Here are my notes from Day 1 of the World Technology Summit & Awards in New York City. My colleague at Iowa State, Dr. John Nash, and I have been having eating from Halal stands, learning about Twitter and the Iran election, and enjoying the enhanced police presence for President Obama’s speech tomorrow celebrating the 100th anniversary of the NAACP.
Jim Clark, How to save the future (and how to think about it) Encouraging serendipitythe right ‘raw materials’the right ‘catalysts’the right questionsthe right amount of focus and flexibilitythe right attitudeThinking about the futurePassive v. active players in historyThe necessity of a ‘historical sense’ / awareness of trendsWorldviews (which influence what we emphasize)God(s)Great menRational thinking/progressNatural/rightful rulersHuman natureClass struggleGeography/natural resourcesCultural traitsTechnologySome questions raised by the concept of ‘saving the future’How much influence do we have on our collective future?Whose future are we saving (and how do we strike the correct balance between saving our individual and collective futures)?How do we know what to pay attention to?What are ‘triggers?’Triggers are those forces or events that set into motion other larger events or trendsWhat types of triggers have historically had the greatest ripple effects?Fall of a superpower and/or rise of new competing powersMajor, long warsMajor global viral pandemicand more?Major advances in technologyHow do we save the future?Create it!World market for virtual worlds is projected at 186 million total in 20092015 market projected to be 638 millionvirtual worlds are ‘the next Internet’Virtual worlds range from World of Warcraft to Second LifeVirtual worlds are interactive – everybody plays – everyone has a different experienceCan travel back in time, can master different professionsPlayers play for real money, not virtual currencyPlayers purchase game cards to expand their functionality – this is how they’ll generate revenue?Current water arsenic removal solutions cost $53 to $300 per 1,000 gallonsSystem uses the common cattail weed, a plastic-lined ditch, and a plastic hand pumpCost is less than $0.21 / 1000 gallonsLarger ditch only takes 4% of surface area but can remove arsenic from well water used for irrigation before it reaches the rice cropShe matches people with pianosAlso has a patented method for teaching pianoInvented a video game that teaches how to play the piano – most other piano games are simply rhythmic gamesShe showed how it works (John Nash: it’s Guitar Hero for the piano)Real-time data brokerage for sensors attached to physical objects (the Internet of things)Remote monitoring systems, networked buildings, energy metersInteroperable with construction industry standards and Web protocolsThe trend in Web and machine-to-machine communications is toward many-to-many, not just one-to-oneThe metadata about context, location, user tags, history, etc. is also important besides the data itself – this makes us stop thinking about sensors and starts us thinking about environmentsAdam Somlai-Fischer, Prezi PowerPoint is linear – a holdover from slide projectorsPrezi is spatial and relationalAfter eating at New York’s finest Halal stand, John and I dialogued with Adam, Usman, and Michael Hansen, CEO of Issuu
Changing the world: NGOs, international development, and the Internet
Shamina de Gonzaga, What Moves You?Timothy Anderson, World Computer ExchangeEdwin Gragert, iEARN-USASarah McCue, BluMail/BluWorldSuzanne Grant Lewis, Partnership for Higher Education in AfricaTranslating complex science for the general public has turned scientific research into a commodityMany of the futuristic visions that we had in the early 20th century are here in some form (e.g., a version of X-Ray specs is at the airport; universal translators) or we’ve actively rejected them (e.g., food pills)Do we really want a jetpack or just the idea of a jetpack (i.e., a vision of a future)?Technology has not made us all happy, as was promised in the pastZhengrong Shi, The future needs solar (Suntech) The developing countries are catching up to the industrialized countries – share of world energy consumption soon will be evenInstallation subsidies and feed-in tariffs foster growth in solar energy useChina is aiming for 10% of energy from renewables by 2010, 20% by 2020China is largest solar panel manufacturing country in worldSuntech is now at 1 Gigawatt (GW) per year production level10 cents / kilowatt hour is the magic thresholdInnovation: Is this the best or worst of times?
Presentation panelStephanie Mehta, Global Editor, Fortune magazineLowell McAdam, CEO, Verizon WirelessPeter Volanakis, President and COO, CorningWireless cell phone industry is extremely competitiveThe Chinese auto industry is now bigger than the US auto industry?Great companies embrace recessions – they create an opportunity to break away from the pack of competitorsMy question: What kind of American workforce needs are you seeing? How well are K-12 schools / community colleges / universities doing at meeting those needs?CorningCorning is facing some visa / immigration issues… [translation: they are getting their employees from overseas]Corning is trying to invest locally to support schools and prepare workers (and doing less jawboning about national workforce deficits)VerizonIn the past 10 years, EVERYTHING has stepped upDoing intern programs with universitiesVerizon Foundation / Thinkfinity curriculum is designed to help schools see what Verizon would like them to teach / is offered for free
Social networks and societal revolution: What happened / is happening in Iran?
Presentation panelLily Mazahery, Founder/President, Legal Rights InstituteReza Sayah, International Correspondent, CNNMark Drapeau, Science & Technology Policy Fellow, National Defense UniversitySayah: none of the coverage you saw on CNN would have been possible without Twitter, Facebook, and some Iranian cab driversDrapeau: everything is now happening locally/globallyDrapeau: cyberspace is the new battle space for PR / propaganda = information warfareSayah: TV news is a business that makes money by getting as many viewers as possible – should TV news cater to advertisers, viewers, the citizenry? – channels will do anything to get viewers, including burying important stories for unimportant ones (e.g., Michael Jackson)
Photo credits
World Technology Summit & Awards 2009Ten cop cars and an ice cream truckThe best Halal stand in New York City?Social networks and societal revolutionCommand Central outside the Hilton
