Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

The Buzz 1: "Privacy and security are those things you give up when you show the world what makes you extraordinary." [Margaret Cho, comedian] The Buzz 2: "Millions of people are unaware of and uninformed about how their personal information is being used, collected or shared in our digital society." [staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-week] The Buzz 3: "Digital freedom stops where that of users begins... Privacy is not for sale, it's a valuable asset to protect." (Stephane Nappo, Société Générale International Banking) The Buzz 4: "The fact the number of data breach events in Q1 represents a double-digit increase (14%) over the same time last year is another indicator that data compromises will continue to rise in 2022 after setting a new all-time high in 2021." [Eva Velasquez, President and CEO, Identity Theft Resource Center, consumeraffairs.com] We'll ask Shane Faria, Mike Audi, Eric Simone and Eli Herrick for their take on Data Data Everywhere: Is Data Privacy In Your Future? – Part 2.

The Buzz 1: "There is such a thing as a glass ceiling…the invisible barrier which prevents women from advancement in their profession. Do we have an unacknowledged barrier that is an obstacle for women in Tech who are indeed skilled and experienced but can't get a promotion?" [huddle.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com] The Buzz 2: "The label 'woman in tech' seems redundant these days – how many women would refer to themselves as 'a female engineer' or 'the company's female CTO'? However, there still exists a disparity in the pay scales and ability to climb the career ladder between men and women working in the technology sector. [codemotion.com] The Buzz 3: In 2015, the National Center for Women & Information Technology found women hold only a quarter of computing jobs, even though they make up about half of the total workforce. Unfortunately, statistics like these remain unsurprising and slow to change. [datacenterdynamics.com] The Buzz 4: "Due to gender discrimination, men tend to advance in their career merely on the 'potential' they exhibit whereas actual 'performance' determines how far women in technology proceed in their respective careers.…At current advancement rates, it will take 100 years for women in technical and non-technical roles to reach parity with men at the C-level. [content.techgig.com/leadership] We'll ask Lisa Dalesandro DiChristofer, Lori Rosano, Debbie Scott and Kylie Woods for their take on The Future of Women in Tech: Time to Smash the Glass Ceiling?

The Buzz 1: While the majority of solo parents are single mothers, up to 2.6 million families in the US are headed by single dads…The research on single fathers is limited. [healthline dot com] The Buzz 2: As a single dad, keeping a strong relationship between you and your child after a divorce is essential for your child's wellbeing.…children are less likely to engage in delinquent behavior if their father is actively engaged in their upbringing. [Licensed psychologist Robert Goldman, pittsburghparent dot com] The Buzz 3: "I've experienced all the different roles you have to play when there's nobody else around: a parent, a dad, a father, a stand-in mum, a confidant, always a butler or maid, a teacher and, most crucially, a friend." [The Single Dad's Guide to the Galaxy by Roger McEwan] The Buzz 4: Support solutions specifically designed for single fathers are scarce. ACM research uses the Human-centered design methodology to engage single fathers in multiple research activities to gain insight into their support needs to inform potential designs for support interventions. [dl.acm dot org] The Buzz 4: In today's digitally connected world, parents have to manage their own relationship with the internet and mobile devices, along with managing their children's use of and exposure to the same technology. [pewresearch dot org] We'll ask Karen Gibson, Dustin Droen, Jason Blount, and Reggie Waterman for their take on The Future of Single Dads & Technology: Family Ties?

