On 12/27/2021,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Blockchain, business, career development, change, changing business models, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, game-changing environment, innovation, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, more voice more choice more control, online learning, pace of change, platforms, play, society, the downsides of how people use tech, trends, vendors, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
As with many emerging technologies, there appear to be some significant pros and cons re: the use of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).
The question I wonder about is: How can the legal realm help address the massive impacts of the exponential pace of technological change in our society these days? For examples:
- How is — or should — the American Bar Association respond?
- Law schools?
- Lawyers?
- Legislatures?
- Judges?
- Politicians and others?
Technicians, network engineers, data center specialists, computer scientists, and others also need to be asking themselves how they can help out in these areas as well.
Emphasis below is mine.
NFTs Are Hot. So Is Their Effect on the Earth’s Climate — from wired.com by Gregory Barber
The sale of a piece of crypto art consumed as much energy as the studio uses in two years. Now the artist is campaigning to reduce the medium’s carbon emissions.
Excerpt:
The works were placed for auction on a website called Nifty Gateway, where they sold out in 10 seconds for thousands of dollars. The sale also consumed 8.7 megawatt-hours of energy, as he later learned from a website called Cryptoart.WTF.
NFTs And Their Role In The “Metaverse” — from 101blockchains.com by Georgia Weston
Many people would perceive NFTs as mere images of digital artworks or collectibles which they can sell for massive prices. However, the frenzy surrounding digital art in present times has pointed out many new possibilities with NFTs. For example, the NFT metaverse connection undoubtedly presents a promising use case for NFTs. The road for the future of NFTs brings many new opportunities for investors, enterprises, and hobbyists, which can shape up NFT usage and adoption in the long term.
NFTs or non-fungible tokens are a new class of digital assets, which are unique, indivisible, and immutable. They help in representing the ownership of digital and physical assets on the blockchain. Starting from digital artwork to the gaming industry, NFTs are making a huge impact everywhere.
The decentralized nature of the blockchain offers the prospects for unlimited business opportunities and social interaction. Metaverse offers extremely versatile, scalable, and interoperable digital environments. Most important of all, the metaverse blends innovative technologies with models of interaction between participants from individual and enterprise perspectives.
From DSC:
How might the developments occurring with NFTs and the Metaverse impact a next-gen learning platform?
—–
Artist shuts down because people keep their work to make NFTs — from futurism.com by Victor Tangermann
NFT theft is a huge problem
Someone is selling NFTs of Olive Garden locations that they do not own — from futurism.com by
And you can mint a breadstick NFT — for free, of course
On 12/15/2021,
in Apple, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, Google, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, programming, tools,
by Daniel Christian
The 35 Best Apple and Google Apps of 2021 — from wonderoftech.com by Carolyn Nicander Mohr
Excerpt:
As 2021 draws to a close, Apple and Google have been busy creating their lists of the best apps of the year. These lists may include apps you already have or are familiar with. You may also discover your new favorite must-have app you’ll be eager to share with your friends.
On 12/08/2021,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, change, computer science, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, cryptocurrencies, Daniel S. Christian, economics, law schools, Legal operations, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, privacy, programming,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
When I ran across the items below, I couldn’t help but wonder…”What does the legal realm need to know here?”
The Ultimate List Of Crypto Lending Platforms — from 101blockchains.com by Diego Geroni
Know The Vulnerabilities And Security Concerns Associated With NFT — from 101blockchains.com by Diego Geroni
Radar trends to watch: December 2021 — from oreilly.com by Mike Loukides
Developments in Programming, Quantum Computing, Cryptocurrency, and More
NFT sales reached $27 billion this year — from protocol.com by Nat Rubio-Licht
OpenSea dominated the business.
