Daily Archives: January 9, 2022

Angela Cring, former executive director of the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition, peered into her past to find her future as a certified foresight practitioner, or futurist.

Trained as a geologist and accomplished as the full-time leader of LAGCOE, the biennial trade show that dates back to 1955 in Lafayette, she left the organization in early 2020 to explore new opportunities for self-fulfillment and community benefit. Three months later, her search ended with a quest to become a CFP. She completed an eight-month training course offered by The Futures School in Florida and created her own company, JoyForwardStrategy.

I decided to start my own business, she said. My original intention was to do strategic planning; Ive been doing that for years in previous jobs. I always loved that. I reflected back on what I have done for the past 10-15 years that brought me the most fulfillment, and this was it.

Angela Cring, a futurist with Joy Forward Strategy in Lafayette, offered a list of trends she is watching for 2022. Here are 10:

Cring, an Alexandria native, was educated as a geologist during her undergraduate studies in geology and political science at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi and during graduate studies as a geologist at Ole Miss. As a geologist she did hydrology and wetlands restoration work and later did geophysical survey work. In 2008, with the birth of her daughter, she moved to LACGOE in a part-time assistant capacity and took charge of the organization in 2011. Her last day at LAGCOE was Jan. 3, 2020.

Simply stated, she said, being a futurist is more about the present than what is to come. It involves making good decisions now to prepare for trends that are emerging or not yet in ready evidence.

Its kind of an oxymoron, she said.

As a futurist she said she scans the horizon for things that are emerging: trends you can see and ones that arent trends yet. Then, she said, the futurist maps out different scenarios of what the future might look like and, using maps of future, creates strategies on how you personally or how your client or organization would deal with or adapt to the different scenarios.

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Angela Cring enlisted in LAGCOEs cause as a young woman and leaves it as a more accomplished one. She said she believes incremental progress

You can pick or choose a preferred future where you want to be but at least build out and examine possible scenarios, bad to good, to adapt more quickly than other people or other organizations that havent done that work, she said.

Cring said she has landed some clients since going into business early this year and is prepared to lead strategy sessions for for-profit businesses and non-profits, as well as for individuals.

Most of my client work has been more traditional, strategic planning, she said. Its less about futures work. Not many people know or understand what that is.

She said shed be interested in forming a cohort futures class locally to facilitate activities and build discussions around it to build a pipeline of leaders more capable of thinking more futuristically. So far, she said, people dont embrace it although they value strategic planning. She said the futurist is not something new: Alvin Toffler was at the forefront of the movement as early as the 1950s.

Im super committed to it; it can be personally transformative. I was doing futures training during 2020 when there wasnt much good in the world to grab onto. My foresight training gave me hope; it allowed me to see all the amazing possibilities that exist in the world, even if they havent come to fruition yet.

Seeing what could be creates a sense of hope and optimism to people, which is something the world needs more of right now specifically, Lafayette and Acadiana. It doesnt feel like our community has much of a vision right now.

To find out more about Crings services, see JoyForwardStrategy.com or email Angela@JoyForwardStrategy.com.

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Former LAGCOE leader turns to new career as a 'futurist'; here's what that means - The Advocate

This is what we get for getting our hopes up. Dark Side of the Moon

It was just a month ago that the world was introduced to what appeared to be abizarre cube on the Moon and just like that, now it turns out the object was little more than an optical illusion.

AsSpaceNews correspondent Andrew Jones tweeted, the latest Chinese images of the Moon Cube from closer up now show that the mysterious object appears to bewell, a perfectly normal Moon rock.Sorry, folks. Sometimes space is boring.

Oh, this is amazing, Jones wrote. Close to tears.

The latest photos of the mystery hut, as it was originally known in Chinese media, show that this relatively small rock sitting on the edge of a lunar crater isnt extraordinary in any way and as the SpaceNews reporter wrote, the newly-dubbed jade rabbit is so underwhelming its brilliant.

The Moons surface is 38 million square kilometres of rocks, so it would have been astronomically exceptional for it to be anything else, Jones wrote in a subsequent tweet. But while small, the jade rabbit/ rock will also be a monumental disappointment to some.

Before this underwhelming discovery, conspiracy theories about the Moon Cube abounded, with netizens half-jokingly comparing it to the scourge of monoliths that plagued Earth in the first pandemic summer, and others still advising the Chinese Yutu 2 rover to go back in the other direction and avoid it as if contaminated.

