As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him;
Just as a father loves his children,
So the Lord loves those who fear and worship Him [with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence].
Psalm 103:13 Expanded Bible (Expanded Bible)
The Lord has ·mercy [compassion] on those who ·respect [fear] Him
as a father has ·mercy [compassion] on his children.
5 essential skills you need to keep your job in the next 10 years — from fastcompany.com by Gwen Moran
Automation may affect half of jobs. Here are five areas to develop to keep yourself employed.
Excerpts/quotes (emphasis DSC):
From DSC:
It is great to see an article that encourages trendspotting, being aware of what’s happening in the world around us, and looking upwards/into the horizons as key skills! Given the pace of change, this is becoming critical for people to do — otherwise, we risk being blindsided by changes — by incoming “waves” of change — that we didn’t see coming. We don’t want to be tapped on the shoulder, personally escorted to that conference room with all of the windows having cardboard on them, and then be let go…to our utter shock and dismay.
Image from:
ttp://www.careerealism.com/laid-off-get-back-immediately/
This also means that we should be teaching more about trendspotting and futurism in K-20.
Further questions/thoughts:
Jeremiah 17:14 New International Version (NIV) — from biblegateway.com
Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;
save me and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.
Proverbs 15:1 New International Version (NIV)
A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
We can do nothing to change the past, but we have enormous power to shape the future. Once we grasp that essential insight, we recognize our responsibility and capability for building our dreams of tomorrow and avoiding our nightmares.
–Edward Cornish
From DSC:
This is the fifth posting in a series that highlights the need for us to consider the ethical implications of the technologies that are currently being developed. What kind of future do we want to have? How can we create dreams, not nightmares?
In regards to robotics, algorithms, and business, I’m hopeful that the C-suites out there will keep the state of their fellow mankind in mind when making decisions. Because if all’s we care about is profits, the C-suites out there will gladly pursue lowering costs, firing people, and throwing their fellow mankind right out the window…with massive repercussions to follow. After all, we are the shareholders…let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot. Let’s aim for something higher than profits. Businesses should have a higher calling/purpose. The futures of millions of families are at stake here. Let’s consider how we want to use robotics, algorithms, AI, etc. — for our benefit, not our downfall.
Other postings:
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV
From page 212 of
Mary Meeker’s annual report re: Internet Trends 2016
The White House is prepping for an AI-powered future — from wired.com by April Glaser
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Researchers disagree on when artificial intelligence that displays something like human understanding might arrive. But the Obama administration isn’t waiting to find out. The White House says the government needs to start thinking about how to regulate and use the powerful technology while it is still dependent on humans.
“The public should have an accurate mental model of what we mean when we say artificial intelligence,” says Ryan Calo, who teaches law at University of Washington. Calo spoke last week at the first of four workshops the White House hosts this summer to examine how to address an increasingly AI-powered world.
…
“One thing we know for sure is that AI is making policy challenges already, such as how to make sure the technology remains safe, controllable, and predictable, even as it gets much more complex and smarter,” said Ed Felten, the deputy US chief of science and technology policy leading the White House’s summer of AI research. “Some of these issues will become more challenging over time as the technology progresses, so we’ll need to keep upping our game.”
Meet ‘Ross,’ the newly hired legal robot — from washingtonpost.com by Karen Turner
Excerpt:
One of the country’s biggest law firms has become the first to publicly announce that it has “hired” a robot lawyer to assist with bankruptcy cases. The robot, called ROSS, has been marketed as “the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney.”
ROSS has joined the ranks of law firm BakerHostetler, which employs about 50 human lawyers just in its bankruptcy practice. The AI machine, powered by IBM’s Watson technology, will serve as a legal researcher for the firm. It will be responsible for sifting through thousands of legal documents to bolster the firm’s cases. These legal researcher jobs are typically filled by fresh-out-of-school lawyers early on in their careers.