UNISWAP – Know Everything About The Largest Decentralized Exchange (DEX) — from 101blockchains.com by Diego Geroni
On 12/06/2021,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, 3D, 5G, A/V -- audio/visual, business, career development, changing business models, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital learning, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, ideas, innovation, instructional design, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, library / librarians, platforms, programming, society, STEAM-related, teaching & learning, teaching online, technology (general), tools, training / L&D, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, XR - extended reality,
by Daniel Christian
Teaching in the ‘Metaverse’? Roblox Looks to Make It a Reality — from edweek.org by Benjamin Herold
With millions in new grants to STEM organizations like Project Lead the Way, the gaming platform is moving into K-12 education.
Excerpts:
Hoping to expand its presence in K-12 schools, gaming company Roblox announced this month a new $10 million fund to support the creation of online learning experiences that take advantage of its platform’s unique way of letting users play, explore, and socialize in an endlessly evolving virtual world.
…
Roblox aims to play a major role in the emerging metaverse. Expanding into classroom education is a key vehicle for making that happen, Kantar told investors at a November conference. The company’s stated goal is to reach 100 million students worldwide by the end of the decade.
Making such inroads with K-12 schools, however, is no sure bet.
Also see:
On 12/03/2021,
in 21st century, Alternatives, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, computer science, corporate / business world, credentialing, curriculum, higher education, IBM, innovation, instructional design, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, microlearning, pace of change, professional development, United States, universities, vendors, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Will Microcredentials be the Rx Needed to Fix Our Ailing Degree Systems? — from evolllution.com by David Leaser | Senior Program Executive of Innovation and Growth Initiatives, IBM
Amidst the dramatic social and economic upheaval caused by the pandemic, microcredentials are presenting themselves as the viable solution to getting learners prepared quickly and effectively for desperately needed jobs.
Excerpts:
Pace of Change Accelerates Beyond Our Wildest Imagination
But the world of work is changing at a pace that traditional education systems cannot match. Cloud computing, big data and AI technologies are replaced or improved monthly—and often faster than that.
…
The U.S. college system is organized around an all-or-none framework: You only get a credential after completing the entire learning path. But when a large number of students cannot commit to a long-term commitment (the situation we have faced for decades), shouldn’t we break the learning down into credentials along the way?
…
The MicroBachelors: A Major Win for Credential As You Go
Today, most microcredentials provide the opposite of college degrees: high skill-signal strength but low social-signal strength.
…
MicroBachelors programs are a series of college classes that have been customized and grouped together to meet employers’ real-world needs. The programs typically take two to four months to complete and provide credentials and college credits.
On 11/26/2021,
in Asia, computer science, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
Nvidia’s New Supercomputer Will Create a ‘Digital Twin’ of Earth to Fight Climate Change — from singularityhub.com by Vanessa Bates Ramirez
Excerpt:
But according to Nvidia, to really know where and how to take action on climate change, we need more data, better modeling, and faster computers. That’s why the company is building what it calls “the world’s most powerful AI supercomputer dedicated to predicting climate change.”
The system will be called Earth-2 and will be built using Nvidia’s Omniverse, a multi-GPU development platform for 3D simulation based on Pixar’s Universal Scene Description. In a blog post announcing Earth-2 late last week, Nvidia’s founder and CEO Jensen Huang described his vision for the system as a “digital twin” of Earth.
On 11/15/2021,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Amazon, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), change, colleges, computer science, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, ethics, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, game-changing environment, Google, hearts -- matters of the heart, higher education, liberal arts, Microsoft, pace of change, platforms, programming, society, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
From my perspective, both of the items below are highly-related to each other:
Let’s Teach Computer Science Majors to Be Good Citizens. The Whole World Depends on It. — from edsurge.com by Anne-Marie Núñez, Matthew J. Mayhew, Musbah Shaheen and Laura S. Dahl
Excerpt:
Change may need to start earlier in the workforce development pipeline. Undergraduate education offers a key opportunity for recruiting students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic, gender, and disability groups into computing. Yet even broadened participation in college computer science courses may not shift the tech workforce and block bias from seeping into tech tools if students aren’t taught that diversity and ethics are essential to their field of study and future careers.
