Category Archives: Futurist

ART BELL CLASSIC SHOW Present Trends Leading Towards a Good Future
WATCH THE LATEST VIDEO THAT CAME OUT TODAY HERE http://www.youtube.com http://www.jetstreamnews.com http://www.jetnews.us If You Use Twitter heres the Twitter address or just click the twitter link on the right of the channel page https Date: 11-18-06 Host: Art Bell Guests: James Canton During the middle two hours of the program, renowned global futurist Dr. James Canton discussed the top trends of the #39;extreme future, #39; including oil and alternative energy (hydrogen, solar voltaic and nano-energy), longevity medicine and human enhancement, teleportation, climate change, and security issues (terrorism, disease pandemics, etc). Canton also spoke about the United States, its inextricable link with the global economy and how it must continue leading in technological innovation. The last hour featured Open Lines with a focus on what callers believe the future holds for humanity and the planet.From:zigdogshowViews:1 0ratingsTime:01:30:33More inEducation

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ART BELL CLASSIC SHOW Present Trends Leading Towards a Good Future - Video

KBIS 2011 Multimedia Lounge: David Houle
Futurist David Houle discusses The Shift Age, the new age of humanity. He presents why this age, and the Transformation Decade 2010-2020 are a true inflection point in history.From:KitchenBathShowViews:0 0ratingsTime:38:18More inTravel Events

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KBIS 2011 Multimedia Lounge: David Houle - Video

Dr. Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, will discuss how we will soon be able to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman and child on the planet.

Northfield, VT (PRWEB) October 16, 2012

The presentation, which is scheduled to go until 8:30 and includes a Q&A, is free and open to the public.

Peter Diamandis is co-author of Abundance, a book which lays out how we will soon be able to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman and child on the planet asserting that abundance for all is within our grasp. This bold, contrarian view, backed up by exhaustive research, introduces our near-term future, where exponentially growing technologies and three other powerful forces are conspiring to better the lives of billions.

In his keynote address, Diamandis examines human need by categorywater, food, energy, healthcare, education, communication and freedom. Diamandis also addresses how a range of powerful technologies such as synthetic biology, embedded networks and cloud computing, and robotics, biotechnology and medicine are transforming what was once scarce into something abundant.

Providing abundance is humanitys grandest challenge; this is a keynote about how we rise to meet it.

For more information email toddlectureseries(at)norwich(dot)edu or call (802)485-2633.

The Todd Lecture Series is named in honor of US Army retired Maj. Gen. and Norwich President Emeritus W. Russell Todd, 50, and his wife, Carol, in gratitude for their dedicated service to the University. With this series, Norwich reaches out to bring important, significant lecturers to campus. All events are free and open to the public.

Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army, Norwich University is the oldest private military college in the United States of America and the birthplace of our nation's Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). http://www.norwich.edu

Daphne Larkin Norwich University 802-485-2886 Email Information

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Norwich University Presents Futurist as First Presenter in Fall Lecture Series

Acclaimed futurist, business forecaster and best-selling author Jack Uldrich has been selected to deliver a series of upcoming keynote presentations to the utility industry. Uldrich will review major industry trends, including advances in renewable energy, natural gas, battery technology, nanotechnology, robotics, solid-state transformers and transmission wires as well as discuss the importance of "unlearning" and change management in his sessions.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) October 20, 2012

The talks, as well as the extended strategic planning sessions which will follow the presentations, will be based on Uldrich's two latest books: "Higher Unlearning: 39 Post Requisite Lessons for Achieving a Successful Future" and "Foresight 2020: A Futurist Explores the Trends Transforming Tomorrow," will begin by discussing how continued advances in Smart Grid technologies, natural gas discoveries and renewable energies will radically transform the utility industry in the years ahead. Specific technologies to be discussed will include high temperature superconducting wires, solid-state transformers, smart meters, high storage grid-capable batteries as well as continued advances in home sensors, solar cells, wind turbines and fuel cell technology. An overview of his talk can be found in this article: 5 Future Trends for the Utility Industry.

