Tag Archives: artificial intelligence

News of The Future This Week: November 28, 2018

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“Land on Mars, half a million dollars–a round trip ticket.  It can be done.”–Elon Musk

“It’s not going to do any good to land on Mars if we’re stupid.”–Ray Bradbury

Even as NASA successfully deployed its latest Mars lander, Elon Musk was reasserting his intentions to go to Mars.  Literally.  Himself.  I hope I live long enough to see if he makes it.

While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related  news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Space–Mars ho!  NASA has done it again, with the successful touchdown of the Mars Insight lander.

NASA Insight lander’s first view of Mars

–In a wide ranging interview, Elon Musk flatly stated that he doesn’t just want to send others to Mars, he wants to move there himself.  He set the odds of his doing so at 70%.  I’m guessing Vegas would set odds a bit longer than that.

–Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s marriage with NASA has taken another step closer to the altar. The first uncrewed NASA test of the Elon’s Space X Falcon 9 Dragon Crew rocket has been set for January 7 of next year.

CRISPR/gene editing—The assertion by a Chinese researcher that he has created the world’s first CRISPR gene-edited babies has created a major stir in the scientific community.  And Chinese authorities claim to have no prior knowledge of the venture.

Environment–Buried in all the headlines about the new US government report on climate change, is the staggering potential cost.  It could be a staggering $500 Billion per year by 2090.

Future Food–What is the government’s role–or what should it be–in regulating laboratory grown meat?  Wired asks that question in a new article.

Maybe good for your health–but ewww.

Sanitation–Everything else uses technology these days, so why not toilets?  Before you say “ewww,” consider that the FitLoo, a smart toilet created by the European Space Agency and MIT, can monitor feces for early signs of disease.  OK.  Now say “ewwww.”

Self-Driving Cars–In the latest Seeking Delphi™ podcast, with Alex Wyglinksi of Worcester Polytechnical Institute,  interconnectivity is the focus.

YouTube slide show, Seeking Delphi™ episode #26

Coming soon–part two of the three part “Future Driving” series on the Seeking Delphi™ podcast.  Flying cars!

Seeking Delphi™ podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

Podcast #26: Future Driving Part 1, Interconnectivity and Self-Driving Cars with Alex Wyglinski

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 “The Promise of Autonomous Vehicles is Great.”–Dan Lipinski

“My opinion is that it’s a bridge too far to go to fully autonomous vehicles.”–Elon Musk

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There’s no shortage of opinions on the viability of self-driving cars.  Be you a bull or a bear, though, there is no denying that there is a plethora of big players banking on them with R&D spending.

The issues surrounding the technology are too many and complex to deal with all of them in a single podcast.  And while things like collision avoidance, navigation, regulation, liability and public acceptance take up much of the debate over the technology, one key element has not so often been discussed.  That would be connectivity.  To assure safety and efficiency, to any degree greater than currently exists with manually driven cars, they need to be able to talk to each other.

In episode #26 of Seeking Delphi™ host Mark Sackler talks with Alex Wyglinski, president of IEEE’s Vehicle Technology Society and co-chair of the Community Development Working Group for IEEE Future Networks,  on how wireless connectivity might enable the technology.

All Seeking Delphi™  podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, and  YouTube.  You can also follow us on Facebook and on twitter @MarkSackler

Alex Wyglinski. Click for bio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Episode #26: Future Driving Part 1, Interconnectivity and Self-Driving Cars

 

YouTube slide show of episode #26

A reminder that this and all Seeking Delphi ™podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, and  YouTube.  You can also follow us on Facebook and on twitter @MarkSackler

News of The Future This Week: November 14, 2018

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“My opinion is it’s a bridge too far to go to fully autonomous cars.”–Elon Musk

“We are approaching the end of the line for automobiles.”–Bob Lutz

Elon doesn’t believe in flying cars, either.  But then his bread is buttered on a more conventional side.  And he certainly isn’t shy about providing ever more driver auto-assist features to his Teslas.  I’ll be talking to strong proponents of both autonomous and flying cars in the next two Seeking Delphi™ podcast episodes;  in the mean time the manual vs. autonomous argument is all over this week’s news.

While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related  news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Coming to a street near you–if you live in the Phoenix suburbs

Self-driving cars–Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!  Waymo says it will roll out a driverless ridesharing service next month.  The test program will be limited to about 100 square miles in the suburban Phoenix area.

