Blogs

The WFS 2009 Annual meeting will be a transition point for the Learning Section.

Several things will happen:
1. WFS will sponsor a Futures Learning website with social networking and blog capability...
2. Access to emerging learning topics.

Why?

I'll give my rationale on this transition in another post.
Steve Steele

So Google is coming out with its own operating system, which shouldn’t really surprise anyone. It will likely be lightweight, simple, cool and functional like pretty much everything they do. And also evident is the fact that Microsoft should now be hyperventilating, as this development takes direct aim at its aging business model while also pointing at the future of computing.chrome

This is an interesting article because of what it doesn’t tell us rather than what it does tell us. It would appear that the GDP figures for the first quarter of 2009 have been revised downwards from –1.9% to –2.4%. We can accept that the official figures may be subject to periodic revision, and that the revisions can be quite substantial at times (the GDP figure was revised by about a quarter). However, it doesn’t really convey a great deal of information about where we are now, and, more importantly, where we are headed in the future.

The emergence of Twitter as a heroic enabling technology for the pro-democracy demonstrators in Iran this past week has been a thrilling reminder of the power of distributed communication tools. I'm impressed at how useful this simple application has been shown to be, and at the clever hacks the Iran-based commentators have employed to stay online. As so many tech pundits have said, this has been a golden moment for social networking technologies.

And, I have to admit, it's scared the hell out of me.

(E-1) Education Summit: Innovation and Creativity in Learning

Friday, July 17, 2009, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

8:30–9:00 a.m. Light Continental Breakfast

9:00–9:10 a.m. Overview of Day

Jay Gary (moderator), director and professor, School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia

9:10–9:55 a.m. How Web 2.0, Collaboration, and Public Information is Changing Higher Education

I suspect many readers have seen Neil Gershenfeld’s TED talk on fab labs, or read his book. In particular, notice the part where he comments that fabs are following the track of computers, currently in the minicomputer stage. You can see the same progression in my keynote for a SME meeting a couple of years ago (slides pdf), but I use the progression from film to instant to digital photography instead of computing.

I am an independent scientist and author. My most recent book is Beyond AI: Creating the Conscience of the Machine, published by Prometheus Books.
It is about the (possibly) imminent development of strong AI, and the desirability, if and when that happens, that such AIs be equipped with a moral sense and conscience. This is an outgrowth of my essay Ethics for Machines. See the author's pages.

My previous book is Nanofuture, also published by Prometheus.
It is about real nanotechnology, i.e. molecular machines (as opposed to films and powders re-branded "nanotech" as a buzzword.)

Our capacity for self control may be running on empty.

If you’re looking for the future of fun, you may need to look no further than your own brain. Within the next thirty years, humanity will likely become more comfortable incorporating wireless technology into our biological functioning, particularly our neural functioning, to create sensory experiences and thoughts that are literally beyond our comprehension today. For instance, we now know that the human retina uses .02 grams of neuron mass to send data to the brain, which, in turn, uses 75,000 times more neuron mass to analyze data it’s received.

We’re used to interfacing with the Internet via a PC or handheld device, but in the next twenty years, the Web is going to make its way into our bedrooms, our bathrooms, and even our clothes.