The Buzz 1: "85% of the women I interviewed make money in ways that really aren't any different from how women made money in 1980: a third have jobs that pay salaries and bonuses, perhaps with a bit of a twist; about a quarter make money off of direct drive sales (a business model I remember well from selling photocopiers for Xerox in 1986!) and another quarter provide some sort of fee for service. A mere 15% have the "many sources" model for money making.…" (Barbara Stewart, Rich Thinking® global research papers http://barbarastewart.ca) The Buzz 2: "Approximately $30 trillion in wealth is set to change hands in the next decade and women are poised to inherit a sizable share, according to research by McKinsey & Company published in 2020." (investopedia.com) The Buzz 3: "According to Consultancy group Boston Consulting Group (BCG), women hold nowadays an average of 40% of global wealth, and this could rise at a compound annual growth rate of 7.2% by 2023, outpacing the 5.2% compound annual growth rate projected for men." (juliusbaer.com) The Buzz 4: "In many ultra-high-net-worth families, the roles of women are still hindered by long-standing conventions and complex intergenerational dynamics. Although these women control a significant percentage of the world's wealth ($10.9+ trillion in assets in the U.S.), serve as CEOs…and play an increasing role in shaping the philosophies and priorities of future generations, their contributions are often overlooked." (nasdaq.com) We'll ask Barbara Stewart, Eva Grønbjerg Christensen, Iris ten Teije and April Rudin for their take on The Future of Women's Wealth & Technology: Innovators, Investors and Influencers.

The Buzz 1: "Coming up with a great name for your characters is one of the hardest tasks you'll ever complete as a fiction writer… going too 'creative' with your name choices can distract or even confuse your reader." (nybookeditors.com) The Buzz 2: "Instead of calling the pizza delivery guy 'Bob,' if you give him an interesting ethnicity, a cowboy hat and a name like Galveston Ngyen, readers will remember him when he shows up dead 50 pages later. But beware. There can be pitfalls." (Anne R. Allen, Naming Fictional Characters) The Buzz 3: "One sci-fi writer recently joked on Twitter that the worst part of publication is being asked by readers and interviewers how to pronounce characters' names.…" (lithub.com) The Buzz 4: Popular character names: Captain Holly Short from the Artemis Fowl series; Mia Thermopolis from The Princess Diaries; Maggie from Inkheart. (www.bustle.com) We'll ask writers Catriona McPherson, Clea Simon, Carolyn Marie Wilkins, Sarah Smith and Edwin Hill for their take on The Future of Fictional Characters: What's In A Name?

The Buzz 1: Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword, but an environmental, economic and social driver that's changing our day-to-day lives… committing to sustainable practices is no longer a "nice to have" but a "must do"…. [forbes.com] The Buzz 2: Technologies shaping the sustainability agenda: Public electric transport. Electric trucks. Cheap energy storage. Plastic recycling. LED light efficiency. Accessible solar power. Carbon capture and storage. Hydrogen in the energy transition. [mckinsey.com] The Buzz 3: "I came up with idea of a solar airplane flying around the world with no fuel – that would be a beautiful message in terms of technology, the energy of the future and the environment." [Bertrand Piccard FRSGS, Swiss explorer, psychiatrist, environmentalist] The Buzz 4: "Unfortunately, in the environment, I don't see as much willingness to invest heavily in R&D as I do in consumer technology. And that's a pity." [Ramez Naam, American technologist, sci-fiction author: Nexus Trilogy] The Big Question: Can we achieve Sustainability through data-driven processes, technology, collective mindset, government mandates, individual action or a combination of the above? We'll ask Don DeLoach, Debra Lam, Geoffrey Kasselman, and Rob Tiffany for their take on The Future of Sustainability and Technology: Enough for Tomorrow? – Part 2.

The Buzz 1: ** "If you want to be a rock star or just be famous, then run down the street naked, you'll make the news or something. But if you want music to be your livelihood, then play, play, play and play! And eventually you'll get to where you want to be." [Eddie Van Halen, songwriter and musician] ** "Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness." [Maya Angelou, memoirist, poet, playwright] ** "Every song is like a painting." (Dick Dale, The King of the Surf Guitar] The Buzz 2: "From synthesizers to DAWs or from CD players to iPhones, the landscape of music has changed and is very different from the days of your parents." (interestingengineering.com) The Buzz 3: Albert Einstein was the Princeton Symphony vice president from 1952–1955. He said that, had he not been a scientist, he would have been a musician. (cbc.ca/music) The Buzz 4: "…The future of music in the digital age is focused on how streaming services will differentiate themselves from the competition, how artists will reach their fanbase, and revisiting popular music industry trends of the past with innovations, such as the modern record player." (Rolling Stone Magazine) We'll ask Serge Hoffmann, Drew Wieloch, Nelson Malléus, Scott Campbell and Ross Campbell for their take on The Future of Music and Technology: The Sweetest Sounds?! – Part 2.

