The Last Word

I remember seeing a gentleman from the IBM Institute give a presentation at one of our events about 10 years ago. He said that his technology could drive a cement plant better than the best central control room (CCR) operator could do on the best hour of their best day of the year, but that the technology could do it 24/7/365. The technology would never be tired, would never be hung-over, would never be worried about its divorce or mending the fence that got blown down in the storm last month. Using ‘knowledge capture’ (training of the technology by experienced operators), the company could avoid ‘knowledge leakage’ (loss of experience through retirement or death). You could ask the technology to optimise for fuel price, or cement strength, or CO₂ emissions, or specific electrical energy consumption, or a combination of factors. Why wouldn’t you use that technology?! He was, of course, talking about relatively early AI, but things have moved on since then.

Following three successful editions, welcome back to Global Cement’s Quiz of 2025. No cheating - Google's for noodles! (Answers below).

When I joined Global Cement in 2010, most people wore ties at conferences. When I say ‘people’ I mean ‘men,’ who made up around 95% of delegates. Some would say that they still do, but there has been a slow and steady increase in female delegates since then, perhaps to as much as 20-25% at some of our events.

Most influential people throughout history have been well known. Leaders like Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, Nelson Mandela, JFK and Julius Caesar have - for better or worse - altered the course of history for millions or even billions of people. But there are also those whose actions affected as many people, while managing to keep out of the public eye.

My secondary school was a bit old-fashioned in how it categorised students into easy-to-manage groups. For instance, it was generally the view that girls were ‘better’ at languages and the arts. In contrast, boys were ‘more logical’ and ‘suited’ to the sciences and maths. I was among those boys, convinced that - because of my gender and ability to press the right buttons on a calculator - my future lay in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). I vividly remember an awkward meeting with a ‘careers advisor.’ After a short questionnaire, he basically told me to focus on the sciences, which I did... because I enjoyed them. Exactly how much this enjoyment had been prompted by the school’s biases is up for debate.