Confidential health care data divulged to Google’s DeepMind for new app — from futurism.com by Sarah Marquart
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
Google DeepMind’s new app Streams hopes to use patient data to monitor kidney disease patients. In the process, they gained confidential data on more than 1.6 million patients, and people aren’t happy.
…
This sounds great, but the concern lies in exactly what kind of data Google has access to. There are no separate statistics available for people with kidney conditions, so the company was given access to all data including HIV test results, details about abortions, and drug overdoses.
In response to concerns about privacy, The Royal Free Trust said the data will remain encrypted so Google staff should not be able to identify anyone.
Two questions for managers of learning machines — from sloanreview.mit.edu by Theodore Kinni
Excerpt:
The first, which Dhar takes up in a new article on TechCrunch, is how to “design intelligent learning machines that minimize undesirable behavior.” Pointing to two high-profile juvenile delinquents, Microsoft’s Tay and Google’s Lexus, he reminds us that it’s very hard to control AI machines in complex settings.
The second question, which Dhar explores in an article for HBR.org, is when and when not to allow AI machines to make decisions.
All stakeholders must engage in learning analytics debate — from campustechnology.com by David Raths
Excerpt:
An Ethics Guide for Analytics?
During the Future Trends Forum session [with Bryan Alexander and George Siemens], Susan Adams, an instructional designer and faculty development specialist at Oregon Health and Science University, asked Siemens if he knew of any good ethics guides to how universities use analytics.
Siemens responded that the best guide he has seen so far was developed by the Open University in the United Kingdom. “They have a guide about how it will be used in the learning process, driven from the lens of learning rather than data availability,” he said.
“Starting with ethics is important,” he continued. “We should recognize that if openness around algorithms and learning analytics practices is important to us, we should be starting to make that a conversation with vendors. I know of some LMS vendors where you actually buy back your data. Your students generate it, and when you want to analyze it, you have to buy it back. So we should really be asking if it is open. If so, we can correct inefficiencies. If an algorithm is closed, we don’t know how the dials are being spun behind the scenes. If we have openness around pedagogical practices and algorithms used to sort and influence our students, we at least can change them.”
From DSC:
Though I’m generally a fan of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), we need to be careful how we implement it or things will turn out as depicted in this piece from The Verge. We’ll need filters or some other means of opting in and out of what we want to see.
What does ethics have to do with robots? Listen to RoboPsych Podcast discussion with roboticist/lawyer Kate Darling https://t.co/WXnKOy8UO2
— RoboPsych (@RoboPsychCom) April 25, 2016
Retail inventory robots could replace the need for store employees — from interestingengineering.com by Trevor English
Excerpt:
There are currently many industries that will likely be replaced with robots in the coming future, and with retail being one of the biggest industries across the world, it is no wonder that robots will slowly begin taking human’s jobs. A robot named Tory will perform inventory tasks throughout stores, as well as have the capability of directing customers to where what they are looking for is. Essentially, a customer will type in a product into the robot’s interactive touch screen, and it will start driving to the exact location. It will also conduct inventory using RFID scanners, and overall, it will make the retail process much more efficient. Check out the video below from the German Robotics company Metre Labs who are behind the retail robot.
From DSC:
Do we really want to do this? Some say the future will be great when the robots, algorithms, AI, etc. are doing everything for us…while we can just relax. But I believe work serves a purpose…gives us a purpose. What are the ramifications of a society where people are no longer working? Or is that a stupid, far-fetched question and a completely unrealistic thought?
I’m just pondering what the ramifications might be of replacing the majority of human employees with robots. I can understand about using robotics to assist humans, but when we talk about replacing humans, we had better look at the big picture. If not, we may be taking the angst behind the Occupy Wall Street movement from years ago and multiplying it by the thousands…perhaps millions.
Automakers, consumers both must approach connected cars cautiously — from nydailynews.com by Kyle Campbell
Several automakers plan to have autonomous cars ready for the public by 2030, a development that could pose significant safety and security concerns.
