Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

The buzz: Ripped from the headlines. WebMD.com: "Contact tracing is essentially detective work."… "One of the oldest public health tactics, dating back centuries." CNN.com: …public health staff work with a patient to help them recall everyone with whom they have had close contact during the timeframe while they may have been infectious. To protect patient privacy, contacts are only informed that they may have been exposed to a patient with the infection…not the identity of the patient… [CDC) . ZDnet.com: "…gathering information about people's geo-location and other personal data, to aid management of the pandemic, risks infringing on our individual privacy more than ever before."…"We might never get rid of it (Prof. Ross Anderson). We'll ask Heather Federman at Big ID, Joe Jerome at Common Sense Media, Sara Collins at PublicKnowledge, and Kenesa Ahmad at Aleada for their take on these privacy issues on We Know Where You Were Last Night and Right Now: Contact Tracing & Your Future.

The Buzz: "The Factory of the Future…Perhaps manufacturing will at last be able to leave behind the public impressions of labor-intensive, dirty and dangerous worksites…There is only one characteristic of the Factory of the Future that is essential: A creative mindset for problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking is key to embracing new technologies." (industryweek.com) So many questions! What will future factory jobs look like – only programmers, AI experts and supervisors in Silicon Valley and MIT Boston? Will there be a role for the not-so-educated, perhaps today's burger-flipping job level? Will everyone receive a base welfare-level monthly allowance for life? Will the work week be reduced to 35 or 30 hours for all? Will first the Chinese and then Europe have truly smart factories before the US does? We'll ask Gerd Hoppe at Beckhoff, Dr. Christian Liedtke at KUKA AG, Rakesh Gandhi and Nils Herzberg at SAP about Jobs in the Factory of the Future: Who, What, Where, How Much $?

The Buzz: "For better and for worse, robots will alter humans' capacity for altruism, love, and friendship…'hybrid systems'—where people and robots interact socially—the right kind of AI can improve the way humans relate to one another" (theatlantic.com). "The internet acts like a kind of digital-fuelled alcohol, freeing us to say things to strangers that we would never dare to say if we met them" (bbc.com). "Being a good online citizen is more than being a safe Internet user—it's about being responsible, smart, and having respect for yourself and others" (goguardian.com). In our global pandemic, more people are online more than ever– working, learning, meeting from home. Are they always nice to each other? No, continuing a pre-Covid-19 trend. We'll ask Frank Diana, Prof. John H. Shannon, Ruchin Kansal and Kevin Benedict if AI, machine learning and other technologies will boost humans' civility and respect online and offline? And will a "New Nice" last?

The buzz: "Pet adoptions are way up amid coronavirus crisis, even with shelters closed to public" (USA TODAY). "Like everyone else forced to improvise in the face of an unprecedented crisis, America's animal shelters are coming up with creative ways to stay open, so they can continue pairing people and pets. Americans are rushing, well, not to their local shelters but to their phones and laptops to check out available pets, to donate money and supplies, to share the word on social media about rescuing homeless balls of furry fun. Appointment-only and call-ahead adoptions, drive-up fostering and curbside adoptions, online training and at-home volunteer projects…are some of the solutions…to help care for vulnerable animals during the pandemic." We'll ask four pet-loving-and-adopting actors – Lori Hammel, Samantha B. Northart, Neal Mayer and Shirleyann Kaladjian – for their take on Technology and The Future of Pet Adoptions.

The buzz: "Even incubators/accelerators [in India] that have been around for years, and have "processed" 50+ startups, usually don't have even one startup that has achieved impressive revenues/valuations" (Source). 90% of startups fail. Doomed from the start? Likely if they work with accelerators, which invest low seed capital in multiple startups for 12-week mentoring, expecting most to flop when Demo Day investors say No. If you're a wannabe entrepreneur or a serial entrepreneur with your eye on the next big prize, here's another path. Venture studios dawned in the late 00's when successful-exit tech entrepreneurs assembled experts and investors to create their own ventures or boost the commercialization of post-incubator, post-accelerator, post-corporate innovation labs. We'll ask Don Deloach at Rocket Wagon Venture Studios, Chris Morgan at Lantern Partners, and Chris Rezendes at Spherical | Analytics for their take on Hatching Your BIG Idea: Venture Studios and Startup Success.