Uldrich will then discuss why these trends will require unlearning as well as review the consequences of not embracing the concept of unlearning. Uldrich, who has been hailed as "America's Chief Unlearning Officer," will conclude by providing an overview of how these technological changes will also transform customer behaviors and upend long-standing business models in the utility industry.

Throughout his talk, Uldrich will use vivid analogies and memorable stories, drawn from a wide spectrum of industries, to ensure his message of unlearning "sticks" with his audience. A sample of his ideas may be found in this chapter, Shifting Power: The Future of Electricity, from his new book.

In the past year, Uldrich has addressed dozens of utility associations, including delivering customized keynote presentations to the Southern California Gas Company, Southern Company, Northwestern Energy, the Wabash Valley Power Power Association, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the Minnesota Rural Electric Cooperative, the Western Energy Institute, Idaho Power, the American Public Power Association, the Northwest Public Power Association, the Eugene Board of Water and Electricity, the Missouri River Energy Service, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Wisconsin Public Power and dozens more. Uldrich has also addressed a number of major, non-utility-related corporations on the topic of unlearning including Cisco, IBM, WiPro, PepsiCo, United Healthcare and General Electric.

Parties interested in learning more about Jack Uldrich, his books, his daily blog or his speaking availability are encouraged to visit his website. Media wishing to know more about the event or interviewing Jack Uldrich can contact him directly at 612-267-1212 or jack(at)schoolofunlearning(dot)com.

Uldrich is a renowned global energy futurist, best-selling author, editor of the monthly newsletter, The Exponential Executive, and host of the award-winning website, http://www.jumpthecurve.net. He is currently represented by a number of professional speakers' bureaus, including Leading Authorities and Executive Speakers Bureau.

Jack Uldrich Jump the Curve 612-267-1212 Email Information

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Energy Futurist Jack Uldrich to Keynote Series of Utility Industry Events

Futurist Ray Kurzweil optimistically predicts much longer life expectancies, cures for cancer and heart disease, flying cars and robot butlers.

Humans will become capable of feats that now seem impossible for many of us, in our lifetime in large part due to expected advances in brain research, posits the inventor and author in his new book, How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed, due out next month.

Key to his predictions, which hes also outlined in a series of other books including The Age of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity Is Near, is the law of accelerating returns. Kurzweil suggests the pace of information technology advances will grow at an exponential pace until sometime near the end of the century.

In his new book, he predicts technology will virtually grow the human neocortex the section of the brain responsible for thinking, language, and sensory perception by directly tying into electronic resources, including the Internet.

In another 25 years, computers will be the size of blood cells, theyll be another billion times more powerful and well put them inside our bodies and brains, says Kurzweil, who is speaking at Torontos Danforth Music Hall on Thursday.

Nanobots, little robotic computerized devices, will keep us healthy from inside by augmenting our immune system, theyll go inside our brain, interact with our biological neurons, put our brains in the cloud, on the Internet, and well be able to actually have direct brain connection to artificial intelligence, which will incorporate a synthetic neocortex.

While some will undoubtedly write off Kurzweils predictions as hokum, he has an impressive list of inventions to his name and a proven capacity for visionary thinking. Hes credited with inventing the first flatbed scanner, multifont optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, and the first music synthesizer to mimic the sound of a grand piano among many other things.

While his track record of previous predictions has been debated he claims hes been on the mark or close the vast majority of the time, while critics suggest thats not really true he has made a number of prescient calls.

In The Age of Spiritual Machines, which he says he wrote in the mid to late 1990s, back when nearly everyone used dial-up modems, he outlined his visions for 2009. He wrote about the widespread use of portable computers, mobile devices without keyboards, the adoption of digital music, movies and books, the implementation of facial recognition technology, and distance learning.

A transition toward a cyborg future in which society accepts becoming part human, part computer may seem beyond belief, but Kurzweil doesnt think so. He points to present-day medical treatments that already involve brain implants of electronic devices and argues similar procedures could become common among the healthy, too.