Excerpt:
We’re living in the connected age. Phones can connect wirelessly to computers, watches, televisions and anything else with access to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and money can change hands with a few taps of a screen. Digitalization allows data to flow quicker and more freely than ever before, but it also puts the personal information we entrust it with (financial information, geographic locations and other private details) at a far greater risk of ending up in the wrong hands.
Balancing the seamless convenience customers desire with the security they need is a high-wire act of the highest order, and it’s one that automakers have to master as quickly and as thoroughly as possible.
…
Because of this, connected cars will potentially (and probably) become targets for hackers, thieves and possibly even terrorists looking to take advantage of the fledgling technology. With a wave of connected cars (220 million by 2020, according to some estimates) ready to flood U.S. roadways, it’s on both manufacturers and consumers to be vigilant in preventing the worst-case scenarios from playing out.
Also, check out the 7 techs being discussed at this year’s Gigaom Change Conference:
Scientists are just as confused about the ethics of big-data research as you — wired.com by Sarah Zhang
Excerpt:
And that shows just how untested the ethics of this new field of research is. Unlike medical research, which has been shaped by decades of clinical trials, the risks—and rewards—of analyzing big, semi-public databases are just beginning to become clear.
And the patchwork of review boards responsible for overseeing those risks are only slowly inching into the 21st century. Under the Common Rule in the US, federally funded research has to go through ethical review. Rather than one unified system though, every single university has its own institutional review board, or IRB. Most IRB members are researchers at the university, most often in the biomedical sciences. Few are professional ethicists.
Addendums on 6/3 and 6/4/16:
Romans 11:33 New International Version (NIV)
Doxology
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The Reentry Education Tool Kit
…offers guidelines, tools, and resources to help education providers implement the Reentry Education Framework. The Framework promotes the development of an education continuum spanning facility- and community-based reentry education programs. It has five critical components—program infrastructure, strategic partnerships, education services, transition processes, and sustainability.
Also see:
Supporting Second Chances: Education and Employment Strategies for People Returning from Correctional Facilities — from jff.org
Excerpt:
Jobs for the Future
With more than 2 million people incarcerated on any given day in the United States, and over 700,000 people transitioning out of state and federal correctional facilities each year, there is an urgent need to do more to help reintegrate both youth and adults involved in the criminal justice system back into their communities and become productive members of society. Research indicates that full-time employment is one of the primary predictors of their success. This brief highlights strategies for expanding education and employment pathways and offers specific policy and program priorities to help improve the ability of former inmates to make a smooth transition by connecting them with these pathways. It is part of a series from JFF’s conference Bridging the Gap: Postsecondary Pathways for Underprepared Learners.
Addendum on 4/27/16:
Online Education behind Bars — from blogging.snhu.edu by Michelle R. Weise & Julia Lee
Excerpt:
In early October in New York, three talented and motivated prison inmates from the Bard Prison Initiative inspired the nation by defeating Harvard University’s debate team on the topic of public education for undocumented students. The inmates’ success served as the perfect punctuation mark for the September 30th deadline for institutions to apply for Pell for Prisoners. This experimental sites project enables prison inmates to obtain federal Pell grants to finance their college education while behind bars.
For the adult prison population, the benefits of a college education, combined with supportive re-entry services, are undeniable. Postsecondary education, in particular, appears to have a more powerful effect in reducing recidivism compared to other levels of education. A 2013 RAND meta-analysis that synthesized the findings of 50 studies on recidivism revealed that a person receiving postsecondary education in prison would be about half as likely to recidivate as someone who does not receive postsecondary education in prison.
Unlocking the past: How wearable tech could help get us back to our roots — from wareable.com by Daniel Coughlin
A genealogy expert predicts the future of using wearables to see into your past
Excerpt:
Imagine if you could snap on a DNA-matching wristband that connects you with long lost cousins, or pick up a personalised VR headset game that could immerse you in the lives of your ancestors? “It’s simply a matter of time before we could see this sort of technology,” says genealogy expert Thomas MacEntee.
