses.

The normalisation of evil

One concept deeply concerning is Hannah Arendt’s "the banality of evil”. This idea is central to her book “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil” (1963). The book stems from Arendt’s reporting on the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962), a high-ranking Nazi official. Eichmann was a principal architect of the Holocaust, tasked with organising the logistics of deporting millions of Jews. Arendt contended that Eichmann was not a monstrous, fanatical ideologue but rather an ordinary bureaucrat and a family man who followed orders without critically considering their moral consequences. He prioritised obedience to authority and career advancement over personal responsibility or ethical reflection.

The concept of the banality of evil (as Arendt understood it “evil becoming an everyday thing” and “evil as a common action”) concretisises how not only individuals but also societies can slip into authoritarianism where dehumanising policies become the norm. This shift occurs gradually, as political parties and establishment start to accept or overlook harmful actions, often citing political pragmatism, fear of losing support, or the belief that making concessions will protect a perceived greater good.

Getting involved

In open societies healthy democratic parties distance themselves from the extreme rhetoric of populist parties. However, as time goes on, they may begin to tolerate or even incorporate certain aspects of these policies as part of a broader strategy to stay competitive. In some cases, democratic parties might even ally with populist or far-right parties to maintain power or justify specific policy goals. In doing so, they often compromise on core principles and implicitly endorse the extreme elements of their partners’ agendas.

Without others, the night does not go on

A year ago, I went to see the play Eichmann – Where the Night Begins at Tampereen Työväen Teatteri. The work is based on a text by Italian playwright Stefano Massini (b. 1975) who explores the origins of evil and the individual’s responsibility within a totalitarian system by an imagined dialogue between philosopher Hannah Arendt and Adolf Eichmann. The performance brings to the stage Arendt’s finding that evil can become ordinary when a society quietly begins to accept inhumanity as part of normal life.

Massini emphasises that no one changes the course of history alone, but everyone plays a part in it. As the play’s introduction states: “One person’s role may be the first, the hundredth, or the thousandth – but without others, the night does not go on". What made the performance especially memorable was the charismatic Seela Sella’s (b. 1936) role as Hannah Arendt. Her powerful presence and portrayal of the uncompromising Arendt were unforgettable.

#BookClub #HannahArendt #TheOriginsofTotalitarianism# #EichmannInJerusalem #IndividualResponsibility #MoralRreflection
#CrisiOf Democracy

Note: Generative AI (DeepL, and Grammarly) was used to assist with the language proofreading and grammatical refinement of this post. However, as the text has not been checked by a native English speaker, it contains some oddities.

Tiivistelmä suomeksi:

"Mistä yö alkaa?" 

Filosofi Hannah Arendtin (1906-1975) teos The Origins of Totalitarianism (suomeksi "Totalitarismin synty") on vuonna 1951 julkaistu klassikkoteos, jossa Arendt tarkastelee totalitaaristen järjestelmien, erityisesti natsismin ja stalismin, historiallisia, poliittisia ja sosiaalisia juuria. Hän analysoi, miten antisemitismi, imperialismi, massojen vieraantuminen ja yhteisöllisyyden rapautuminen loivat pohjan totalitarismille, ja miten karismaattiset johtajat pystyivät hyödyntämään ihmisten turhautumista. Arendt toteaa, että demokratioiden heikkeneminen alkaa usein luottamuksen menettämisestä instituutioihin, totuuden vääristymisestä ja viholliskuvien rakentamisesta. Pelottavan tuttua.

Myöhemmässä teoksessaan Eichmann Jerusalemissa: raportti pahuuden banaaliudesta (1963) Arendt syventää totalitarismianalyysiaan tarkastelemalla natsirikollinen Adolf Eichmannin (1906-1962) oikeudenkäyntiä. Hän esittää, että Eichmann ei ollut poikkeuksellinen hirviö, vaan tavallinen virkamies, joka “seurasi vain ohjeita”, kuten Eichmann hoki oikeudenkäyntinsä loppuun saakka. Arendt korostaa yksilön vastuuta, kriittisen ajattelun merkitystä ja demokraattisten arvojen puolustamista silloinkin, kun se tarkoittaa jo vakiintuneiden sääntöjen, ohjeiden ja normien vastustamista.

Kävin katsomassa vuosi sitten Tampereen Työväen Teatterin esityksen “Eichmann – mistä yö alkaa”. Kyseessä oli Stefano Massinin (s. 1975) teksti, joka rakentuu kuvitteelliseen keskusteluun Hannah Arendtin ja Adolf Eichmannin välillä. Teos tutkii, miten tavallinen ihminen voi muuttua väkivallan ja julmuuden välineeksi noudattaessaan sokeasti käskyjä. “Yhden ihmisen rooli voi olla ensimmäinen, sadas tai tuhannes – mutta ilman muita yö ei jatku.” Esityksestä teki erityisen mieleenpainuvan itkettävän ihanan, säkenöivän karismaattisen, käsittämättömän lahjakkaan (jep, olen fani) Seela Sellan (s. 1936) rooli periksiantamattomana Hannad Arendtina.