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Ray Kurzweil’s new book predicts development of a super ‘digital brain’

There is no more powerful concept in futurist writings then the notion of artificial intelligence. The ability for humans to create machine-based life that thinks on its own and acts on its own has the potential to make our lives dramatically better - or worse, depending on what kind of science fiction you read. But getting there won't be easy.

Artificial intelligence has long been a pipe dream of scientists and science fiction writers. In reality, though, we are nowhere near the practical application of artificial intelligence. True artificial intelligence implies a conscious machine with subjective experiences and thoughts; self-aware, sentient (with the ability to feel) and the capacity for wisdom (sapience).

Apples Siri voice-activated personal assistant and Googles search algorithms are examples of the current state of artificial intelligence. Neither acts on its own nor perceives intentions. You can have a conversation with Siri by interacting with a collection of pre-loaded answers, but there is no intelligence behind it. Siri merely uses a set of rules to select the most appropriate canned answer to your question.

Siri and Google search are examples of what is called weak artificial intelligence - or machine intelligence not intended to match the capabilities of human beings. A weak AI engine could recognize characters, play chess or drive a car. But a machine performing intelligent actions is not necessarily acting intelligently. There is a difference between a smart machine (one that can take various inputs and act accordingly) and one that has its own cognitive capabilities. A smartphone can know many things about its surroundings, but does it know to call Mom when your fiance dumps you?

Strong AI lies on the other end of the spectrum. Strong AI presupposes that a machine can match or exceed the intelligence of a human. It can think on its own and perform intelligent calculations as well or better than a human could. Strong AI, as defined by engineering researchers and philosophers, does not currently exist. To find strong AI you need to turn to the science fiction realm of The Terminator, The Matrix or Isaac Asimovs I, Robot.

AI combines the theoretical with the philosophical before even getting into the nuts and bolts of how it can be achieved. How do you quantify the theoretical capabilities of a sentient computer when one does not yet exist?To even think about achieving artificial intelligence, one must first answer a very old and still very confusing question: exactly what is intelligence?

Humans consider themselves intelligent because they have the capacity to make sense of the world through a series of brain functions. The human mind integrates many different kinds of sensory information and performs computations to create assertions and judgments.

Take a look at the person closest to you. What do you see?

In your mind you see Dick or Jane - because your brain tells you that the person is Dick or Jane. What you are actually seeing is a variety of agents and individual components that your mind associates with Dick or Jane. Your brain makes instant, complicated computations that define what you see - and then more calculations to decide how to react to that object, perhaps to communicate with it. The neural network that is the human brain works in a complicated web to determine the world around it.

In the realm of artificial intelligence, the classic way to determine intelligent behavior is via the Turing test. Developed by early AI pioneer Alan Turing, the Turing test is designed to see if a machines capability for intelligent behavior makes it indistinguishable from that of a human: If you were having a conversation with an entity behind a curtain, could you tell if it was a machine or a human?

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Futurist's Cheat Sheet: Artificial Intelligence

Futurist Ray Kurzweil optimistically predicts much longer life expectancies, cures for cancer and heart disease, flying cars and robot butlers.

Humans will become capable of feats that now seem impossible for many of us, in our lifetime in large part due to expected advances in brain research, posits the inventor and author in his new book, "How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed," due out next month.

Key to his predictions, which he's also outlined in a series of other books including "The Age of Spiritual Machines" and "The Singularity Is Near," is the law of accelerating returns. Kurzweil suggests the pace of information technology advances will grow at an exponential pace until sometime near the end of the century.

In his new book, he predicts technology will virtually grow the human neocortex the section of the brain responsible for thinking, language, and sensory perception by directly tying into electronic resources, including the Internet.

"In another 25 years, computers will be the size of blood cells, they'll be another billion times more powerful and we'll put them inside our bodies and brains," says Kurzweil, who is speaking at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall on Thursday.

