In an article for Forbes, Prof. David Mindell highlights the technologies on display at the annual CES showcase in Las Vegas. “To visit CES is to immerse oneself in imagined futures with vivid colors, encountering the technologies that will make our own cars, homes, and jobs a bit more like Las Vegas,” writes Mindell.
Forbes contributor Angelica Krystle Donati highlights a recent presentation by Prof. Robert Langer, in which he shared his experience founding more than 40 startups.
In a letter to The Boston Globe, Prof. Michael Golay argues that nuclear energy should be included in the portfolio of options used to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Golay notes that “we face the existential challenge of climate change that likely will demand nearly complete replacement of the existing energy infrastructure within this century.”
Prof. Max Tegmark speaks with Forbes contributor Peter High about his work trying to ensure that AI technologies are implemented in a way that is beneficial to society. “If we plan accordingly and steer technology in the right direction, we can create an inspiring future that will allow humanity to flourish in a way that we have never seen before,” says Tegmark.
Prof. Richard Binzel speaks with Living Lab Radio about NASA’s New Horizons mission, which captured pictures of the most distant object ever explored by a spacecraft. “We have an incredibly healthy spacecraft,” says Binzel. “We’ve shown incredible capability of these instruments, and with a little bit of luck we'll find another object that's up on the path ahead and we'll just keep exploring.”
In an article for Quartz about the role the media will play in influencing voters in India’s upcoming general election, Sahil Wajid highlights Prof. Emeritus Noam Chomsky’s book, “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.” The book is a “seminal work on systemic bias afflicting the corporate news industry,” writes Wajid.
Writing for Forbes, Prof. David Mindell explores the concept of using work, in particular the duties a home health aide performs, as a Turing test for the abilities of AI systems. “In this era of anxiety about AI technologies changing the nature of work,” writes Mindell, “everything we know about work should also change the nature of AI.”
Prof. Pattie Maes writes for Wired about how wearable medical technology is becoming an increasingly mainstream component of therapeutic intervention. “While we need to be careful to make sure these designs safeguard privacy, give complete control to the user and avoid dependency whenever possible,” writes Maes, “there are countless possibilities for digital, wearable technologies to supplement and even replace traditional drugs and therapy.”
Writing for Wired, Prof. Carlo Ratti predicts that in 2019 researchers will develop new methods for allowing people to use the internet in less intrusive ways. “The internet of things will continue to grow, and we will work out more ways to develop ‘things’ that allow us to enjoy the internet without being overwhelmed by it,” writes Ratti.
Forbes contributor David DiSalvo highlights Prof. Alan Jasanoff’s book, “The Biological Mind: How Brain, Body and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are” on his list of the must-read brain books of 2018. “Rather than being another assessment of what the brain does, this one is about what it is—and more interestingly what it is not,” writes DiSalvo.
Provost Martin Schmidt and SHASS Dean Melissa Nobles speak with Wall Street Journal reporter Sara Castellanos about MIT’s efforts to advance the study of AI and its ethical and societal implications through the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Schmidt says this work “requires a deep partnership between the technologists and the humanists.”
Prof. Eric Klopfer speaks with Jane Clayson of WBUR’s On Point about whether parents should be concerned about the growing popularity of the videogame “Fortnite.” Klopfer says he feels the game has some educational value, noting that the game presents kids with the opportunity to partake in, “solving open-ended problems, communicating around complex issues [and] trying to work within systems.”
In an article for STAT, Prof. Kevin Esvelt argues that non-profits should be the only entities allowed to develop and use new genome editing technologies. Esvelt writes that when it comes to controversial new technologies like gene drive, “keeping early applications in the nonprofit realm could help us make wiser decisions about whether, when, and how to move forward.”
Quartz reporter Lila MacLellan highlights Prof. Emeritus Edgar Schein’s book, “Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking and Not Telling.” Schein explains that he thinks there are two important factors missing from most conversations: “Curiosity, and a willingness to ask questions to which we don’t already know the answer.”
Prof. Charles Stewart speaks with New York Times reporter Frances Robles about how the Florida recount highlights the need for the state’s recount process to be updated. “I would hope wiser heads in Florida would take a deep breath and say, ‘O.K., we can do better next time,’” says Stewart.