–On the other hand, there are still some big names in tech playing the skeptic on fully autonomous vehicles.  Legendary Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is one of them.  He cites infrastructure built for us imperfect humans as the reason he thinks it won’t happen any time soon.

Bob Lutz says they are coming for your car.

–Contrary to Wozniak, a former GM executive believes we are nearing the end of the era of personal, manually driven automobile.  He thinks autonomous vehicles will not only take over, but conventional cars will eventually be banned.

–Self-driving or not, the demand for petroleum will continue to grow in the years ahead.  In fact, the International Energy Agency projects that growing demand in emerging markets will lead to high prices and shortages in the 2020’s.

–Then there’s the weird story.  There always has to be a weird story.  Fast Company reports that a new study suggests that one of the common activities in self-driving cars might turn out to be–you guessed it–sex.  Then again, it’s apparently a pretty common activity in conventional cars as well.

World Economy–Next Big Future projects that Asia will represent half the world economy by 2028. And in another article, they project that China will enjoy per capita income equal to that of Europe by 2040.  What they don’t say is where the world gets the resources to support all of that.

Privacy–If your data security is a worry, you ain’t heard nothing yet.   A British firm that makes hand implantable RFID chips for personal security, is now proposing to provide them to companies for their workers.  And the workers are not  happy about it.

The new space race

Space Commerce–A field that barely existed 10 years ago has come a long way in a decade.   Space.com takes a look at where it has been and where it is going.

Coming soon–a three-part Seeking Delphi™ podcast series on future driving–including episodes on self-driving cars and flying cars.  Up first, Alex Wyglinski of IEEE on the importance of connectivity in self-driving cars.

Seeking Delphi™ podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

News of The Future This Week: November 6, 2018

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“Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride”–John F. Kennedy.

I wonder how JFK would have felt about an electric bike ride.  Yes, an eBike.  They are coming, as everything, but everything, seems to be adding technology.

While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related  news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

 Future Transport–Cars, buses and trucks are going electric.  So why not bicycles? General Motors has revealed two models of electric bike it plans to market beginning next year.  And they are conducting a contest to name them.

Borrrringgg

–While electric and self-driving cars are getting all the attention on the ground, and flying cars above the ground, Elon Musk keeps digging underground.  He announced that The Boring Company will preview its nearly completed transit tunnel in the L.A. suburb of Hawthorne on December 10, and plan to open for public rides soon thereafter.

—Chinese tech giant Baidu is the latest company to announce entry into self-driving car development.  They plan to partner with Volvo and Chinese state automaker FAW.

–Is it a robot? Is it a transport? Is it supercart?  Electronics giant LG is developing a “smart” self-driving shopping cart it hopes to launch in Korea.  It will follow shoppers around and also help them to track their purchases.

Robotics/Automation–The good news?  Amazon will be hiring 100,000 seasonal employees for the holiday rush.  The bad news? That’s down from the 120,000 they hired last year.  Expanded use of automation and robotics appears to be the reason for the decline.

–Even as Amazon expands automation in its holiday fulfilment services, it’s about to get some serious competition for its automated Amazon Go stores.   Retail giant 7-Eleven has announced its intention to launch a cashier-less checkout system for its convenience stores.

_A Chinese startup company, Makeblock, has an interesting take on teaching students about robotics.  They produce LEGO-like do-it-yourself robot kits.

SpaceX floating helipad. Image: NASA

Space Commerce–Elon Musk can’t be in the news for only one technology.  His SpaceX company unveiled it’s floating helipad for space capsule recovery this week.

—Asteroid mining company Planetary Resources has been acquired by blockchain company, ConsenSys.  Planetary Resources CEO, Chris Lewicki, who will join the new company, was interviewed on Seeking Delphi 2017 APF minicast #3 last year. (below)

 

Coming soon–a three-part Seeking Delphi™ podcast series on future driving–including episodes on self-driving cars and flying cars.

Seeking Delphi™ podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

News of The Future This Week: October 29, 2018

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“It is not hard to understand modern art. If it hangs on a wall it’s a painting, and if you can walk around it it’s a sculpture.”–Tom Stoppard

The future tech news continues to be dominated by artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and space commerce.   Some of it is exciting, some of it is disturbing and some of it–well, I’m not sure what to think.  When you read about an A.I. generated paiting fetching big bucks at auction, you just have to scratch your head.

While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related  news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Portrait of Edmund Bellamy, produced by A.I.

