In the very near future, robots will be able to fully perform key tasks and jobs ranging from educating children to caring for the sick. In order for them to be truly helpful to humans, they must understand us, our emotions, our many differences and our unpredictability. Dr. Ayanna Howard, a renowned roboticist, AI expert and professor at…
Today’s executives face more pressure than ever before to deliver results while navigating a brand through the treacherous waters of financial and reputational risk. In a recent article for Harvard Business Review, legendary management expert Michael Porter and dean of the Harvard Business School Nitin Nohria analyzed how leading CEOs organize and spend their time. The authors concluded that while business…
Will AI and machine learning leave us without jobs or allow us to perform our functions better? Some theorists believe the former, that technology will take over, and make our jobs obsolete. Stern Speakers represents some of the most notable scholars and practitioners that believe in getting ahead of technology to design it properly from the…
Dr. Ayanna Howard’s childhood hero was the Bionic Woman. Now, she is mentoring and inspiring young girls and women in STEM and other disciplines, proving no career or vision is out of reach and the sky is no longer the limit. From her management at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to her current role as the chair of the…
Automation may solve the immediate problems of reducing costs and completing routine tasks; but when leaders take such a narrow view of it they fail to raise the big questions required to solve deeper business challenges. Hal Gregersen’s just-published MIT Sloan Management Review article, “Digital Transformation Opens New Questions — and New Problems to Solve”…
Is it possible to literally read someone’s mind? Mental telepathy is often thought of as a product of science fiction, but according to Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen, acclaimed inventor, scientist, entrepreneur, futurist and gifted speaker, it’s an imminent reality. Dr. Jepsen, who was also a professor at the renowned MIT Media Lab, is leading the revolution in…
How does your organization view communication technology? Does digital connectivity enhance human interaction, or replace it? In an op-ed for the New York Times, renowned social psychologist Sherry Turkle took a powerful and thought-provoking look at the impact of technology on human empathy and connectedness. Her conclusions demonstrate why, in an increasingly impersonal age, retaining a human touch will…
Much of modern American society is designed around the car, and the trend toward greater density and urbanization requires new ways of thinking about transportation, traffic patterns and parking space. The challenge? Life in densely-populated areas does not always include a personal vehicle. It’s in this gap – between existing product options and people’s needs…
By Brian Sherry June 20, 2018 Elon Musk recently made an admission that isn’t entirely in keeping with our tech-crazy times: “Humans are underrated.” Musk was speaking of the problems he experienced at his Tesla electric car factory after becoming overly reliant on artificial intelligence (AI) rather than human workers. In theory, AI boosts productivity and profit margins…
We have come a long way from the days when losing an arm or leg meant a permanent handicap. Modern bionic technology allows people who lose limbs to not only walk, run, climb, or do anything else they did before, but do it better. And still, this new generation of bionic humans are missing one element that…
By Brian Sherry June 6, 2018 If you think you can avoid the perils of data hacking and cyberattacks by logging off the internet, you’re sorely mistaken. We now live in the era of the “Internet of Things” – devices ranging from home assistants and smartphones to coffee makers and lightbulbs – that are digitally connected…
How do we solve the world’s problems? Rana el Kaliouby, inventor, artificial intelligence expert, and co-host of PBS’ new series “NOVA Wonders” argues that the most pressing global issues increasingly require technological solutions. “The way to solve problems in the world is to become scientists and technologists, build things that have never been built before and…
The human brain is still largely a mystery to the medical world, but scientific prodigy Dr. Ed Boyden is working to change that reality. A neuroengineer and professor at the MIT Media Lab and the MIT McGovern Institute, Boyden is reinventing the way we study the brain. But this isn’t just a story about new advances in…
Artificial intelligence is advancing at a rapid rate – and it’s everywhere! From our smartphones to our wearables, AI is now a constant fixture in 21st century life. But while applications such as Alexa and Siri have the ability to answer basic questions, they still lack qualities that make them truly useful to us. In this…
As early as 1931, Winston Churchill said, “[In the future] we shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.” Fast forward to 2018: A growing human population now in the billions is demanding more meat. To keep up,…
Scientist Andrew Hessel is building a machine to kill cancer cells. For most scientists, eradicating cancer would be the crowning achievement of a lifetime of work, enough to put them on the list of the most impactful scientific minds in history. But for Hessel, this is just the beginning of what he plans to do with biology and technology. He’s…
By Brian Sherry April 17, 2018 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in the Congressional hot seat last week as he answered for the platform’s sharing of the private data of an estimated 87 million users with an ethically dubious political consulting firm. Digital technology expert, futurist and Harvard Law School Professor Jonathan Zittrain writes in an op-ed for the New…
It’s 2018 and more than a billion people utilize social media. For companies, organizations and government bodies, these platforms offer a way to expand their reach to target audiences, and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, to name a few, are weaved into many people’s everyday lives. In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, we speak with social…
