Can a weapon of war become a tool for growth?
In Mozambique, 600,000 guns were voluntarily exchanged for ploughshares, hoes, and sewing
machines. Those weapons were eventually melted down and transformed into a “Tree of Life”
(now in the British Museum).
This isn’t just art; it’s architecture. It’s a reminder that technology’s purpose depends entirely on
the institution that wields it.
Today, we face a new digital sword: Artificial Intelligence. Will it be a tool for state surveillance,
or a “ploughshare AGI” that extends human potential?
Part 3 of my latest essay series, “The Three Separations,” explores how we reclaim the forge.
/pub/philchen7/p/part-iii-from-ploughshare-to-spear?r=6zxa&utm_medium=ios
Two philosophers. Same problem. Four centuries apart.
Hobbes (left): the sovereign must be absolute. Divided authority produces only civil war. Power is the condition of all other goods.
Kuyper (right): human life is an infinitely structured organism. Family, commerce, science, art, church — each sphere has its own authority. The state’s job is to maintain justice between them. Not to absorb them.
Karp’s Technological Republic is Hobbesian. His argument is serious and the threat he identifies is real.
The response isn’t libertarianism. It’s Kuyper.
Part 2 of From Ploughshare to Spear /pub/philchen7/p/part-ii-from-ploughshare-to-spear?r=6zxa&utm_medium=ios
It’s not every day that you get @philchen913 in London Town - thank-you for sharing your wisdom and heart on scaling huge tech companies & your openness and humility to say that you learned more on the way down than on the way up. We salute you!
A tour de force with @mikebutcher (TechCrunch’s Editor-at-large) Leah Brown FRSA MSoM and Dan Maudhub on a panel unpacking the opportunity and concerns that we have around #AI & what we can do to ready ourselves and our businesses (we have a different reporting line!)
@jamespoulter your ears should have been burning; so many mentions 😜(I did tell them you were supposed to be there)
Matt Parfitt thank you for sharing the ‘guts and not-immediate-glory’ story of Grace Enterprises I’m not the only one who welled up hearing from your employees and the impact and transformation a job has had on their lives. From prison leavers to addicts, people who have found themselves in homelessness and sex workers.
👏🏻 Thanks for all the amazing volunteers who helped welcome and host people and for Inus Joubert and the Wonderful Team for good snack game.
📷 Thanks to Kin Seong, MBA, CPA for all the awesome pics.
If you’re wanting to plug into any of the FDE communities across Europe then get on the FDE newsletter asap - and act on the email that will drop next Tuesday.
It has been an Honor being in Taiwan & meeting the Legend @jlin7 #linsamity. Thank you to my amazing Friends Emily, Jeffrey & @jinionairekim for their amazing Hospitality 🤍🤍🤍
