David Levy explores humankind’s fascination with technology and the often-seen fantasies that revolve around relationships between human and machine. Love & Sex with Robots takes a deep dive into a not-too-distant future where physical intimacy with machines is socially accepted and can eventually develop into full-blown relationships. Levy goes as far as saying that acceptance of virtual pets and robotic pets today show that it can be possible for humans to develop strong emotions for machines.
There’s some amazing things coming down the healthcare pipeline and Daniel Kraft (@daniel_kraft) knows a “little” about all of them. We asked him to take us on a rollercoaster-journey through them.
Take for example regenerative medicine, which is starting to experience tremendous growth with the blossoming use of stem cells to help the body heal and replace damaged tissue. Or personalized medicine that allow for far more precise dosage and effectiveness for individuals, not masses. Kraft will touch upon some impressive developments that hint us to the future of medicine. Kraft teaches at Stanford University, is an expert on regenerative medicine, and a member of the faculty at Singularity University and is directing their upcoming FutureMed program
THE BIOTECH REVOLUTION – Visions Of The Future – BBC
Genetics and biotechnology promise a future of unprecedented health and longevity: DNA screening could prevent many diseases, gene therapy could cure them and, thanks to lab-grown organs, the human body could be repaired as easily as a car, with spare parts readily available. Ultimately, the ageing process itself could be slowed down or even halted.
Nouriel Roubini is the cofounder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics, an independent, global macroeconomic and market strategy research firm. The firm’s website, Roubini.com, has been named one of the best economics web resources by BusinessWeek, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal and the Economist.
He is also a professor of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Dr. Roubini has extensive policy experience as well as broad academic credentials. From 1998 to 2000, he served as the senior economist for international affairs on the White House Council of Economic Advisors and then the senior advisor to the undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, helping to resolve the Asian and global financial crises, among other issues. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and numerous other prominent public and private institutions have drawn upon his consulting expertise.
He has published over 70 theoretical, empirical and policy papers on international macroeconomic issues and coauthored the books “Political Cycles: Theory and Evidence” (MIT Press, 1997) and “Bailouts or Bail-ins? Responding to Financial Crises in Emerging Markets” (Institute for International Economics, 2004) and “Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance” (Penguin Press, 2010). Dr. Roubini’s views on global economic issues are widely cited by the media, and he is a frequent commentator on various business news programs. He has been the subject of extended profiles in the New York Times Magazine and other leading current-affairs publications. The Financial Times has also provided extensive coverage of Dr. Roubini’s perspectives. Dr. Roubini received an undergraduate degree at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, and a doctorate in economics at Harvard University. Prior to joining Stern, he was on the faculty of Yale University’s department of economics. Source
WITH THE EXPANSION OF THE GLOBAL MODERN MIDDLE CLASS
Herbert E. Meyer served during the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council. In these positions, he managed production of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimates and other top-secret projections for the President and his national security advisers. Mr. Meyer is widely credited with being the first U.S. Government official to forecast the Soviet Union’s collapse — a forecast for which he later was awarded the U.S. National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, which is the Intelligence Community’s highest honor.
In this interview with Dr Nicholas Beecroft, Herb says why Western Civilisation is worth defending, why it’s the best civilisation so far and why it’s fast becoming THE global civilisation. He is very optimistic for the future but believes that the biggest challenge we face is in helping all of the rest of the world make it into modernity whilst minimising dangerous threats. He draws upon his experience in the vanguard of the defeat of the Soviet Communist system to inform our strategy to deal with existing challenges including Islamic Fundamentalism, Iran, Russia, demographic collapse, lack of faith in our civilisation, energy security and the domestic culture war.
Megatrend No. 1: Consumerization — You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
Gartner has discussed the consumerization of IT for the better part of a decade, and has seen the impact of it across various aspects of the corporate IT world. However, much of this has simply been a precursor to the major wave that is starting to take hold across all aspects of information technology as several key factors come together: Users are more technologically savvy and have very different expectations of technology.The Internet and social media have empowered and emboldened users. The rise of powerful, affordable mobile devices changes the equation for users. Users have become innovators. Through the democratization of technology, users of all types and status within organizations can now have similar technology available to them.
Megatrend No. 2: Virtualization — Changing How the Game Is Played
Virtualization has improved flexibility and increased the options for how IT organizations can implement client environments. Virtualization has, to some extent, freed applications from the peculiarities of individual devices, operating systems or even processor architectures. Virtualization provides a way to move the legacy of applications and processes developed in the PC era forward into the new emerging world. This provides low-power devices access to much-greater processing power, thus expanding their utility and increasing the reach of processor-intensive applications.
Megatrend No. 3: “App-ification” — From Applications to Apps
When the way that applications are designed, delivered and consumed by users changes, it has a dramatic impact on all other aspects of the market. These changes will have a profound impact on how applications are written and managed in corporate environments. They also raise the prospect of greater cross-platform portability as small user experience (UX) apps are used to adjust a server- or cloud-resident application to the unique characteristics of a specific device or scenario. One application can now be exposed in multiple ways and used in varying situations by the user.
Megatrend No. 4: The Ever-Available Self-Service Cloud
The advent of the cloud for servicing individual users opens a whole new level of opportunity. Every user can now have a scalable and nearly infinite set of resources available for whatever they need to do. The impacts for IT infrastructures are stunning, but when this is applied to the individual, there are some specific benefits that emerge. Users’ digital activities are far more self-directed than ever before. Users demand to make their own choices about applications, services and content, selecting from a nearly limitless collection on the Internet. This encourages a culture of self-service that users expect in all aspects of their digital experience. Users can now store their virtual workspace or digital personality online.
Megatrend No. 5: The Mobility Shift — Wherever and Whenever You Want
Today, mobile devices combined with the cloud can fulfill most computing tasks, and any tradeoffs are outweighed in the minds of the user by the convenience and flexibility provided by the mobile devices. The emergence of more-natural user interface experiences is making mobility practical. Touch- and gesture-based user experiences, coupled with speech and contextual awareness, are enabling rich interaction with devices and a much greater level of freedom. At any point in time, and depending on the scenario, any given device will take on the role of the user’s primary device — the one at the center of the user’s constellation of devices.