“Ja äkkiä oli yö.” 

#BookClub #HannahArendt #TheOriginsofTotalitarianism# #EichmannInJerusalem #IndividualResponsibility #MoralRreflection
#CrisiOf Democracy

Ps. Käytin tämän postauksen englannin kielen tarkistamiseen generatiivista tekoälyä (DeepL ja Grammarly). Koska natiivi englannin osaaja ei kuitenkaan ole oikolueknut tekstiä, se sisältää kummallisuuksia. Saattaapa niitä sisältää suomenkielinen tiivistelmäkin, mutta otan härmän suhteen vähän enemmän vapauksia.

Image: LUMI Supercomputer by Mikael Kanerva, CSC. Copyright CSC. LUMI photos for media. 

Text: Essi Ryymin 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just about self-driving cars or clever chatbots. Increasingly, it is our partner in building society, helping to understand climate change, create new medicines, and even ensure that online information can be trusted. But with AI’s growing power comes a responsibility: how do we make it reliable, open, and beneficial for everyone?

That’s where ELLIOT comes in. Backed by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, this flagship project brings together 30 organisations from 12 countries to design a new generation of AI, systems that can handle many kinds of data at once, from videos and text to satellite signals and industrial sensors. Unlike today’s often narrow AI models, ELLIOT aims to create “generalist” AI that can adapt to real-world complexity, and do so transparently and responsibly.

ETH Zürich – knowledge at the cutting edge

ETH Zürich, one of Europe’s most prestigious technical universities, plays a central role. With decades of pioneering work in computing and engineering, ETH helps shape ELLIOT’s scientific backbone. But the university isn’t only about algorithms — it also brings expertise in ethics, fairness, and regulation. This ensures that the models built aren’t just powerful but also trustworthy, in line with European values of openness and accountability.

CSC and the quiet power of Kajaani

Then there’s CSC – IT Center for Science in Finland, home to the LUMI supercomputer. And here’s where the story gets interesting: LUMI doesn’t sit in Helsinki, Berlin, or Zürich, but in Kajaani, a small Finnish town that many Europeans, and even many Finns, struggle to locate on a map. For decades Kajaani was known for its paper mills. Today, it’s where some of the world’s biggest AI models are being trained. This reminds us that innovations emerge also from the quiet, behind-the-scenes work, not just from what's in the public eye.  

CSC is Finland’s non-profit, state- and university-owned IT expert organisation and a key part of the country’s research infrastructure. It provides supercomputing (including hosting the LUMI), cloud services, research data management, and the Funet national research network. CSC also develops digital solutions to support research, education, culture, and public administration. Would I be too poetic to formulate that the sharp thinking of CSC, powered by the ice-cold brains of LUMI, is ultimately directed toward serving the shared needs and aspirations of humanity?

Why this matters for Europe

Fundamentally, this all is about autonomy and confidence. By building AI infrastructure openly in Europe, and ensuring results are transparent and widely shared, the projects help reduce dependency on proprietary systems developed elsewhere. That means European researchers, educators, and companies can innovate on their own terms.

The benefits reach far beyond labs and supercomputers. Climate scientists will gain sharper models for understanding earth’s systems. Journalists can (soon) use AI to help fact-check faster. Educators will have new tools to strengthen, e.g., digital citizenship education. Public services can become more efficient and responsive.

Together, ETH Zürich, CSC, Kajaani and their European partners are showing that AI doesn’t have to be a black box controlled by a handful of companies. Instead, it can be a shared resource, built on openness, responsibility, and creativity. ​

​ ➡️ Did you know? Kajaani & LUMI

• Kajaani, a small town located about 550 kilometers north of Helsinki, used to be earlier known for its paper mills. Today, it hosts LUMI, one of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
• LUMI is installed in a former paper factory being a nice symbol of Finland’s transformation from heavy industry to high-tech innovation.
• The name LUMI means snow in Finnish, which is quite appropriate, since Kajaani sees snow for nearly half the year, and the cool climate is ideal for supercomputer servers.
• Despite its size and power, LUMI is one of the world’s most environmentally friendly supercomputers, running almost entirely on renewable hydroelectric energy.
• Kajaani is also very well known in international game industry due to its recognised studies of game development in Kajaani University of Applied Sciences. If you haven’t come across this, you have probably heard about Critical Ops (Critical Force), Stumble Guys (Kitka Games), Supercell, Housemarque, Remedy, and Ubisoft.