The buzz X2: "Humans have been co-evolving with their technologies since the dawn of prehistory…. Coping with this new means liberating ourselves from such categories as 'human,' 'technological,' and 'natural' to embrace a new techno-human relationship" (Allenby & Sarewitz). "Growing up I always considered the interaction of humanity and technology presented in the original Star Trek series as a fairly accurate representation of the way things would someday go. Then came the Next Generation's Borg…our future may have more in common with the Borg" (J. Huang). Uncertainty and dramatic changes are not new, but our human window of tolerance is being stretched to the limit more than ever. As a global civilization, we've been catapulted into the awareness that we need new technohuman ecosystems. How we react, adapt and evolve will define our success. We'll ask Judy Ryan, Jacob Perkins, Marti Konstant and Lynda Roth for their take on Falling to Pieces? Technohuman Game-Changers to the Rescue!

The buzz: "The Factory of the Future has an evolving definition…even different names…Smart Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 or the Digital Enterprise…Perhaps manufacturing will at last be able to leave behind the public impressions of labor-intensive, dirty and dangerous worksites…Only one characteristic of the Factory of the Future that is essential: A creative mindset for problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking is key to embracing new technologies…Stubborn adherence to traditional processes…will cause serious roadblocks." (industryweek.com) "Industry 4.0, smart manufacturing, the next industrial revolution…more than just a flashy catchphrase.…Reports peg the smart factory industry to touch USD 215B by 2025…there has been no major economy in the world that is not embracing it." (cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com). We'll ask Marty Groover, Derek Dyer and Matthew Stemmler at C5MI and Don Young at YASH Technologies and C5MI for their take on The Future of the Factory of The Future.

The buzz: Ripped from the headlines. "Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They're Not Keeping It Secret" (NY Times 12/18): "Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds. They say it's anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is…One path tracks someone from a home outside Newark to a nearby Planned Parenthood, remaining there for more than an hour…" And April 3, 2020: "Google is publicly releasing the data it's already collecting about people's movements during the coronavirus pandemic…to show the types of places people are visiting across 131 countries and regions…it hopes tracking movement trends over time and by geography could help shape and inform governments' and public health officials' response to the coronavirus pandemic. We'll ask Heather Federman at Big ID, Joe Jerome at Common Sense Media and Kenesa Ahmad at Aleada for their take on "Everyone Knows Where You Were Last Night and Right Now: The Future of Location Data.

The Buzz: "Entertainment is ultimately an attention business, and the competition for attention has never been fiercer with new entrants from tech firms and non-media brands jumping into content production … With the explosion in content, consumers today are often overwhelmed when choosing content to watch." Apple unveiled star-studded content slate for its TV+ streaming service. Walmart is reportedly developing Vudu-branded streaming original content. Quibi, mobile-first short-form video content from top Hollywood creators, sold $100M in upfront ads with six advertisers. Netflix nears 150M subscribers globally. Hulu, fully owned by Disney, is ramping up original programming. Amazon Studios is hoping the majority of the audience will watch its Oscar hopefuls on a smaller screen. We'll ask entertainment industry veterans Lori Hammel, Victor Verhaeghe, Joanna Bonaro and Alex Webb for their take on Make Me Laugh, Make Me Cry, Make Me Smart! The Future of Entertainment Delivery.

The Buzz: "To become a Hacker you need skills, a strong presence of mind and what not? But before that all you need is an inspiration with a pinch of motivation…." (www.tech2hack.com). "What hackers do is figure out technology and experiment with it in ways many people never imagined. They also have a strong desire to share this information with others…." and "Most hackers are young because young people tend to be adaptable. As long as you remain adaptable, you can always be a good hacker" (Emmanuel Goldstein, Dear Hacker: Letters to the Editor of 2600). Human Stupidity, that's why Hackers always win" (Med Amine Khelifi). "The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear…" (Kali Linux). "Never tell everything you know…" (Roger H. Lincoln). Will the rest of us ever catch up to them? We'll ask George Rettas at TF7 Radio, Erich Kron at KnowBe4, Mike DePalma at Datto, and Alex Reid at Green Cloud Technologies for their take on The Future of Out-Hacking The Hackers.