Artficial Intelligence–An A.I. generated painting has sold for $432,000 at auction.  Is this why A.I. developers get paid so much?  Christie’s had estimated a value of between $7,000 and $10,000–which on the surface of it seems excessive in itself.   Apparently, some people have more money than they know what to do with.

Automation/Robotics–A Swiss firm will build a factory in China that will use robots to build more robots.  You’d think there would be enough surplus labor available in China that it would be the last place to need such.

Automomous vehicles–Will self-driving cars be the solution to urban congestion?  The New York Times reports that a major urban planning guru is suggesting the opposite–it will make it worse.

–For better or for worse, Tesla continues to go full speed ahead toward self-driving vehicles.  A new software update will add several new capabilities to its autopilot feature.

—Autonomous or not,  Tesla is finally ramping up to a level of mass production.  Next Big Future reports that they will pump out roughly 450,000 vehicles in 2019, and approach one million per year by 2022.

Musk’s moon base. When will the condos go on sale?

Space Commerce–It wouldn’t be News of The Future This Week without at least two  Elon Musk companies making headlines.  Musk tweeted over the weekend that SpaceX will have a moon base operational by 2025.

—  What would you do with a fiber so strong that a cubic centimeter of it could haul 160 elephants?  Maybe build a space elevator.   The Chinese team of researchers who developed such a material are thinking just that.

–Robots building robots may seem a bit odd in China,  but in space it makes sense.  Relativity Space, a company backed by Mark Cuban, is developing a 3-D printer that will spit out robots–and other needed devices–for space colonies on the moon, Mars or  asteroids.  They don’t expect an actual market until sometime in the 2020’s at the earliest.

Seeking Delphi™ podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

Podcast #25: Women and The Future of A.I. with Alexandra Whittington

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 “A woman is like a tea bag–you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.”–Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Artificial Intelligence–it seems there is no hotter topic in the tech world these days.  Economists try to calculate its potential effects on jobs, car companies aim to tame it for autonomous driving, and big thinkers ala Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking espouse existential worries.  But the effects potentially dig down deeper, broader, and perhaps with more subtlety in many other areas of human experience.  One sometimes overlooked area of artificial intelligence influence is the effects it may have specifically on women’s issues–both in the workplace and in the home.  Alexandra Whittington, of Fast Future Publishing, joins host Mark Sackler for a discussion of these issues on episode #25 of Seeking Delphi.™

All Seeking Delphi™  podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, and  YouTube.  You can also follow us on Facebook and on twitter @MarkSackler

 

Alexandra Whittington is a futurist, writer, foresight director of Fast Future, and faculty member on the Futures program at the University of Houston. She has a particular expertise in future visioning and scenario planning. Alexandra is a contributor to The Future of Business, Beyond Genuine Stupidity—Ensuring AI Serves Humanity, and The Future Reinvented—Reimagining Life, Society, and Business, and a co-editor for forthcoming books Unleashing Human Potential—The Future of AI in Business and 50:50—Scenarios for the Next 50 Years.

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Episode #25: Women and The Future of A.I. with Alexandra Whittington

YouTube slide show: Episode #25

A reminder that this and all Seeking Delphi ™podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, and  YouTube.  You can also follow us on Facebook and on twitter @MarkSackler

Podcast Special Edition: 2018 IEEE Technology Time Machine Preview

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“I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair, and pass like dreams.” 
― H.G. Wells,  The Time Machine.

This special edition of the Seeking Delphi™ podcast provides a preview of the 2018 IEEE Technology Time Machine, to be held October 31-November 1, at the Hilton Resort and Spa, San Diego, CA.  Joining host Mark Sackler to discuss the upcoming program is Roberto Saracco, who heads the IEEE initiative on Symbiotic Autonomous Systems and is one of the conference organizers.  He was previously interviewed on Seeking Delphi Podcast #22.  See links below the embedded podcast audio and YouTube slide show to access event information and registration.

Be sure to subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on  iTunes ,   Player FM  or YouTube.  You can also follow us on Facebook.

Follow  @MarkSackler on Twitter.

Seeking Delphi™ is a media sponsor of the 2018 Technology Time Machine

 

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Podcast Special Edition:  2017 Emotion AI Summit

YouTube slide show: 2018 Technology Time Machine Preview

 

IEEE home page

Technology Time Machine links:

MAIN PAGE            program schedule            speakers               REGISTRATION

 

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