And finally, slightly off the topic, but still staying in Kajaani  

​If your interests lie in AI only, you can very well skip the following!

Kajaani is a town founded in 1651. It has risen from the ashes numerous times throughout its history, both literally and figuratively. Or rather, the people of Kajaani have pulled themselves out of the swamp by their hair, like Baron von Münchhausen. 

​Kajaani's strange fate has always been to drop off the official radar in Finland. For instance, YLE, Finland's national media company, produced a ten-part series filmed from a helicopter using 4K technology, which presented "the whole of Finland" as a tribute to Finland's 100-year-old independence in 2017. The material was filmed for four (!) years. However, Kajaani and its entire administrative region Kainuu (22 688 km² in 2021) were forgotten from the film. When the people of Kajaani, true to their typical style, politely and without making a fuss, wondered about this, YLE answered that unfortunately, there was not enough money and time for everything. The weather was also pretty bad. 

And now, I can hear a Swedish gent in the back row asking whether it was a matter of national security to skip Kajaani from the film? Thanks for asking, but no, it was not a security-related decision, as the entire country is practically a security-critical area, as you should very well know. It is more a case of neglecting remote areas, with viral attention particularly focused on growing cities. The majority of the region consists of forests and sparsely populated wilderness, and throughout its history, the region has struggled under the weight of profound poverty.

Many other regions in Europe face the same challenge. Yet it is precisely these "easy to forget" regions, from which no one expects anything, that can surprise us with innovations that are squeezed out of the pressure of being remote, like diamonds. 

So, there's certainly something about Kajaani. But I'm a bit biased source here, obviously. Kajaani is my hometown, and the story of my family is deeply intertwined with its struggles, hardships, and enduring spirit of resilience. 

​The ever-changing Kajaani is a quiet gem, revealed only to those who truly know how to see.

Image: LUMI data center at Renforsin Ranta business park in Kajaani, Finland by Mikael Kanerva, CSC.  Copyright CSC. LUMI photos for media. ​ 

Tiivistelmä suomeksi:

Luotettavaa tekoälyä Euroopan tulevaisuudelle: ELLIOT, ETH Zürich, CSC - ja Kajaani!

ELLIOT on EU:n Horizon Europe -ohjelman lippulaivahanke, jossa 30 organisaatiota 12 maasta kehittää uuden sukupolven avoimia, monimuotoisia tekoälymalleja. Tavoitteena on rakentaa läpinäkyvää ja vastuullista tekoälyä, joka pystyy käsittelemään monenlaista dataa ja toimimaan luotettavasti tosielämän monimutkaisissa ympäristöissä.

ETH Zürich tuo hankkeeseen huipputason tutkimusosaamista ja eettistä näkökulmaa, kun taas CSC - IT Center for Science vastaa superlaskennasta, muun muassa LUMI-supertietokoneen avulla. LUMI sijaitsee Kainuussa, Kajaanissa, kaupungissa, joka on ehkä usein jäänyt valtakunnallisen huomion ulkopuolelle, mutta joka on nostanut itsensä hiuksista ylös kerta toisensa jälkeen historiansa aikana. Paperitehtaan tiloihin asennettu LUMI on yksi maailman nopeimmista ja ympäristöystävällisimmistä supertietokoneista, ja symboloi osaltaan Kajaanin kehittymistä metsäteollisuudesta kohti huipputeknologiaa.

Yhteistyön merkitys ulottuu laajalle: ilmastotutkijat saavat tarkempia mallinnuksia, toimittajat (pian) uusia välineitä faktantarkistukseen, opettajat resursseja oppimisen kehittämiseen ja julkiset palvelut parempia työkaluja toimintaansa. Tärkeintä on riippumattomuus niistä monikansallisista, kaupallisista yhtiöistä, joiden algoritmit kytkeytyvät tavalla toisella arvoitukseksi jäävään ansaintalogiikkaan ja arvomaailmaan. 

Kajaani on vuolaiden vesien ympäröimä kaupunki, mutta veri virtaa vettäkin sakeampana; olen syntynyt Kajaanissa ja näin ollen olen sen menneisyyden muokkaama itsekin. Vaikka yritän tarkastella kaupunkia etäältä, huomaan olevani aina vähän puolueellinen, Kajaanin puolella. 

#EdTechTrends #AI #Supercomputer #EuropeanCollaboration #AIforGood #TransformingRegions

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto, Pexels (CC 0)  

Text: Essi Ryymin 

​​MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses, burst onto the education scene with huge fanfare, promising to revolutionise learning by offering free, top-notch content from prestigious universities to anyone, anywhere in the world. Yet, despite all that exciting potential, it's become clear that MOOCs aren't quite living up to the ideal of truly open-access learning.

