Guest Thinkers — February 16, 2011

LHRIC Technology Leadership Institute

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

On Thursday I will be the speaker for the Lower Hudson (NY) Regional Information Center’s Technology Leadership Institute. I’m not quite sure how I got included in the all-star lineup, but I’m appreciative of the opportunity. If you’re attending, please make sure to stop by and say hello during a break!

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Three red, cloud-like structures are set against a starry background in space.

Starts With A Bang

What do JWST’s “red monster” galaxies mean for cosmology?

The most massive early galaxies grew up faster, and have more stars, than astronomers expected, according to JWST. What does it all mean?

A Rubik's cube with a red X floats in space, next to a planet and moon—each marked with green checkmarks—that boast their perfect round shape.

Starts With A Bang

Is “round” the only allowable shape for planets?

All the stars, stellar corpses, planets, and other large, massive objects take on spherical or spheroidal shapes. Why is that universal?

A robotic prosthetic arm with visible internal mechanisms, wires, and a mechanical hand. Labels such as "SFU" and "BESOM" are visible on the arm casing.

The Present

The Cybathlon: Bionic athletes compete for the gold — and push assistive technologies forward

In the international competition, people with physical disabilities put state-of-the-art devices to the test as they race to complete the tasks of everyday life.

A robotic hand and a human hand reach towards each other, with a glowing DNA helix in the background, symbolizing humanity's last exam in the intersection of technology and biology.

Starts With A Bang

Why “humanity’s last exam” will ultimately fail humanity

A crowdsourced “final exam” for AI promises to test LLMs like never before. Here’s how the idea, and its implementation, dooms us to fail.

Close-up of a colorful microchip wafer with geometric patterns and reflective surfaces.

The Future

Why futurist Amy Webb sees a “technology supercycle” headed our way

Hang on to something — or ride the wave — because three big tech trends are about to converge.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

Right of refusal

I’ve blogged about this before: Key question The aggregate impact of individual choices If you took away technology but can anyone else think of an employment sector other than K-12 […]