Computer Science Majors Lack Citizenship Preparation
Unfortunately, those lessons seem to be missing from many computer science programs.
…and an excerpt from Why AI can’t really filter out “hate news” — with thanks to Sam DeBrule for this resource (emphasis DSC):
The incomprehensibility and unexplainability of huge algorithms
Michael Egnor: What terrifies me about artificial intelligence — and I don’t think one can overstate this danger — is that artificial intelligence has two properties that make it particularly deadly in human civilization. One is concealment. Even though every single purpose in artificial intelligence is human, it’s concealed. We don’t really understand it. We don’t understand Google’s algorithms.
There may even be a situation where Google doesn’t understand Google’s algorithms. But all of it comes from the people who run Google. So the concealment is very dangerous. We don’t know what these programs are doing to our culture. And it may be that no one knows, but they are doing things.
Note:Roman Yampolskiy has written about the incomprehensibility and unexplainability of AI: “Human beings are finite in our abilities. For example, our short term memory is about 7 units on average. In contrast, an AI can remember billions of items and AI capacity to do so is growing exponentially. While never infinite in a true mathematical sense, machine capabilities can be considered such in comparison with ours. This is true for memory, compute speed, and communication abilities.” So we have built-in bias and incomprehensibility at the same time.
From DSC:
That part about concealment reminds me that our society depends upon the state of the hearts of the tech leaders. We don’t like to admit that, but it’s true. The legal realm is too far behind to stop the Wild West of technological change. The legal realm is trying to catch up, but they’re coming onto the race track with no cars…just as pedestrians walking or running as fast as they can….all the while, the technological cars are whizzing by.
The net effect of all of this is that we are more dependent upon the ethics, morals, and care for their fellow humankind (or not) of the C-Suites out there (especially Facebook/Meta Platforms, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Apple) than we care to admit. Are they producing products and services that aim to help our societies move forward, or are they just trying to make some more bucks? Who — or what — is being served?
The software engineers and software architects are involved here big time as well. “Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.” But that perspective is sometimes in short supply.
On 11/11/2021,
in communications, computer science, emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, ideas, innovation, internet, platforms, technology (general), telecommunications, tools,
by Daniel Christian
Also see Matthew Ball’s Metaverse Primer (excerpt below from this page) — with thanks to Annie Zhang for this resource:
“The Metaverse is a massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds which can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence, and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications, and payments.”
Jacob Navok: Computing and Network Needs of the Metaverse — from hellometaverse.fm by Annie Zhang
Excerpt:
to progress towards this vision of the metaverse, jacob is focused on tackling the hard problem of improving concurrency. how do you get millions of people to concurrently be participating and interacting in one live experience with no lag?
he breaks this down the problem into two components:
-
limitations of the traditional network to handle multiplayer experiences: coordinating, say, positional data of where you and all the other players in a game, gets very complicated, especially when latency needs to be low. meaning, if you want to see everything that everyone is doing at all times, coordinating the traffic of that data is very difficult
-
with more connection, internet speed slows: the internet was not built for true real time communication, but rather optimized for cost and routing efficiency. when you load a fb page, it’s okay if it takes 10 milliseconds, but when you are in a shooting game, a delay of 10 milliseconds is a matter of life or death
Everything You Need To Know About The Metaverse — from protocol.com by Janko Roettgers
Excerpt:
Silicon Valley has a new favorite buzzword: Ever since Mark Zuckerberg announced earlier this year that Facebook’s future would be in the metaverse, everyone has been rushing to figure out what a metaverse even is. And when Facebook rebranded as Meta in October, metaverse fever swept the tech industry. From Microsoft to Nvidia, every company is suddenly in the metaverse business, and seemingly overnight, countless people became metaverse experts.
But what actually is the metaverse? Why does it matter, and who needs to worry about it? If the metaverse is truly “the next chapter for the internet,” as Zuckerberg put it, it’s important to understand and define it so as not to be caught flat-footed when (or if) the metaverse wave catches on.