"Nanobots, little robotic computerized devices, will keep us healthy from inside by augmenting our immune system, they'll go inside our brain, interact with our biological neurons, put our brains in the cloud, on the Internet, and we'll be able to actually have direct brain connection to artificial intelligence, which will incorporate a synthetic neocortex."

While some will undoubtedly write off Kurzweil's predictions as hokum, he has an impressive list of inventions to his name and a proven capacity for visionary thinking. He's credited with inventing the first flatbed scanner, multi-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, and the first music synthesizer to mimic the sound of a grand piano among many other things.

While his track record of previous predictions has been debated he claims he's been on the mark or close the vast majority of the time, while critics suggest that's not really true he has made a number of prescient calls.

In "The Age of Spiritual Machines," which he says he wrote in the mid to late 1990s, back when nearly everyone used dial-up modems, he outlined his visions for 2009. He wrote about the widespread use of portable computers, mobile devices without keyboards, the adoption of digital music, movies and books, the implementation of facial recognition technology, and distance learning.

A transition toward a cyborg future in which society accepts becoming part human, part computer may seem beyond belief, but Kurzweil doesn't think so. He points to present-day medical treatments that already involve brain implants of electronic devices and argues similar procedures could become common among the healthy, too.

Read the original here:
Futurist Ray Kurzweil's new book predicts development of a super 'digital brain'

Acclaimed healthcare futurist, best-selling author and popular business speaker, Jack Uldrich has been selected to deliver the closing keynote address at the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living's (AHCA/NCAL) annual convention. Uldrich will focus on future trends in healthcare and assisted living as well as discuss the need for "unlearning."

Washington, DC (PRWEB) October 09, 2012

The presentation, based on Uldrichs two new books: "Foresight 20/20: A Futurist Explores the Trends Transforming Tomorrow" and "Higher Unlearning: 39 Post Requisite Lessons for Achieving a Successful Future" as well as his popular article, "Top Ten Trends in Healthcare," will begin by discussing how continued advances in information technologies, biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, genomics, regenerative medicine and social networking will radically transform healthcare in the decade ahead. (A video of Mr. Uldrich discussing future trends can be viewed here.)

Uldrich will then focus on why these trends will demand unlearning and discuss why participants must embrace the concept of unlearning in order to achieve future success. Uldrich, who has been hailed as Americas Chief Unlearning Officer, will conclude his remarks by reviewing specific habits, customs, beliefs and ideas that healthcare and assisted living professionals canand mustunlearn. Throughout his talk, he will use vivid analogies and memorable stories, drawn from a wide spectrum of industries, to ensure his message of unlearning sticks with his audiences. (A sample video of Mr. Uldrich discussing unlearning can be viewed here.)

In the past year, Uldrich has addressed dozens of healthcare associations and hospitals, including the Alcetel-Lucent/Verizon Forum on Wireless Healthcare, United Healthcare, Allina Hospitals, The Healthcare Trustees of New York, IASIS Healthcare, The Iowa Healthcare Collaborative, Care Providers of Minnesota, St. Jude Medical, Fairview Hospitals, University Hospitals & Health System of Ohio, and healthcare associations in Colorado, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin. He has also addressed a number of major, non-health-care-related corporations on the topic of unlearning including PepsiCo, Cisco, IBM, WiPro, Southern Company and General Electric.

Parties interested in learning more about Jack Uldrich, his books, his daily blog or his speaking availability are encouraged to visit his website. Media wishing to know more about the event or interviewing Jack Uldrich can contact him directly at 612-267-1212 or jack(at)schoolofunlearning(dot)com.

Uldrich is a renowned global healthcare futurist, best-selling author; editor of the monthly newsletter, The Exponential Executive, and host of the award-winning websites, http://www.jumpthecurve.net and http://www.schoolofunlearning.com. He is currently represented by a number of professional speakers bureaus, including Leading Authorities, Executive Speakers Bureau and Convention Connection.

Jack Uldrich Jump the Curve 612-267-1212 Email Information

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Healthcare Futurist and Keynote Speaker Jack Uldrich Joins Jim Collins & Commander Mark Kelly at the American Health ...