As James Yoonil Auh points out in University World News, MOOCs simply aren't the same as genuine open-access learning. He explains that they've become "platformised, proprietary, and often more aligned with profit than pedagogy". What started as a promising open concept quickly transformed into a commercial ecosystem. Those who had hoped that MOOCs would solve challenges related to the global learning crisis were expecting more. Although there are many successful examples of MOOCs reaching large numbers of people, the concept has not yet been scaled up to provide an accessible, high-quality solution for those in need.

"Show me the money"

Courses that were once entirely free became "freemium," meaning you'd have to pay for things like certificates, and the platforms themselves began using algorithms to boost engagement for the sake of making money. While it's great that so many offer free access to course materials, there's often a hidden hurdle (PDF): if you want a certificate to prove you actually completed the course, you'll likely have to pay up. These fees can range, e.g., from 50€ to a hefty 300€ per course. 

This creates a problem, essentially setting up a two-tiered system. For students who simply can't afford these certificate costs – and these credentials are often crucial for getting a job or continuing education – the "openness" of MOOCs feels quite limited. It means that while the knowledge might be free, the recognised validation is anything but.

The lingual, cultural and pedagogical barriers

The significant hurdle is the language. For example 80% of courses advertised on the Coursera website were in English in 2019-2020. This immediately shuts out a massive number of potential students around the globe who don't speak English. But it's not just about language. A lot of the course content simply doesn't resonate culturally or feel relevant in many parts of the world. 

It's a striking fact that MOOCs are mostly offered by the big-name universities in the Global North. You'll find a lot of academic research and critical discussions pointing out how Western-centric these MOOCs can be, often falling short on global inclusiveness. These critiques frequently zero in on issues with the course content itself, the pedagogical methodology used, the languages offered, and general accessibility. The worry is that instead of democratising education, MOOCs might actually be reinforcing existing inequalities.

One study, published in Open Praxis, looked at 2.3 million learners taking 174 MITx courses. The authors found that MOOCs continue to attract a large volume of students who are already highly educated. This raises the question are MOOCs benefiting the people who least need open-access education the most?

​One of the persistent question of MOOCs is their low completion rates, sometimes dipping even below 10%. In further, MOOCs are frequently called out for their "one-size-fits-all" pedagogy. The low engagement and the struggle many people have with finishing the courses indicate that MOOCs aren't quite hitting the mark when it comes to pedagogical design or captivating communication. 

New openness in digital education

James Yoonil Auh encourages to rethink digital education within the context of the global learning crisis. He envisions open-access learning as a relational and co-created space, where learning is viewed as a public good rather than merely another product. This entails a shift from passively consuming information to actively building relevant new knowledge.

True openness in digital education in the global context requires:

• Investing in open, public digital infrastructure that supports diverse languages and low-bandwidth access for under-connected regions,
• empowering local educators to create culturally relevant content using inclusive teaching methods,
• prioritising learner-led initiatives like peer networks and collaborative curriculum design, and
• embedding ethical frameworks in educational technology that emphasise equity, diversity and collective well-being over metrics and profit.
  
  

The next hot question

However, the big question now is this: Is artificial intelligence finally delivering on the promise that MOOCs couldn’t - truly democratising global learning?

Note: Generative AI (DeepL, and Grammarly) was used to assist with the language proofreading and grammatical refinement of this post. However, as the text has not been checked by a native English speaker, it contains some oddities.

Tiivistelmä suomeksi: 

Lunastamaton lupaus - MOOCit ja globaali oppimisen kriisi

MOOCeja, eli massiivisia avoimia verkkokursseja, hehkutettiin aikoinaan huippuyliopistojen avoimesti tarjoamina globaaleina oppimisen foorumeina. Ilmaiset kurssit muuttuivat kuitenkin niin sanotuiksi "freemium-malleiksi", joissa todistuksista joutuu maksamaan. Tieto on siis avointa, mutta sen virallisella tunnustamisella on hintalappu. Tämä ei ole ehkä ongelma sinulle ja minulle, mutta alemman tulotason maiden opiskelijoille se on todellinen haaste,

Lisäksi noin 80% MOOCeista on englanninkielisiä, mikä tietysti tekee niistä saavuttamattomia monille. Kriittiset tutkijat ränttäävät lisäksi, että monien kurssien sisältö on kiusallisen länsikeskeistä ja pedagoginen suunnittelu jokseenkin laiskaa. MOOCien suoritusprosentit ovatkin alhaiset kaikesta potentiaalista huolimatta. (Jos kiinnostelee, vilkaise linkit englanninkielisestä tekstistä.) 