Known in the industry as ‘The Tech Guy’, MacEntee runs an online community of 3,000 family history bloggers called GeneaBloggers. He also heads up Hack Genealogy, a blog about “repurposing today’s technology for tomorrow’s genealogy”, as well as the consulting site High-Definition Genealogy. MacEntee is renowned in the industry for spotting emerging family history trends and innovations.
Wearable technology for genealogy research and exploration is currently in its very early days. Ancestry.com, the world’s leading genealogy website, has made the industry’s first foray with its Ancestry app for Apple Watch, which launched last April. The app offers speedy access to Ancestry.com’s 14 billion records and images, allows the user to edit their family tree in an instant and delivers regular family history-related notifications.
That’s pretty much it for the moment – but MacEntee, who has envisaged a number of exciting potential uses, believes that this is just the beginning.
From DSC:
I’d like to thank Jenny Zeeff for the reminder on this resource. Though I’ve posted this item before, Jenny reminded me of this set of resources that might be very useful to someone else out there as well.
Microsoft starts shipping HoloLens and announces a big Windows 10 update — from money.cnn.com by Heather Kelly
Microsoft’s take on virtual reality is one step closer to becoming a real product.
Excerpt:
The developer version of the HoloLens augmented reality headset starts shipping today, Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) announced at its developers’ conference in San Francisco.
The company also unveiled a Windows 10 update that includes new powers for virtual assistant Cortana, expanded security features, and new support for styluses.
11 incredible headsets that are making the virtual a reality — from digitaltrends.com by Simon Hill
The latest VR headsets offer more than a mere doorway into wire-frame worlds. We are finally about to lay our hands on the decent VR headset we’ve all be waiting for. Here are the top contenders, from Oculus to PlayStation VR, vying for the title.
Along these lines, also see:
“My name is Sidra”: how virtual reality could combat compassion fatigue — from newstatesman.com by
We look away from the suffering in humanitarian crises because it’s so vast. Virtual reality invites us to look at individuals’ experiences again.
Excerpt:
The aim of these films is to make us care about these crises on a deep, personal level. We know instinctively that it’s easier to emote with a single person than a faceless crowd of thousands, and this tactic takes that idea to its extreme: VR places you next to the person you could help with your donations, and allows you to directly engage by “walking” around the film yourself. The near-banality of Sidra’s film is its strength: the balance of dark and light in her life is easier to understand than a montage of outright misery, because it more closely mirrors our own.
UK cancer surgery to be live-streamed via virtual reality technology — from theguardian.com by Ben Quinn
Excerpt:
An operation on a British cancer patient is to be live-streamed around the world using virtual reality technology designed to make viewers feel as if they are in the operating theatre.
It will be performed by Shafi Ahmed, a London surgeon who has been at the forefront of pioneering virtual reality technology in surgery, and who described next month’s operation as a gamechanger for healthcare innovation and education.
Addendums:
Around 2,000 years ago, this was not a Good Friday for the LORD. But for us, looking back on His resurrection, it is a Good Friday — as He paid the price for our sins.
As it is written in Isaiah Chapter 53:
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
———————-
Isaiah Chapter 53 (NIV version) in its entirety reads:
53 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Excerpt:
RULE #1: DESIGN FOR THE MULTISCREEN REALITY
Consumers are multiscreening more than ever before — optimize your content for it
As attention spans shrink, 59 percent of consumers globally would rather engage with content that’s beautifully designed than simple — even when short on time.
More than half of consumers (57%) would prefer to watch videos on breaking news vs. read an article and 63 percent would rather skim several short stories than read deeper articles.
Globally, consumers use an average of 5 devices and 10 services
Photo by Bill Vriesema
bibleverses.com — A free version of the Bible created specifically for users with vision disabilities; with thanks to Mr. Rich Howard for this resource
