The self-perpetuating social feedback loops in AI-based predictive policing could stop social evolution

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A group of well over 1000 academics and researchers calling themselves Coalition for Critical Technology has just published a public letter to academic publisher Springer urging them not to publish a forthcoming article.

The article claims to be able to predict if someone is a criminal based on a picture of their face, with “80 percent accuracy and with no racial bias.”

The extensive, well-referenced response letter titled Abolish the #TechToPrisonPipeline states, in part:
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Scalable learning founded on small group collaboration and extended networks will drive organizational success

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In my recent conversation with John Hagel on The Virtual Excellence Show, one of the topics John shared insights on was scalable learning, which he has substantially focused on in recent years. For an excellent framing of the subject see his article in Harvard Business Review Great Businesses Scale Their Learning, Not Just Their Operations.

In our conversation John spoke about scalable learning – which by its very nature has to be significantly virtual – as a fundamental driver of institutional success.

He describes how the most powerful form of learning is creating new knowledge by learning from action, the accelerated learning of small groups that challenge and help each other, and the opportunity to connect to broad and diverse expertise beyond the organization.

See the video for John’s full insights, or see below for a full transcript of the video.
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Wave and the future of immersive live virtual music

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Today virtual live music platform Wave announced a $30 million investment, placing it at the center of the burgeoning virtual live music performance space.

I recorded a segment for The Virtual Excellence Show on this, watch the short video below, including relevant video clips, or a transcript is below.
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The impact of COVID-19 on the future of homes: robotic disinfection, home healthcare, human adaptation

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The pandemic is changing many aspects of our lives. One of the impacts is on homes and how we live.

Fellow futurist Mark Pesce and I were interviewed for an article just out titled From a sharing economy to a sterile economy: how will COVID-19 change our future homes?

Here are some of the quotes they used from me in the article:
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Howard Rheingold on the origin and intent of what many say is their very favorite word: ‘teledildonics’

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Many people say that ‘teledildonics’ (defined by Collins as “a technology supposedly enabling two or more people to engage in sexual activity remotely”) is their favorite word.
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The pandemic is offering us many more choices in our behaviours, to help us carve a better future

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Humans, individually and collectively, often tend to get stuck in ruts and routines. That’s our nature, we try things until we find a point of comfort and then stay there.

One of the biggest potential positives of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it has broken established routines and structures, thereby giving us additional options and choices to those we perceived before.

Speaking to this point, I was recently interviewed for an interesting podcast from Defiance News, The Future of Technology: The Good, The Bad & The Orwellian. The full podcast is embedded below.
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The future of dating, relationships, and sex beyond the pandemic

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Social isolation has impacted just about every aspect of our lives, not least our love lives.

A recent article in Mashable titled Futurists predict what your sex life may look like after the pandemic wove together interviews with legendary trend seer Faith Popcorn, renowned sex futurist Byrony Cole, and myself.

The full article is well worth a read, it does a great job at teasing out the themes that emerged from the interviews. However here are some excerpts from the ideas I shared in the article:
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As events go virtual, what are compelling formats and styles for virtual keynotes?

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Until just a few months ago almost all conferences brought many people together into large venues, with captivating keynote speakers as drawcards and to set the tone of the event.

Now almost all events are virtual, creating a very different dynamic for both audiences and speakers.
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The opportunity for social capital and mutual aid to define how we emerge from this crisis

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Today was the first episode of my new live-streaming show, The Virtual Excellence Show (which I haven’t even had time to announce on this blog yet, but if you’d like to follow it please subscribe here!).

My guest on the first show was the amazing and colorful Howard Rheingold. When I considered who should be my first guest on the show, Howard was the obvious choice, having been a pioneer in all things virtual for decades, in among other landmarks publishing the book Virtual Communities: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier in 1994.

You can see the relevant part of conversation in the show below.
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Quality news will be central to creating a better future in this pivotal phase in humanity

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Last week I gave the opening keynote at the International News Media Association Virtual World Congress, on the topic of Reinvention for a Post-Pandemic Future.

My keynote was focused on the manifold opportunities for the news industry at this time of exceptional change.

However the subtext was the critical role of news in supporting a better future for everyone.
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