Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

The Buzz 1: "Coming up with a great name for your characters is one of the hardest tasks you'll ever complete as a fiction writer… going too 'creative' with your name choices can distract or even confuse your reader." (nybookeditors.com) The Buzz 2: "Instead of calling the pizza delivery guy 'Bob,' if you give him an interesting ethnicity, a cowboy hat and a name like Galveston Ngyen, readers will remember him when he shows up dead 50 pages later. But beware. There can be pitfalls." (Anne R. Allen, Naming Fictional Characters) The Buzz 3: "One sci-fi writer recently joked on Twitter that the worst part of publication is being asked by readers and interviewers how to pronounce characters' names.…" (lithub.com) The Buzz 4: Popular character names: Captain Holly Short from the Artemis Fowl series; Mia Thermopolis from The Princess Diaries; Maggie from Inkheart. (www.bustle.com) We'll ask writers Catriona McPherson, Clea Simon, Carolyn Marie Wilkins, Sarah Smith and Edwin Hill for their take on The Future of Fictional Characters: What's In A Name?

The Buzz 1: Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword, but an environmental, economic and social driver that's changing our day-to-day lives… committing to sustainable practices is no longer a "nice to have" but a "must do"…. [forbes.com] The Buzz 2: Technologies shaping the sustainability agenda: Public electric transport. Electric trucks. Cheap energy storage. Plastic recycling. LED light efficiency. Accessible solar power. Carbon capture and storage. Hydrogen in the energy transition. [mckinsey.com] The Buzz 3: "I came up with idea of a solar airplane flying around the world with no fuel – that would be a beautiful message in terms of technology, the energy of the future and the environment." [Bertrand Piccard FRSGS, Swiss explorer, psychiatrist, environmentalist] The Buzz 4: "Unfortunately, in the environment, I don't see as much willingness to invest heavily in R&D as I do in consumer technology. And that's a pity." [Ramez Naam, American technologist, sci-fiction author: Nexus Trilogy] The Big Question: Can we achieve Sustainability through data-driven processes, technology, collective mindset, government mandates, individual action or a combination of the above? We'll ask Don DeLoach, Debra Lam, Geoffrey Kasselman, and Rob Tiffany for their take on The Future of Sustainability and Technology: Enough for Tomorrow? – Part 2.

The Buzz 1: ** "If you want to be a rock star or just be famous, then run down the street naked, you'll make the news or something. But if you want music to be your livelihood, then play, play, play and play! And eventually you'll get to where you want to be." [Eddie Van Halen, songwriter and musician] ** "Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness." [Maya Angelou, memoirist, poet, playwright] ** "Every song is like a painting." (Dick Dale, The King of the Surf Guitar] The Buzz 2: "From synthesizers to DAWs or from CD players to iPhones, the landscape of music has changed and is very different from the days of your parents." (interestingengineering.com) The Buzz 3: Albert Einstein was the Princeton Symphony vice president from 1952–1955. He said that, had he not been a scientist, he would have been a musician. (cbc.ca/music) The Buzz 4: "…The future of music in the digital age is focused on how streaming services will differentiate themselves from the competition, how artists will reach their fanbase, and revisiting popular music industry trends of the past with innovations, such as the modern record player." (Rolling Stone Magazine) We'll ask Serge Hoffmann, Drew Wieloch, Nelson Malléus, Scott Campbell and Ross Campbell for their take on The Future of Music and Technology: The Sweetest Sounds?! – Part 2.

The Buzz 1: Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword, but an environmental, economic and social driver that's changing our day-to-day lives… committing to sustainable practices is no longer a "nice to have" but a "must do"…. [forbes.com] The Buzz 2: Technologies shaping the sustainability agenda: Public electric transport. Electric trucks. Cheap energy storage. Plastic recycling. LED light efficiency. Accessible solar power. Carbon capture and storage. Hydrogen in the energy transition. [mckinsey.com] The Buzz 3: "I came up with idea of a solar airplane flying around the world with no fuel – that would be a beautiful message in terms of technology, the energy of the future and the environment." (Bertrand Piccard FRSGS, Swiss explorer, psychiatrist, environmentalist] The Buzz 4: "Unfortunately, in the environment, I don't see as much willingness to invest heavily in R&D as I do in consumer technology. And that's a pity." (Ramez Naam, American technologist, sci-fiction author: Nexus Trilogy] BIG QUESTION: Can we achieve Sustainability through data-driven processes, technology, collective mindset, government mandates, individual action or a combination of the above? We'll ask Don DeLoach, Debra Lam, Geoffrey Kasselman, Rob Tiffany and Chris Rezendes for their take on The Future of Sustainability and Technology: Enough for Tomorrow? – Part 2.