James Yoonil Auh ehdottaa, että avointa digitaalista opetusta pitäisi pohtia rohkeasti uudelleen, etenkin, jos ja kun siitä etsitään ratkaisuja globaaliin oppimiskriisiin. Moni muukin devaaja peräänkuuluttaa julkisia, monikielisiä digitaalisia infrastruktuureja, joita olisi mahdollista mukauttaa huomattavasi joustavammin kehittyville alueille. Ylikansallisen jakelun sijaan paikalliset kouluttajat tulisi kutsua mukaan rakentamaan sisältöä ja vahvistamaan vertaistukiverkostoja uuden tiedon käytäntöön soveltamiseksi. Ja vielä vähän nieleskeltävää: oikeus oppimiseen tulisi ilman muuta laittaa aina rahanteon edelle. 

Kuinka ollakaan, meillä on nyt kuitenkin käsissämme uusi ja jännittävä kysymys: voisiko tekoäly tehdä sen, mihin MOOCit eivät pystyneet – eli tuoda oppimisen globaalisti kaikkien saataville?

Ps. Käytin tämän postauksen englannin kielen tarkistamiseen generatiivista tekoälyä (DeepL ja Grammarly). Koska natiivi englannin osaaja ei kuitenkaan ole oikolueknut tekstiä, se sisältää kummallisuuksia. Saattaapa niitä sisältää suomenkielinen tiivistelmäkin, mutta otan härmän suhteen vähän enemmän vapauksia. 

#GlobalCampus #MOOCs #GlobalLearningCrisis #DemocratisingLearning #AI

Photo by Asad Photo Maldives on Pexels (CC 0)

Text: Essi Ryymin

​While the Global South still struggles with a lack of Internet connections in some regions, life in the Global North has become weirdly wired. 
​In an always-on society, not only has our work life become hyperconnected, but our free time has also become so. The notifications and feeds steal our attention and daily agendas, even our relaxing moments on the couch. And we have quietly adopted a new norm of behavior: we are aware, available, and reacting swiftly as reliable and competent employees, colleagues, friends, and citizens.  

And even deeper we dive. Many of us feel the strange pressure to constantly perform for invisible audiences in social spaces and demonstrate our personal value to algorithms. And what would happen if we get tired of our digital taskmasters and start slowing down on? Our very own brains will start resisting the idea due to their need for daily dopamine spikes and social validation. The brains wish to engage again in tickling  emotional responses and alluring cognitive biases, all of which are the media platforms clever, deliberate psychological tactics designed to maximise our everlasting scrolling. At this stage, we definitely need a digital detox to help calm down our nervous systems.

Are you still free to choose not to connect?

What is scarce often becomes a status symbol in society. Therefore, the possibility to disconnect, to choose not to be digitally present, signifies a form of wealth. Not necessarily monetary, but in terms of freedom and autonomy to decide not to disconnect. This isn't about shunning technology entirely but rather reclaiming the precious resources of time, energy, and genuine human connection.

International trend reports from 2025 indicate that for many, especially the affluent, the ability to unplug signifies a privileged position. It's a statement that you are in control of your attention, not its victim. You don't hand over your unique life to employers, advertisers, the media and their clickbait, "nice-to-knows"...you name it. 

The following are some examples of this:

1. The rise of digital detox retreats 
Luxury resorts and wellness centres are increasingly offering "phone-free zones" and "device-free stays". Travelers are paying significant sums to have their phones locked away by a "detox concierge", swapping screen time for activities such as hiking, yoga and meaningful conversation. The same new wave has brought us "slow luxury", which is all about authentic experiences and leisurely cultural pursuits that allow participation in real life, and savour the moment. The ability to simply be in the moment, without the pressure to document or perform, is...hmm... harder to fake? However, it seems that hyper-connected daily life requires hyper-personalised travels. 

2. Disconnecting as a new language of well-being
Columnist Dara Bernardo in Luxonomy writes about the privilege to disconnect as a revolutionary act. She claims that turning off your phone is an act of rebellion and cultural defiance. However, this is only possible for those who can do so without feeling guilty or anxious. These people possess a level of freedom that most can only dream of. "It's not about checking emails on a private jet; it's about having no one expecting you to. It's not working from a tropical island, it's simply not working." Those, who don't know how how to disconnect, may suffer from "the new illiteracy of luxury". 

