How did the robot end up with my job? — from the New York Times by Thomas Friedman

Excerpt:

In the last decade, we have gone from a connected world (thanks to the end of the cold war, globalization and the Internet) to a hyperconnected world (thanks to those same forces expanding even faster). And it matters. The connected world was a challenge to blue-collar workers in the industrialized West. They had to compete with a bigger pool of cheap labor. The hyperconnected world is now a challenge to white-collar workers. They have to compete with a bigger pool of cheap geniuses — some of whom are people and some are now robots, microchips and software-guided machines.

The proper term, says Lamy, is “made in the world.” More products are designed everywhere, made everywhere and sold everywhere.

The term “outsourcing” is also out of date. There is no more “out” anymore. Firms can and will seek the best leaders and talent to achieve their goals anywhere in the world.

 

Robots mania — from WashingtonPost.com
Each year robots are getting more sophisticated and entertaining than ever before. Check out these captivating robots that can do almost anything — from reciting Shakespeare to serving shaved ice cream with a smile.

 

Robot financial workers to replace human traders, report says — from innovationnewsdaily.com by Jeremy Hsu

Excerpt:

Human financial traders complicit in precipitating the Great Recession may soon find themselves as unemployable as many others, put out of work by robots as if they were factory workers or stevedores.

Of course, like the human world of high finance, the new world of robot financial trading comes with some risks. Better self-regulation is needed to prevent short-sighted, computer-driven market swings such as the “Flash Crash” of May 6, 2010, that wiped out $800 billion on the U.S. equity market in five minutes, and then recovered most of the loss within 30 minutes. Disturbingly, the report found very few studies that examine how human and robot traders interact with one another.

The evolution of next-generation trading algorithms that can learn and adapt without human involvement may also make their behavior “very difficult to predict or control,” the report says. That unpredictability would extend to world financial markets dominated by such robot traders.

Still, there is one likely upside for any college graduates and job seekers of today and tomorrow — computer programmers who can develop such algorithms will certainly remain in high demand.

 

Addendum on 9-13-11:

Stanford University is offering Computer Science courses online, free to anyone — from geekosystem.com by Max Eddy

 

Introduction to databases -- free online course from Stanford for fall 2011

A bold experiment in distributed education, “Introduction to Databases” will be offered free and online to students worldwide during the fall of 2011. Students will have access to lecture videos, receive regular feedback on progress, and receive answers to questions. When you successfully complete this class, you will also receive a statement of accomplishment. Taught by Professor Jennifer Widom, the curriculum draws from Stanford’s popular Introduction to Databases course. A topics list and many of the materials are available here. More information about the Stanford course can be perused here. Details on the public offering will be available by late September. Sign up below to receive additional information about participating in the online version when it becomes available.

Also see the video at:
Introduction to Databases class by Stanford University

 

Machine learning course -- free, online course from Stanford this fall

A bold experiment in distributed education, “Machine Learning” will be offered free and online to students worldwide during the fall of 2011. Students will have access to lecture videos, lecture notes, receive regular feedback on progress, and receive answers to questions. When you successfully complete the class, you will also receive a statement of accomplishment. Taught by Professor Andrew Ng, the curriculum draws from Stanford’s popular Machine Learning course. A syllabus and more information is available here. Sign up below to receive additional information about participating in the online version when it becomes available.

Also see the video at:
Machine Learning: About the class

 

From DSC:
Again, my question is…if these trends continue, what opportunities are presenting themselves? What threats are presenting themselves?  What is our response?  How will colleges/universities differentiate themselves in this developing landscape? If items like the below continue to grow…how do we respond?

 

thegreatcourses.com -- professors

 

Addendum later on 8/29/11:

 

From Daniel Christian: Fasten your seatbelts! An accelerated ride through some ed-tech landscapes.


From DSC:
Immediately below is a presentation that I did for the Title II Conference at Calvin College back on August 11, 2011
It is aimed at K-12 audiences.


 

Daniel S. Christian presentation -- Fasten your seatbelts! An accelerated ride through some ed-tech landscapes (for a K-12 audience)

 


From DSC:
Immediately below is a presentation that I did today for the Calvin College Fall 2011 Conference.
It is aimed at higher education audiences.


