18 must-read stories for the weekend

1. Two characters matter on Twitter. Why the World Economic Forum switched to @wef from @davos.

2. What happens after the end of history? Danny Quah argues for a radical shift of power towards Asia.

3. Forget the buzzwords and bubbles. There’s nothing trivial about tech, says Shane Richmond, as we prepare to unveil our Technology Pioneers of 2015.

4. Policing, poverty and protest. Black Americans are paying for a decade of economic stagnation.

5. The industrial revolution should be renamed the Great De-Skilling. “England was getting more (output) from less (human capital).”

6. We need to own robots before robots own us, says Harvard’s Richard Freeman.

7. When are economists most convincing? When they talk technical.

8. Technology can beat corruption. From Tunisia to Moldova, the World Bank’s President on how open data shuts the door on graft.

9. Two steps to fix factory farming. Cheap meat has an exorbitant cost for animals, the environment and health.

10. How can Nigeria crack unemployment? Help its young people to be entrepreneurs, says Global Shaper Lola Talabi-Oni.

11. “Something profound is going on.” The fight against climate change is moving beyond partisan politics, says Rachel Kyte.

12. What do Jack Ma and Susan Hockfield have in common? They are new Foundation Board members of the World Economic Forum, joining Klaus Kleinfeld and Jim Hagemann Snabe. (ZeeNews)

13. Making products go the distance. “When the who’s who of business and world leaders met this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, a different industrial model was on the agenda: the circular economy.” (Sydney Morning Herald)

14. ‘Summer Davos’ to include more China topics. (People’s Daily)

15. Nigeria needs more women in tech. Forum research helps make the case. (BusinessDay)

16. Burning Man, Davos and the Power of One. (Huffington Post)

17. Three ways to tackle gender inequality in developing countries. An academic paper analyses the roots of sex discrimination and has practical proposals.

18. Are you sitting comfortably? Meet the chair that walks around with you.

Image: A visitor waves in front of the sensor that triggers the joints of a dummy that is part of PWM1, an art creation by Taiwan artist Huang Zan-lun, during Art Taipei, August 20, 2010. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang