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What are our motivations? What’s the state of our hearts?

On 10/18/2010, in analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, ethics, faith, future, intelligent tutoring, learner profiles, learning agents, morals/values, pace of change, by Daniel Christian

We need to be constantly checking and praying about the state of our hearts.

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The State of the Heart

From DSC:
My conscience prompts me to write this…as my recent posting on developing and using web-based learner profiles was not meant to try and ultimately recreate the human brain.  I don’t think that’s possible. Rather, I was hoping that we could use such methods and breakthroughs to promote the personalization, customization, and engagement levels of the learning materials and experiences that we are able to offer each other.

But the posting got me to reflecting on a variety of technological advancements…and I couldn’t help but wonder about the motivations at play sometimes here.

That is, things can begin innocently enough and with excellent intentions.  For example, with stem-cell research, such research can offer understanding on how stem cells might be able to help treat debilitating conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, traumatic spinal injury, or be used for positively affecting other clinical and therapeutic applications. And that’s great! Excellent!

But the problem for me in many of these endeavors lies in the hearts of mankind. Because, who knows where things could go from there…

Will we one day find ourselves being able to create fellow human beings? If so, who determines what those fellow human beings are like? Will we be able to program a robot to continually learn? If so, how will such devices be used by individuals? Corporations? Governments? Nations?

I know…it sounds rather bizarre and far-fetched. But with the rate of technological advancements, I just think we need to take a pulse check on the motivations involved. I’m suspect that the motivations of many folks out there are not in mankind’s ultimate best interest…plus…sometimes these individuals and organizations just don’t have the heart.

Ezekiel 11:19 (NIV)
19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them;
I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

P.S. from DSC:
I need to say that my heart is in constant need of attention as well;
I don’t claim to be perfect…but I also don’t claim to want to play God.

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MacArthur Foundation: How digital media has dramatically changed the way we learn

On 08/17/2010, in 21st century, ethics, generational differences, multimedia, new media literacies, strategy, technologies for your home, by Daniel Christian

MacArthur Foundations' Connie Yowell -- July 2010 -- How digital media has dramatically changed how we learn

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A major opportunity for more “traditional” institutions

On 08/05/2010, in business, business side of he, ethics, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, using teams, by Daniel Christian

“Shellacking the For-Profits” — from InsideHigherEd.com by Jennifer Epstein

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats made it clear Wednesday that their examination of for-profit higher education has only just begun, and that they plan to pursue legislation aimed at reining what they see as the sector’s dishonest — if not fraudulent — practices.

At a hearing on the “student recruitment experience” at for-profit colleges that began Wednesday morning and carried on through the mid-afternoon, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, outlined plans to hold more hearings on the sector, to collect broad sets of information from for-profit colleges, and to begin drafting legislation aimed at cleaning up the sector.

“Education is too important for the future of this country,” he said. “Facing the budget problems we have in the next 10 years, we just can’t permit more and more of the taxpayers’ dollars that are supposed to go for education and quality education … to be going to pay shareholders or private investors.”

From DSC:
Coming from a corporate background, I’m thinking this morning in terms of market share. If those of us in the more “traditional” institutions of higher ed were smart, we’d take this as  major opportunity. The for-profits made a big mistake here — sacrificing integrity and reputation for building up their revenues; very bad move. I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who once said something like, “Glass, china, and reputation, are easily crack’d, and never well mended.”

The for-profits here seemed to have taken their cues from the casino we call Wall Street. Yet another example of cold-heartedness. This is an opportunity for those institutions of higher ed to take the legitimate, effective items of what was/is working for the for-profits and implement them with integrity instead…for example, implementing the use of teams.

Also relevant:

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Higher ed needs to help instill values — or this boat will continue to sink

On 07/06/2010, in business, economics, ethics, by Daniel Christian

Evidently…Wall Street continues to act like a casino. These bright folks seem to have lost their inner compass…as yet another article relays:

Dangerous liaisons at IBM: Inside the biggest hedge fund insider-trading ring

Moffat, the senior vice president of IBM’s systems and technology group, was the most prominent tech executive arrested in the federal dragnet that snagged Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund. The bust sent tremors through Wall Street, exposing a world of illicit, back-channel dealings between prominent hedge fund managers and senior executives in the high-tech industry. Among those caught in the federal bust were a McKinsey & Co. director, a high-level Intel executive, and the head of New Castle Partners, a hedge fund that was once part of Bear Stearns. So far, 11 of 21 people charged have pleaded guilty.

From DSC:
We are all in this boat together. If our current students continue to hear the messages such as, “Look out for #1” or “Do whatever it takes to get that corner office” or “You are only as successful as you are wealthy”, our collective futures are in trouble.

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