 

 Daniel S. Christian presentation -- Fasten your seatbelts! An accelerated ride through some ed-tech landscapes (for a higher ed audience)

 


Note from DSC:

There is a great deal of overlap here, as many of the same technologies are (or will be) hitting the K-12 and higher ed spaces at the same time. However, there are some differences in the two presentations and what I stressed depended upon my audience.

Pending time, I may put some audio to accompany these presentations so that folks can hear a bit more about what I was trying to relay within these two presentations.


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Articles/postings on Foxconn’s move to replace a portion of its workforce with robots:

 

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Free Artificial Intelligence (AI) course from Stanford this fall

 

Addendum on 8/16/11:

  • Virtual and artificial, but 58,000 want course — from NYT
    PALO ALTO, Calif. — A free online course at Stanford University on artificial intelligence, to be taught this fall by two leading experts from Silicon Valley, has attracted more than 58,000 students around the globe — a class nearly four times the size of Stanford’s entire student body.

20 most impressive science fair projects of all time — from onlineuniversities.com
 

From DSC:
Items re: The Singularity:

From DSC:

I don’t mean to suggest here that just because someone is pursuing the development of AI, robotics, etc. that their heart isn’t right — that’s just not accurate and such a perspective would be painting a broad and bogus swath across mankind.

But from some of the robotic and AI-related sites and blogs that I’ve seen (and not necessarily those listed above), I’m becoming a bit more skeptical of peoples’ motivations in this space, as many of these folks seem to be saying they can create better than God can.  Alternatively, some don’t believe in a Creator at all, and thus want to make themselves the ultimate creator.  When inventors, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, military leaders, and other relevant parties have “hearts of flesh” that are compassionate, caring, and giving…these technologies can be very useful and beneficial.  But I’m more concerned if these types of technologies are warped into a pathway for power, personal gain, military applications, etc.

 

The State of the Heart

 

 

Also see:

 

 

What is RoboEarth?

At its core, RoboEarth is a World Wide Web for robots: a giant network and database repository where robots can share information and learn from each other about their behavior and their environment.

Bringing a new meaning to the phrase “experience is the best teacher”, the goal of RoboEarth is to allow robotic systems to benefit from the experience of other robots, paving the way for rapid advances in machine cognition and behaviour, and ultimately, for more subtle and sophisticated human-machine interaction.

RoboEarth diagram

— image from http://www.roboearth.org/


The three-layered architecture of RoboEarth

— image from
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/roboearth-a-world-wide-web-for-robots

.

Also see:

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From DSC:
Given the state of many of mankind’s prideful hearts…this is the type of area that makes me nervous. How will such technologies be used?

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Symposium on Progress in Information and Communication Technology (SPICT’10)

Conference date: 12-13 Dec,2010
Conference venue:
The Royale Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
Conference country:
Malaysia

SPICT’10 aims to bring together scientists, industry practitioners and students to exchange the latest fundamental advances and trends, and identify emerging research topics in the field of information and communication technology.

Activities:

* Agent & Multi-agent Systems
* Antennas & Propagation
* Artificial Intelligence
* Bioinformatics & Scientific Computing
* Business Intelligence
* Communication Systems and Networks
* Complex Systems: Modeling and Simulation
* Computer Vision
* Database and Application
* Geographical Information Systems
* Grid and Utility Computing
* Image Processing
* Information indexing & retrieval
* Information Systems
* Intelligent Systems
* Internet Technology
* Knowledge Management
* Mobile Communication Services
* Multimedia Technology and Systems
* Natural Language Processing
* Network Management and services
* Ontology and Web Semantic
* Optical Communications and Networks
* Parallel and Distributed Computing
* Pattern Recognition
* Pervasive Computing
* Real-Time and Embedded Systems
* Remote Sensing
* Robotic Technologies
* Security and Cryptography
* Sensor Networks
* Service Computing
* Signal Processing
* Software Engineering
* Strategic Information Systems

© 2025 | Daniel Christian