There was always a great likelihood that the cube was going to be a plain ol rock. But this does, if nothing else, set a hilarious tone for whats gearing up to be a huge year in space exploration.

More on the Moon Cube: Chinese Rover Exploring What Appears to Be Cube-Shaped Object on Moon

More on the Moon: Scientist Opening Sealed Container From Final Moon Landing

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Remember the "Moon Cube"? China Just Published a New Photo and Uhhhhh - Futurism

He makes the future sound pretty bleak.Deaths Future

What will people be dying from in 60 years? One 64-year-old scientist, who says his life may not even be halfway over yet, old plans to find out.

In a new interview with theAtlantic, Brian Hanley explained his life-extending experiments and why he thinks climate change will probably be his future cause of death.

Hanley, a mathematical biologist, started a company called Butterfly Sciences. Hes been testing therapy on himself that he believes might extend his life span, and crucially what he calls healthspan, or the period during which heremains in good physical and mental shape. None of it is FDA-approved, and Hanley only tests on himself giving off, dare we say, a certain degree of mad scientist vibes but Hanley says hes pretty sure the work will pay off.

Im a scientist, so Im not going to put a hard number on what I expect. My family line is pretty long-lived, Hanley told the magazine. I have no reason to think that I wont hit 80 at least. I suspect Ill live beyond that. I would put the outside limit at about 150 to 160 years.

Hanley concedes that a lot of people in his generation really fucked some things up, including climate change and students loans, and hopes his work gives him a chance to set some of right. But he knows that living longer probably could well mean that climate change will be his demise.

I accept a high probability that weather and climate will be the cause of my death, either directly, like a tornado or a typhoon or fire, or indirectly, like crops failing, Hanley told the Atlantic.

Hanleys goal isnt as far-fetched as you might imagine. Just last year a study found that in perfect health, humans may live up to 150 years. And there are things we can do to help get there that dont require experimental gene therapy, although they might not be ideal like castration, for example.

Hanley only wants to achieve a longer life if hes in good health and can contribute meaningfully, and while that does raise ethical questions, its at least good to know some older folks are trying to right the wrongs of the past right now.

More on living forever: Elon Musk Says That Immortality Tech Would Be Very Dangerous

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Guy Testing Life-Extending Gene Therapy on Himself Admits That Environmental Catastrophe May Pose Problem - Futurism

Image by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

IBMs infamous Watson artificial intelligence once beat two Jeopardy champions out of $1 million. But now, Axios reports, Big Blue is putting up the healthcare portion of the much-hyped algorithm up for sale once again.

In fact, its not even the first time that IBM has tried unsuccessfully to unload the project, in yet another sign that corporate expectations for AI are continuing to crash into reality.

Health care always is going to turn out to be more subtle, as well as more regulated for the right reasons, than it is in other areas, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in an Axios and HBO interview last year. And to me, thats natural. It is a decision that may impact somebodys life or death. You got to be more careful. So in health care, it turns out maybe we were too optimistic.

The sale, if it actually goes through this time, would affect millions of patients and entire government healthcare strategies.

The computer and tech corporation spent more than $4 billion acquiring multiple healthcare companies to build up IBM Watson Health. But now its asking just $1 billion, according to Axios, meaning its comfortable with a loss of billions.

In late 2021, IBM asked Bank of America to help find a buyer, but both companies declined Axios recent request for comment. However, at least one strategic buyer and several private equity may have put in bids that were reportedly due yesterday.

Whoever ends up buying Watson Health Solutions will inherit a ton of responsibility. Playing games with healthcare decisions just to turn a profit isnt inspiring, and unless the right buyer comes along, there could be a ton at stake.

More on healthcare concerns: Quality of Life is Slipping Backwards in the US

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Remember IBM's Amazing Watson AI? Now It's Desperately Trying to Sell It Off - Futurism

"Perfect for when you need to lose your stars."Changing Colors

Heres something wild we didnt expect to see at this years CES convention in Las Vegas: an electric BMW that can literally change the color of its paint job with the press of a button.

A video thats gone viral on Reddit shows a sleek SUV puttering around a parking lot when it suddenly switches its exterior color from a pearl white to a medium gray in an instant. Oddly enough, the charging port cover stayed white, while the rest of the vehicle darkened.

A different video shared on Twitter shows swirls of grey move across the vehicle like a dark cloud.

