“I never questioned the integrity of an umpire. Their eyesight, yes.”–Leo Durocher
Is nothing sacred? A year after World Team Tennis went to all-automated line calls, Major League Baseball is upping the robotic ante with a potential move to eliminate the human factor in calling balls and strikes. The human factor of a Billy Martin or Leo Durocher kicking dirt on an umpire was largely eliminated with the advent of replay reviews. Who knows where this will lead?
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.
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Robotics/automation–The independent Atlantic League will serve as MLB’s testing ground for robotic umpires. We’ll leave the other proposed rule changes they are testing to the sports blogs.
–If accurate ball and strike calls is a sublime use of automation, an opera singing robot might just be ridiculous. (see YouTube video below.)
–If a singing robot doesn’t make you scratch your head, how about a holographic virtual singer–who just happened to pack them in at a concert hall in China
–Cancer patients have been getting robotic surgery. The New York Times reports the results may be less than stellar.
–Artificial intelligence may be better at diagnosis, though. Science Daily reports that robots can detect breast cancer as well as radiologists. But I bet the robots get paid less.
Climate change–There’s something refreshing about a politician who actually has a long-term view of our future–one that goes well beyond the next election. You and I may not agree with everything that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advocates, but as futurist, I have to admire her use of scenarios to envision a better, more sustainable world in 2050.
Space Commerce–Elon Musk continues to push for a permanently manned moon base. But Discover says we need to learn how to mine there, first.
Electric Vehicles–For electric cars to become pervasive, they are going to have to become profitable for manufacturers. A new McKinsey report suggests a path to that end.
Seeking Delphi™ podcast/coming attractions: In the weeks ahead. look for David Wood on his newest book, Sustainable superabundance, Verne Wheelright on personal futures, and highlights from the 2019 Undoing Aging Conference (Berlin, Germany, March 28-30).
Seeking Delphi™ podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook
Seeking Delphi™ 