• THE NEAR-FUTURE REALITIES OF A.I: Artificial intelligence is destined to: (1) Become our digital twin, a mini-me, with full awareness of what’s in our brain, serving as our teacher/tutor, medical diagnostician, legal analyst, co-creative partner, life-coach & companion; (2) Understand and guide our goals, purpose, reasoning, strategic direction and leadership in achieving optimal product/service quality and financial results; (3) Eventually create a Global Brain for ‘frontier science’ involving personalized therapeutic medicine for health & lifespan. A brilliant analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugtmeoN-A8s
  • ‘INFORMAL MEDIATION,’ when guided by qualified and fair Mediators, is a process most often allowing effective resolution of conflicts in business and family arenas. The process is centered on facilitating mutual listening & hearing to each person’s points of view, without interference from biased third parties, and/or intimidation from the discussion venue. The Mediator’s role is to keep emotions steady, helping each person understand the other’s position(s) and capacity for compromise, by balancing reactions, responses, and allowing each to maintain dignity – especially when they might be hurting, feeling persecuted or defensive. When emotions run high, a Mediator’s neutrality is critical to giving parties room to express hurt as well as even imagining compromise in a manner to allow healing. DCG has been recognized for decades among the most effective Informal Mediators to resolve conflicts without timely and costly litigation. Call us first for courtesy consult.
  • SUSTAINABLE ‘LIVING COMPUTER’ SYSTEMS APPEAR TO BE THE NEXT SURPRISING USE FOR MUSHROOMS. Researchers from Ohio State University have discovered that common edible fungi, including shitake & button mushrooms, can act as organic ‘memristors’ – a type of data processor “that can remember past electrical states with 90% accuracy, and with reproducible memory similar to semiconductor-based chips, plus with environmentally friendly, brain-inspired computing components.” Beyond enhancing performance of autonomous systems and wearable devices, large systems may be useful in edge computing and aerospace exploration. Who knew?  [REAL CLEAR SCIENCE]
  • SENIOR CITIZENS HAVE BEEN MAJORLY INCREASING THEIR SCREEN SESSIONS, with utilization of smartphones/ iPads/ game consoles/ Facebook/ and WhatsApp updates from old friends & far-away grandkids. Now devoting more than half their waking hours to screen time, concerns are growing that: (1) they’ll be increasingly preyed on by spammers; (2) they are now more susceptible to online hoaxes – especially with A.I. which can impact voting choices; and (3) screentime has a mixed impact on loneliness – good companions for the isolated, but also becoming a substitute for real life social interactions.” [ECONOMIST]                                  

 

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK 

  • It’s SUPERMOON in America for several nights beginning 5th of this and next month about 5:20 PST. This happens rarely, when the moon’s orbit is elliptical (egg shaped) rather than a perfect circle, and reaches its closest point to earth, around 222K miles, with maximum brightness when at the lowest point on the horizon. 
  • A.I. is rapidly automating criminal fraud. A Finance company at a Hong Kong firm authorized a U.S. $25million transfer after joining a video conference with what appeared to be the company’s CFO and several colleagues. Every face and voice looked authentic but were deepfakes. The scam (confirmed by police and reported by CNN) illustrates how criminals are so rapidly weaponizing artificial intelligence for targeted financial fraud.
  • SOCIAL MEDIA TROLLING involves intentionally upsetting others and disrupting online conversations by posting inflammatory or provocative messages. Latest research study of American trollers found that they most frequently have “a greater frequency of consuming anti-social media, along with: (1) a need for attention and/or desire to feel superior by provoking others; and (2) a high narcissistic personality trait called ‘malicious envy’ – hostility towards a more successful person and desire to see them brought down.”  [PSYPOST.ORG]
  • “Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.” – George Bernard Shaw