Sure, its a bit gimmicky but CES is all about gimmicks. And the feature may have other uses, too.

Perfect for when you need to lose your stars, one Reddit user chimed in, referring to the wanted level in the video game franchise Grand Theft Auto.

In December, BMW issued a statement that it will show off the first-ever demonstration of a technology that changes the exterior color of a vehicle with the touch of a button, but didnt elaborate on what that would look like or how it would work at the time.

One Twitter user suggested that the color-changing tech could involve a temperature sensitive finish, but BMW has yet to comment.

Only a few people will be able to see the car in person, thanks to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

Out of an abundance of caution, BMW will move all planned media activities at CES to a fully online program from Germany on January 5, reads a statement from BMW.

While were still not entirely clear on how the carmaker managed to pull off the chameleon paint job, were pretty certain on one thing: this vehicle will be turning a lot of heads at CES this year, given the hype on social media.

More on BMW: BMW Posts, Deletes Ad About Sex Inside Self-Driving Cars

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BMW Shows Off Car That Changes Color at the "Touch of a Button" - Futurism

Yep, it's still as weird as ever.Only in Ameca

UK-based robotics company Engineered Arts made a huge splash last month with a teaser video of its humanoid robot, with many eerily uncanny expressions, which went viral on social media.

Even the likes of Elon Musk commented on the video, noting just how unsettling it was to watch the robots perfectly executed impressions.

Now, we finally get to see more of the robot in action. Engineered Arts took its robot called Ameca its a she according to its owners, by the way to this years CES convention in Las Vegas, and had it sit down for an interview with CNET.

The experience was just as uncanny as we expected,and also made it clear that the extraordinary bot is not the result of CGI trickery.

Ameca really looks like she was yanked straight out of a sci-fi movie.

Weve all seen it in the movies, weve all seen I, Robot and AI Artificial Intelligence,' Morgan Roe, Engineered Arts director of operations, told CNET via Zoom. And suddenly, thats real.

While Ameca herself didnt talk during the interview, the humanoid robot appeared to react to what Roe was saying, as if a somewhat over-expressive human of flesh and blood was actually standing next to him.

Roe also explained that Ameca wasnt meant to visually mimic an actual human being, noting that the team intentionally pulled it backwards out of the uncanny valley by giving it a deliberately robotic look.

So what will Ameca actually do?

This is mainly probably service robotics, Roe told CNET, noting that it would take say ten to 20 years for Ameca to mingle with real humans.

Roe also explained how the robot can track peoples faces using two cameras in each of its eyes.

Its a beautiful example of humanoid robotics being taken to its logical conclusion,andan impressive feat of engineering that shows just how far the technology has come.

Just dont stare into Amecas eyes for too long or you might just get fooled into thinking shes real.

READ MORE: Ameca the robot is more human (and haunting) than I ever imagined [CNET]

More on the robot: New Video Shows Robot With Terrifyingly Realistic Facial Expressions

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That Robot With the Super Creepy Facial Expressions Is Back, and Yikes - Futurism

Image by Getty / Futurism

In a grim finding, a team of scientists say that people who believe myths about COVID are more likely to catch it.

Community transmission rates drop when government entities impose restrictions, Ohio State University researcher Russell Fazio told PsyPost in a new interview about a study he helped publish back in October of 2021. But the very persons who engage in more social distancing behavior decrease their personal likelihood of contracting COVID-19. [We] took this a step further, examining beliefs and personal characteristics that predicted whether individuals contracted the virus.

Study participants completed assessments for variables including pandemic perceptions, faith in government, belief in science, conspiratorial ideas and more. As it turns out, those with a strong trust of former President Trump, more government faith and more conspiracy theory beliefs were more likely to contract COVID, according to the studys findings.

There are many important findings from this research, but the most critical one may be related to misinformation regarding COVID, Fazio told PsyPost. Individuals with more accurate knowledge were far less likely to have contracted [it].

The solution to these problems, though, may not lie in political evangelism and trying to sway COVID deniers to the other side of an ideological spectrum.

Instead, a less political and more empathetic approach may be a much more effective way to reduce COVID cases and deaths, which should really be everyones end goal.

It would be fascinating to examine the consequences of correcting any misinformation that people had acquired regarding the virus, Fazio told PsyPost. Whether changes in accurate knowledge results in changes in the likelihood of contracting the virus is an important question that needs to be addressed.

