Category Archives: NEXT

Many of us have had to learn how to change the way we speak when in the presence of an Alexa device. In order to make certain it (she?) understands me, I find I must change the way I speak when addressing Alexa, especially the manner in which I frame a question. Voice-interfaces with computersContinue reading “NEXT: Voice”

The COVID-19 pandemic has bifurcated the world of work. For some, their work can be performed while cocooned in private virtual worlds, carried out over Zoom. For others, their work must be performed in the physical, public and increasingly dangerous “real world.” The sight of cities devoid of people, of empty stadiums and deserted beachesContinue reading “NEXT: The Future of “Essential” Work(ers)”

There remain many unanswered questions about life after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, chief among these being the still uncertain long-term health effects. Other questions include how long it will take for the economy to recover. There is historical evidence that suggests that those cities that quarantined early during the 1918 flu pandemic saw their economiesContinue reading “NEXT: Habits and Behaviors After Coronavirus”

Given the state of the world right now, it did not seem appropriate to discuss the future when the present is hanging so heavy over us. This month, I’d like to reflect on what it means to be a futurist, especially when presented with the opportunity to assess your own work. As a futurist, IContinue reading “NEXT: Futurists Create Images of the Future, Not Predictions”

Because animal breeding is centuries old, it makes sense to say that we have designed animals to meet our needs for a very long time. Animal husbandry has been responsible for producing animals that provide meat, eggs, fur, milk and other useful “products.” It is distasteful, perhaps, to use this language, but humans have forContinue reading “NEXT: Xenobots and Nano-zombies”

Reading is a very big deal in the state of Ohio…until Grade Three. State legislation says that students are required to be reading at grade level by the third grade, else there are dire consequences for schools, teachers and students. But then, after that benchmark has been reached, reading seems to disappear from everyone’s attention.Continue reading “NEXT: The Future of Reading”

It would appear that artificial intelligence will soon be going to school. Researchers are devising new machine learning techniques that involve what’s termed as “grounded language.” Deep learning today involves feeding an algorithm a lot of data and allowing the algorithm to identify patterns in that data. Some computer scientists are investigating the idea ofContinue reading “NEXT: The Future of Schools”

The videos are certainly impressive, and just a little creepy. If you go on YouTube and search “Boston Dynamics,” you can see some of their work. Boston Dynamics is developing robots—both four-legged and bipedal—that are capable of impressive feats of locomotion and balance. One example includes a four-legged robot that can maneuver over a varietyContinue reading “NEXT: Mechanized Warfare”

If I want to know last night’s baseball scores, I can type my query into Google. Up will come a number of search results, from ESPN.com to CBS Sports Network, to the Major League Baseball site, to the sites for the local teams’ newspapers. Getting to the top of that search is, of course, bigContinue reading “NEXT: Conversations with Alexa”

On August 19, the Business Roundtable—that club of 200 CEOs from large and influential American companies—announced a redefinition of the purpose of a corporation. The updated “Statement of Purpose of a Corporation” announces that a company should seek to benefit many stakeholders, not simply maximize the profits of shareholders. This means: Delivering value to customersContinue reading “NEXT: Purpose-Driven Capitalism”