Anyone raising a child with the benefits of the digital world doesn't have to look past those tiny fingertips tapping their own apps to realize how quickly we're transitioning.

Theoretical physicist and futurist Dr. Michio Kaku argues that humankind is at a turning point in history. He claims that in this century, we are going to make a shift from the "Age of Discovery" to the "Age of Mastery," a period in which we will move from being passive observers of life and nature to its active choreographers. According to Kaku, robots with human-level intelligence may finally become a reality, and in the ultimate stage of mastery, we'll even be able to merge our minds with machine intelligence. It's how we harness this mastery that will matter.

The science fiction is becoming fact. During a recent visit to Google headquarters, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation to allow autonomous vehicles to operate on the state's roads. Brown touted the signing of the bill as turning today's science fiction into tomorrow's reality. California is the third U.S. state to legalize self-driving cars, following Nevada and Florida, where similar laws earlier were passed this year.

This is just the beginning. We need to be ready for the next set of intelligent innovation, in any field. Hospitals are embracing robotic surgery, and patients are choosing it more and more for many procedures. Robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, is minimally-invasive, laparoscopic surgery, and has become the standard of care for prostate cancer patients. It offers lower morbidity, less pain, less blood loss and increased precision.

Education too needs to evolve to prepare people for an integrated world, where science converges with every area of practice and development. People training in or committed to a single discipline in a traditional manner won't succeed in tomorrow's marketplace. For more than 30 years, the Fisher Program in Management and Technology has combined two of Penn's greatest assets into one educational experience: Penn Engineering and The Wharton School. Schools that fail to offer true cross-disciplinary study are going to fall behind to create future leaders of a converged world. And leaders who fail to create cross-functional, cross-industry workforce will lose to their competition.

It is the leader's responsibility to prepare his or her organization for what lies ahead--and that will mean changes in what we are doing now to break down the silos and create multi-disciplinary teams--in order to prepare for the unknown.

The underlying, critical element of achieving and maintaining convergence in the modern organization is nothing less than individual leadership. It takes leaders with perseverance and courage to build and implement the cross-functional management culture with the tenets of converged disciplines.

It is a continual evolution and revolution of concepts and opportunities that reflect contemporary and future business operations and objectives.

An essential part of this transition requires both left-brained (analytical) and right-brained (creative) talent and culture. Leaders of the future will approach this collaboration challenge by defining cross-functional teams as personas'. These are roles that one assumes or displays in society or the workplace. Their skills and behaviors influence their interactions with other people. Some personas are analytical, some are creative, and others are a combination. A few personas are as follows:

However, to sustain product and business innovation, leaders must build a flexible culture that can attract and empower a wide variety of talent. It is all too easy for organizations to fall into the analysis trap and focus on left-brain skills like process, measurement, and execution.

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A Quick Primer On Futurist-Level Foresight

The singer Miguel. (Kai Reagan)

October 4, 2012, 1:41 p.m.

We've had our eye on the young, L.A.-based R&B futurist Miguel for a while now. But it appears that he's finally having his moment in the critical spotlight, with a best new music badge from Pitchfork for his ravishing new album, "Kaleidoscope Dreams."

In the video for his latest single, "The Thrill," Miguel hits all the high points of the rising-star life: pool parties, packed clubs and general bonhomie. (Watch the video below.)

But it's all filmed in a sleek, detached black and white that makes the revelry seem a little distant. In fact, that's a pretty good visual metaphor for Miguel's newer music from "Dreams" and his three-part series of EPs, "Art Dealer Chic." "The Thrill" pairs bone-dry electric guitars reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac with a jittery kick drum sample and a whole lot of reverb -- a spacious showcase for Miguel's pristine pipes.

His sound has all the minimal spookiness of "PBR&B" peers such as the Weeknd and AlunaGeorge, but he's toured with Usher and has major-label muscle angling to get him on big stages. Here's hoping he gets there and stays there.

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Miguel parties with panache in 'The Thrill' video