The Buzz 1: Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword, but an environmental, economic and social driver that's changing our day-to-day lives… committing to sustainable practices is no longer a "nice to have" but a "must do"…. [forbes.com] The Buzz 2: Technologies shaping the sustainability agenda: Public electric transport. Electric trucks. Cheap energy storage. Plastic recycling. LED light efficiency. Accessible solar power. Carbon capture and storage. Hydrogen in the energy transition. [mckinsey.com] The Buzz 3: "I came up with idea of a solar airplane flying around the world with no fuel – that would be a beautiful message in terms of technology, the energy of the future and the environment." (Bertrand Piccard FRSGS, Swiss explorer, psychiatrist, environmentalist] The Buzz 4: "Unfortunately, in the environment, I don't see as much willingness to invest heavily in R&D as I do in consumer technology. And that's a pity." (Ramez Naam, American technologist, sci-fiction author: Nexus Trilogy] BIG QUESTION: Can we achieve Sustainability through data-driven processes, technology, collective mindset, government mandates, individual action or a combination of the above? We'll ask Don DeLoach, Debra Lam, Geoffrey Kasselman, Rob Tiffany and Chris Rezendes for their take on The Future of Sustainability and Technology: Enough for Tomorrow? – Part 2.

The Buzz 1: There's no telling what the futuristic inventions of the world hold, but we can start by taking a few wild and speculative guesses: Robot butlers – Fully immersive VR – Cryonics – Exo-skeletons – Flying Cars –Artificial gravity – Fusion power – Self-sustaining space colonies. [bigthink.com] The Buzz 2: The U.S. patent system is detailed in the Constitution. A patent's assurance of the protection of inventions is a key reason why companies invest billions of dollars in research and development. 2020 was the 28th year in a row that IBM led the U.S. in the number of patents granted. [fortune.com] The Buzz 3: Every year Siemens honors Inventors of the Year in five categories: Newcomers, Open Innovation, Outstanding Invention, Lifetime Achievement, and Design and User Experience. In 2021, the 15 awarded inventors have their origins in the US, India, Israel, UK, Poland and Germany. [new.siemens.com] We'll ask modern inventors Shawn Taylor, Jeff Gindin, Lynthia Muller and Michael Simmons for their take on The Future of Inventors, Inventions and Technology: Passion, Patents and Patience.

The Buzz 1: Headlines: Drones are helping to restore power in Puerto Rico. A drone attacked targeted the U.S. electrical grid. Google's drone service will deliver library books. Submarine drone can swim for months and then fly away. Drone waiters will take your restaurant order. ESPN shot the X Games with drones. A bouncy search-and-rescue drone could save your life. The military wants a dancing drone that can fly through windows. [popularmechanics.com/the-future-of-drones] The Buzz 2: In the first-ever drone delivery of food and beverage at a sporting event—Purdue hosted the University of Michigan—fans could order a meal pack and have it delivered via drone to a locker inside Alexander Field. [popularmechanics.com May 2022] The Buzz 3: A Report on the Use of Drones by Public Safety Agencies. "Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have rapidly changed the state of play in the public safety theater. Inappropriate use and deployment of UASs and their operators present a serious threat to public safety and order. The same technology also offers tremendous opportunities to improve safety outcomes for our communities and for our sworn law enforcement practitioners and other public safety-first responders. [policeforum.org] The Buzz 4: The Shout Drone. In February 2020, Chinese police would speak through a drone and tell people to wear masks or to go home. Italian, Spanish, and French authorities used shout drones for quarantine enforcement. US authorities used them in Florida, Georgia, Hawaii. In New Jersey, police used a drone to sing "Happy Birthday" to socially distanced children. [slate.com] We'll ask Chuck Byers, Steve Philpott, Alex Bäcker, Pharns Genece and Ryan Walsh for their take on The Future of Drones: Landing on a Porch or Planet Near You Soon? – Part 3.