3. Emphasising personal service over automated support
In an era of chatbots and automated FAQs, receiving personalised service from a real person is becoming a hallmark of luxury. Being able to connect directly with a human person who remembers your preferences, understands nuances, and provides bespoke solutions signals a level of care and exclusivity that automated online support don't replicate yet. This "human touch" fosters trust and loyalty in a way that algorithms can't. (Interestingly, this trend reminds me of the dystopian movie Elysium, where Max Da Costa, played by Matt Damon, is consulted about his health only by a dumb robot. Human services are reserved exclusively for the wealthy on the Elysium space station.)

Now, if you, like me, feel that you can't yet afford to escape to a disconnected paradise island, I have a tip for you: consider a Finnish version of a luxury digital detox resort! It goes like this: turn off your phone and turn on the sauna. 

Tiivistelmä suomeksi:

Offline on uutta ylellisyyttä

Koska olemme nykyisin aina verkossa, kyky olla keskeytyksettä läsnä hetkessä ja ilman sosiaalisen median aiheuttamia paineita ja riippuvuuksia on niin harvinaista herkkua, että siitä on kehkeytynyt uusi luksustrendi "harvoille ja valituille". Jopa siinä määrin, että kyvyttömyyttä irrottautua verkosta voidaan kutsua luksuksen lukutaidottomuudeksi.

Trendi näyttäytyy esimerkiksi henkilökohtaisesti räätälöityinä matkoina harvinaisiin kohteisiin, joihin sisältyy digipaasto, mahdollisuus olla saavuttamattomissa. Aikaa ja energiaa ei tuhlata kokemuksen dokumentointiin ja jakamiseen, vaan autenttisiin elämyksiin ja rauhoittumiseen. Tämän trendiaallon mukana matkustaa myös hidas elämäntapa, hidas muoti, hidas ruokailu ja kaiken kaikkiaan mahdollisuus tehdä ratkaisuja, joita verkkoon sidottujen, kiireen raskauttamien ihmisten on vaikeaa jäljitellä.

Myös riippumattomuus sosiaalisista verkostoista kuuluu asiaan. Ollaan sellaisen henkilökohtaisen statuksen äärellä, ettei omaa arvoa tarvitse enää validoida kenen tahansa sosiaalisissa sfääreissä. Myös henkilökohtainen palvelu, ei algoritmien modaama, vaan ihmisten keskinäisessä vuorovaikutuksessa muotoutuva, on uutta ylellisyyttä. Se, että joku ihminen muistaa sinut kaikkine inhimillisine toiveinesi, on arvokkaampaa kuin tekoälyn personointi.

Tätä kaikkea ehkä kontemploidessa (vastahan opimme, että on trendikästä olla kiireinen) voi järjestää itselleen suomalaisen version ylellisestä digidetox-lomasta: puhelin pois päältä ja sauna päälle.

#SocietyDecoded #Trending2025 #DigitalDetox #SlowLife 

​



.

Photo by Christine Roy on Unsplash (CC 0)

Text: Essi Ryymin
​
*Please scroll down for the Finnish summary*

Introduction: Why did I pick this book?

I happened to be listening to a curated program that explored how Finland, which was one of Europe's poorest countries after the wars, became one of the wealthiest nations in the world. One historian credited this development to "industrial magnates" who used their funds and resources to rebuild Finland's economy after the wars. These magnates invested in renovating industrial facilities, purposefully invested in national assets and new industries, established trade relations abroad, brought foreign currency to Finland, and created jobs. This cannot be denied, and that domestic investment, in particular, sounds nostalgic.
 
But. Let's consider that wondrous moment when an industrial magnate is born, red-faced and vigorously wailing, into this world, seemingly at the Women's Clinic (Naistenklinikka), into the arms of a trained midwife. Let's fast-forward the image a bit; our little magnate now moves swiftly from lap to lap, from one form of care to another. In addition to his parents, we see the nurse and doctor from the Child Health Clinic (neuvola), and now, they're already getting him a tuberculosis vaccination!

And now he is toddling vigorously to kindergarten, where a well-educated teacher favorably shapes our magnate's brain through play, social skills, and Fröbel blocks. And before long, our little hero is welcomed to school, and then he moves on to the next level, learning everything imaginable and a little more, and to his astonishment, he makes friends from the other side of a bridge, a working-class quarter.

Next, we cut to a scene where the industrial magnate gazes contentedly at their diligent workers in his factory. A hand reaches for a cigar in his pocket, but not yet. Later, after a well-deserved evening cognac. And didn't our leader arrive at the scene via a proper, paved road! A road that gets repaired immediately when frost takes its toll.

Well, times were different then, and the liberalisation of financial markets and mullets were still an unbelievable future. This faltering line of thought, however, provides the background for why Nancy Fraser felt relevant again. What do we talk about when we talk about success?