In other words, in the fight against COVID, preventing hospital stays matters more than changing votes. So letting people know that their leaders failed them in an empathetic way, and not holding them personally responsible for those failings, may prove most effective.

After all, if individual action can make you vulnerable to COVID transmission, surely the reverse is true, too.

More on anti-vaxx dangers: WHO: Anti-vaxxers Are Now One of the Greatest Threats to World Health

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Study Finds That People Who Believe COVID Myths Are More Likely to Catch COVID - Futurism

Hyundai Ioniq 5 hauls us into a bright retro-future as the smartest EV on the market

Hyundai Ioniq 5 is retro-futurism made flesh, fulfilling the neon dreams of the forward-thinking 1970s its also easy to live with, efficient and practical

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 wears its retro influences on its sleeve, but in truth there were never really cars like this on the road. The closest parallels to the faceted forms in Hyundais newest EV can be found in the concept car designs of the 1970s and 1980s, back when futurism meant sharp edges. In particular, the jumping off point was Giorgetto Giugiaros 1974 Hyundai Pony Coup concept, shown at the Turin Motor Show. The Ioniq 5 is the production version of the Hyundai 45 Concept, featured in our 2020 Design Awards for its combination of excellent exterior, intelligent interior design, and eco-conscious engineering.

Not only is the Ioniq 5 substantially different from the companys EV offerings to date, its also pretty different from other companies offerings (including Hyundais sister company Kia). Inside and out, the Ioniq 5 is retro-futurism made flesh, fulfilling the neon dreams of the forward-thinking 1970s as a mass-produced object without the barriers of badge snobbery or brand hierarchy.

You see, way back before retro was cool, companies like Hyundai were comfortable in their unfashionable skin, letting premium brands duke it out for the title of best-looking car. Time and taste have been surprisingly kind to the resolutely ordinary cars built by the Korean manufacturer in the 1970s and 1980s.

Giugiaros original 1974 concept still looks relatively fresh, and in April 2021 the Pony was given a retromod makeover, complete with modern pixel-style lights and a dashboard made from Nixie tubes. It was followed by an all-electric make-over of the stately Grandeur saloon from 1986.

Hyundai Heritage Series Pony

The latter two cars are part of the companys Heritage Series, a canny way of bolstering the credibility of the past through the lens of the future. Consumers often have a nostalgic longing for the lost powers of perception and imagination in old-fashioned futurology. Hyundais design team are tapping into these emotions with a (relatively) straight face; the Grandeur is video game design made real, a clever way of splicing modern EV tech into old forms.

The wider point here is that electrification offers designers far more freedom than ever before. Ultimately, cars will evolve even further, but the underlying promise of such electrified retromods is that there may just be life in the billions of soon-to-be-discarded conventional cars, if only their drivetrains could be swapped out for batteries.

Hyundai Heritage Series Grandeur

The Ioniq 5 isnt quite as blatant an homage, but it is still extremely striking, quite unlike anything else on the road. In the metal, its much larger than the compact hatchback-style body shape suggests, but the scale lends the interior an airy spaciousness that is missing from so many modern cars.

Outside, the folded, crimped, and ribbed bodywork is far more sophisticated than the machine-made forms of the 1970s and 1980s. This is a tad fussy in places (especially in comparison with the original 45 Concept), but the overall effect is handsome, well-proportioned and different. The pixelated lights, front and rear, create presence and visual interest, while the clean relationship between the light clusters, bodywork and glasshouse is the very definition of crisp.

Inside, the space makes the most of Hyundais new Electric-Global Modular Platform, which also serves as the underpinnings for the closely related but very physically different Kia EV6. The dashboard successfully blends flat screens with conventional controls, while there are no overwrought curves or scoops anywhere to be found.

The interior of the Hyundai Ioniq 5

On the road, the Ioniq 5 demonstrates all the best EV driving qualities, swift acceleration, stable, grounded handling, and simple one-pedal operation. The bigger capacity battery (73kWh versus 58kWh) promises a range of around 300 miles, and a (scarce) ultra-fast charger will get you from 10 to 80 per cent charge in under 20 minutes.

It is a very easy car to live with, characterful without being overbearingly charismatic, efficient without being clinical, and practical without being dull. We look forward to future Ioniq models with keen anticipation.

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Hyundai Ioniq 5 hauls us into a bright retro-future as the smartest EV on the market - Wallpaper*