A Life Less Ordinary

Winning Magazine's Editor in Chief Katarina Kroslakova reflects on our much-anticipated Life By Design issue.

Photography by Pierre Toussaint.

When I was a kid, a favourite pastime was watching re-runs of “The Jetsons” — that 1960s cartoon (rebooted in the mid-’80s) about a family in the future living in a space-age city above the clouds. 

It’s crazy to think how many of the show’s seemingly out-there predictions are now fixtures in our lives: robot vacuums, video calls, smart watches and drones. We’ve hit the steep side of the exponential curve, and with the rise of artificial intelligence there has been a proliferation of tools, gadgets and apps created to improve our lives. 

This of course begs the question: How does one design the perfect life? In this, our Life by Design issue, we explore what it takes to live longer, better and more fully — which includes knowing how to design the perfect travel itinerary (page 140) and a fail-safe approach to pairing drinks with food (page 74). We also consider the ways that new technology can help or hinder us on this quest. 

In our cover story (page 12), we weigh the pros and cons of incorporating artificial intelligence into our lives. Writer Nina Hendy explores both sides of the argument, particularly the rise of deepfake technology — which has drawn the actor Ryan Reynolds into the debate about AI-generated likenesses. 

Actress Sarah Paulson (page 50) is no stranger to the surprising quirks of technology. After discovering that young fans on the internet were referring to her affectionately as “mother” — a term she initially disliked — she did an about-face and embraced the meme, appearing on a “Saturday Night Live” sketch playing a “mother” to a group of adoring high-schoolers. Paulson’s 30-year career has followed a similar course of adjustment. For years, she played side characters in romcoms. Now, she goes for meaty roles playing difficult, unlikeable characters. “My hope is that it creates a path for longevity that is not attached to beauty or age or sexuality,” she says.

Elsewhere in the issue, writer Helen Hawkes looks at the burgeoning biotech industry focused on increasing longevity (page 26). We also spotlight some of the latest wearable tech, from smart glasses to health rings (page 46). 

Fred Siggins delves into how AI is transforming the drinks industry in Australia, with drones that scan crops and driverless tractors that tend to vines (page 60). And Stephen Crafti finds that although AI is making inroads into architecture, there’s no replacing the human touch (page 120).

In “Welcome to Sponge City” (page 114), Ute Junker examines the shift in urban design to incorporate green spaces and adaptable infrastructure in a bid to avoid catastrophic flooding — providing manifold other benefits for humanity, too. 

Like it or loathe it, experts agree that AI is here to stay. We hope this issue provokes thought on how to harness the tech to live your best life.

This is an extract from an article that appears in print in our twelfth edition, Page 8 of Winning Magazine with the headline: “A Life Less Ordinary”. Subscribe to Winning Magazine today.