Summary of the book

Nancy Fraser’s Cannibal Capitalism: How Our System Is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet — and What We Can Do About It (2022) provides a critical analysis of some irresponsible forms of contemporary capitalism. Fraser employs a feminist perspective to discuss social reproduction theories, highlighting how the daily and generational processes required to support humans are closely intertwined with the capitalist system. However, these processes are often undervalued and, in some cases, exploited by capitalism. Fraser argues that this system is "cannibalistic", as it exploits and consumes the very foundations necessary for its own survival. Capitalism undermines essential elements of society, including the environment, democracy, social care, and public goods, all in its relentless pursuit of profit and growth.

Capitalism as a “cannibalistic” system that consumes its own foundations

So, the main point of the book is that capitalism doesn’t just exploit workers in the economic realm but also extends its exploitation to areas traditionally considered outside the market, especially social reproduction. What is, then, social reproduction? All those biological, economic, cultural, and emotional activities that sustain human life and social systems that capitalism takes for granted. For example: parenting, child care, elder care, health care, social care, feeding, housing, cooking, cleaning, care giving, schooling, educating, supporting, nurturing of psychological well-being… These systems rely often on unpaid and underpaid work performed by women while undervaluing and exhausting this essential labor.

Erosion of democratic institutions — and nature

Capitalism corrodes democratic institutions, concentrating power in the hands of corporations and the wealthy and weakening citizens’ ability to influence governance and policy. Capitalism drains natural resources and accelerates environmental devastation, contributing to climate change and ecological collapse. These crises are interconnected. They feed off each other, making things worse. For example, environmental destruction leads to social unrest, which then weakens democracy. This makes it easier for a few people to have more power. Fraser shows how capitalism connects with race, gender and colonialism. She demonstrates how marginalised groups, including women, people of colour and indigenous communities, are significantly impacted by the adverse effects of capitalism. Fraser suggests that to tackle the damaging effects of capitalism, people need to become aware of how it affects every area of our lives.

We need to re-imagine the society we live in

Fraser criticises the limitations of reformist approaches to capitalism (in terms of gradual change through existing institutions). She believes that just making a few changes won’t solve the fundamental problems with the system. Instead, she calls for a radical re-imagining of how society is organised, demanding changes that address the root causes of capitalism’s problems.

“If you only look at capitalism as an economic system, you don’t see how it drives climate change; how it drives a severe crisis of social reproduction, sometimes narrowly called a “crisis of care”; how it drives political crisis, the hollowing out of public power. You don’t see how we get a huge crisis of racial justice. All these strands are elements of a single crisis of capitalism. If you don’t see capitalism broadly, you’ll think they are separate things and might try to address them separately in ways that won’t work in the end.” (Nancy Fraser, 2022)

My Take Aways?

• A critical examination of social systems
  I would like to learn to reflect on how economic systems, especially capitalism, depend on public services, the environment and democracy. For example, how do education, health and social services support labour and social stability? I would like to be able to analyse these interdependencies and look for cause and effect relationships behind surface-level phenomena.
  
  
• Envisioning a fairer and more sustainable society 
  At some point, when faced with problems, we have to move towards creative solutions. How can we build an economic system that values care, the environment and democracy? What would a good society look and feel like in everyday life, politics, economics and relationships?
  
  

Edit. 16 06 2025.  I decided to write an introduction about what inspired me to grab this book. I also edited the structure and grammar. I'm not a native English speaker, but Grammarly helps, perhaps. I'm in the testing phase of the blog, so I don't yet know what kind of blog this will be or if it will be anything. 

*Tiivistelmä suomeksi*

Pyörittääkö raha todella yhteiskuntaa? Nancy Fraserin kriittinen analyysi muistuttaa meitä niistä menestystarinoista, joista vaikenemme

Aluksi: Miksi tartuin tähän kirjaan?

Satuin kuuntelemaan erästä toimitettua ohjelmaa, jossa pohdittiin, miten Suomesta, joka oli sotien jälkeen yksi Euroopan köyhimmistä valtioista, tuli yksi maailman vauraimmista maista. Muuan historioitsija kiitteli kehityskulusta ”teollisuuspatruunoita”, jotka käyttivät varojaan ja resurssejaan Suomen talouden jälleenrakentamiseen sotien jälkeen. Patruunat investoivat teollisuuslaitosten uudistamiseen, sijoittivat tavoitteellisesti kansalliseen omaisuuteen ja uusiin teollisuudenaloihin, loivat kauppasuhteita ulkomaille, toivat Suomeen valuuttaa ja loivat työpaikkoja. Tätä ei voi kiistää, ja etenkin tuo kotimaahan sijoittaminen tuntuu "eri kivalta", kuten Suomisen Ollista.

Mutta. Katsotaanpa sitä ihmeellistä hetkeä, kun teollisuuspatruuna syntyy punakkana ja tarmokkaasti karjuen tähän maailmaan, näköjään Naistenklinikalla, koulutetun kätilön käsivarsille. Nopeutetaan vähän kuvavirtaa eteenpäin; pikkuinen patruunamme siirtyy nyt vinhaa vauhtia sylistä syliin, hoivasta hoivaan. Vanhempien lisäksi näemme neuvolan terveyssisaren ja lääkärin, ja kas, nyt hän saakin jo tuberkuloosirokotuksen. Ja nyt jo taapertaa pontevana lastentarhaan, jossa koulutettu opettaja muokkaa suotuisasti patruunamme aivoja leikin, sosiaalisten taitojen ja Fröbelin palikoiden avulla.

Eikä aikaakaan, kun pieni sankarimme toivotetaan tervetulleeksi kouluun, ja sitten hän jo siirtyykin seuraavalle luokalle, oppii kaikkea mahdollista ja vähän enemmänkin, ja saa hämmästyksekseen kavereita toiselta puolen pitkää siltaa. Seuraavaksi leikkaamme kuvaan, jossa teollisuuspatruuna katselee tehtaallaan tyytyväisenä ahkeria työntekijöitään. Käsi hamuaa sikaria taskusta, mutta ei vielä. Sitten ansaitun iltakonjakin jälkeen. Ja eikö vain johtajamme saapunutkin tapahtumapaikalle ihan oikeaa, päällystettyä tietä pitkin! Tietä, jota heti korjataan, kun routa runtelee.

No niin, aika oli tuolloin toinen. Finanssimarkkinoiden vapautuminen ja takajeejeet olivat vielä uskomatonta tulevaisuutta. Tämä haparoiva ajatuskulku kuitenkin taustaksi siihen, miksi Nancy Fraser tuntui jälleen ajankohtaiselta. Mistä kerromme, kun kerromme menestyksestä? 

Tiivistelmä kirjasta

Nancy Fraserin kirja Kannibaalikapitalismi — Miten päästä eroon järjestelmästä, joka syö demokratian, hyvinvoinnin ja maapallon (2024) analysoi kriittisesti ja kokonaisvaltaisesti kapitalismia kuvaten sitä kannibalistiseksi järjestelmäksi. Tällä vertauskuvalla Fraser tarkoittaa, että kapitalismi kuluttaa ja tuhoaa jatkuvan kasvun ja voitontavoittelun nimissä niitä yhteiskunnan perusteita, joista se on myös itse riippuvainen. Näitä kriittisiä kohteita ovat erityisesti ympäristö, demokratia, hoiva ja julkiset palvelut. Heikentyvä demokratia ja haurastuva valtio, joka ei huolehdi jäsenistään, johtaa epävakaaseen ja polarisoituvaan yhteiskuntaan. Yksilön elämässä kannibaalikapitalismi voi näyttäytyä muun muassa jatkuvana kilpailuna, voimavarojen ja resurssien vähenemisenä, kuormittumisena sekä arvottomuuden ja turvattomuuden kokemuksina.

Mitä otan mukaan?  

• Yhteiskunnallisten järjestelmien kriittinen tarkastelu
  Haluaisin osata pohtia, miten talousjärjestelmät, erityisesti kapitalismi, ovat riippuvaisia julkisista palveluista, ympäristöstä ja demokratiasta. Miten esimerkiksi koulutus, terveydenhuolto ja sosiaalipalvelut edistävät yhteiskunnan vakautta? Mitä ovat riippuvuussuhteet ja syy-seuraussuhteet hyvinvoivan demokratian takana?
  
  
• ​Reilumman ja kestävämmän yhteiskunnan visiointi
  Ongelmien ääreltä täytyy jossakin vaiheessa siirtyä kohti luovia ratkaisuehdotuksia. Miten voisimme rakentaa talousjärjestelmän, joka arvostaa hoivaa, koulutusta, ympäristöä ja demokratiaa? Miltä hyvä yhteiskunta näyttäisi ja tuntuisi arjessa, politiikassa, taloudessa ja ihmissuhteissa? 

Edit. 16.6. 2025. Päätin kirjoittaa näkyväksi, mikä innosti tarttumaan Fraserin kirjaan. Lisäksi muokkasin rakennetta ja kielioppia. En ole natiivi englanninkielinen, mutta Grammarly auttaa, ehkä. Olen blogin testailuvaiheessa, joten en vielä oikein tiedä minkälainen blogi tästä tulee tai tuleeko mitään. 


#BookClub #BookReview #TakeAways