The Buzz 1: There's no telling what the futuristic inventions of the world hold, but we can start by taking a few wild and speculative guesses: Robot butlers – Fully immersive VR – Cryonics – Exo-skeletons – Flying Cars –Artificial gravity – Fusion power – Self-sustaining space colonies. [bigthink.com] The Buzz 2: The U.S. patent system is detailed in the Constitution. A patent's assurance of the protection of inventions is a key reason why companies invest billions of dollars in research and development. 2020 was the 28th year in a row that IBM led the U.S. in the number of patents granted. [fortune.com] The Buzz 3: Every year Siemens honors Inventors of the Year in five categories: Newcomers, Open Innovation, Outstanding Invention, Lifetime Achievement, and Design and User Experience. In 2021, the 15 awarded inventors have their origins in the US, India, Israel, UK, Poland and Germany. [new.siemens.com] We'll ask modern inventors Shawn Taylor, Jeff Gindin, Lynthia Muller and Michael Simmons for their take on The Future of Inventors, Inventions and Technology: Passion, Patents and Patience.

The Buzz 1: Headlines: Drones are helping to restore power in Puerto Rico. A drone attacked targeted the U.S. electrical grid. Google's drone service will deliver library books. Submarine drone can swim for months and then fly away. Drone waiters will take your restaurant order. ESPN shot the X Games with drones. A bouncy search-and-rescue drone could save your life. The military wants a dancing drone that can fly through windows. [popularmechanics.com/the-future-of-drones] The Buzz 2: In the first-ever drone delivery of food and beverage at a sporting event—Purdue hosted the University of Michigan—fans could order a meal pack and have it delivered via drone to a locker inside Alexander Field. [popularmechanics.com May 2022] The Buzz 3: A Report on the Use of Drones by Public Safety Agencies. "Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have rapidly changed the state of play in the public safety theater. Inappropriate use and deployment of UASs and their operators present a serious threat to public safety and order. The same technology also offers tremendous opportunities to improve safety outcomes for our communities and for our sworn law enforcement practitioners and other public safety-first responders. [policeforum.org] The Buzz 4: The Shout Drone. In February 2020, Chinese police would speak through a drone and tell people to wear masks or to go home. Italian, Spanish, and French authorities used shout drones for quarantine enforcement. US authorities used them in Florida, Georgia, Hawaii. In New Jersey, police used a drone to sing "Happy Birthday" to socially distanced children. [slate.com] We'll ask Chuck Byers, Steve Philpott, Alex Bäcker, Pharns Genece and Ryan Walsh for their take on The Future of Drones: Landing on a Porch or Planet Near You Soon? – Part 3.

Remember the TV sitcom "Who's The Boss?" (ABC TV 1984 – 1992) It's time to ask the question again! The Buzz 1: Everyone will be a leader in the workplace in 2030. Work will thrive in teams, not with dictators. The Chief of Work will set the culture in the organization. All workers at all levels will use robotic helpers like Siri or Alexa, for incoming email, scheduling meetings, creating spreadsheets. [simplilearn.com, studies by CBRE and Genesis, WSJ report] The Buzz 2: Being a leader rather than a boss is more critical, especially during times of unpredictable change. In a 2016 Fidelity study, many millennials would be willing to take a significant pay cut if it meant a better job environment. In a 2019 Robert Half study, nearly half of the professionals surveyed reported leaving a job because of a bad boss. [coachmonique.com] The Buzz 3: "The time of the heroic, egocentric leader— the dominant, typically male leader who knows everything, who gives direction to everybody and sets the pace, whom everybody follows because this person is so smart and intelligent and clever — is over. We need 'altrocentric' leaders who focus on others, listen, are intellectually curious and emotionally open, and have empathy." [washingtonpost] We'll ask Vanessa Egli at Celonis, Bill Jensen at SimplerWork.com, Scott Dust, Ph.D. at Cloverleaf, and Matt Krentz at BCG for their take on The Future of Work and Technology: Who's The [Your] Boss in 2025??

The Buzz 1: Retailers expect 17.8% or $158 billion of merchandise sold during the 2022 holiday season will be returned, according to National Retail Federation. [digitalcommerce360.com] The Buzz 2: Retail returns jumped to an average of 16.6% in 2021 versus 10.6% in 2020, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation and Appriss Retail. That adds up to more than $761 billion of merchandise…in unwanted purchases that come back to retailers' stores and warehouses and become a headache for companies that must decide whether they can resell those items, get them written off by the manufacturer or if they must take the loss. The average rate of returns for online purchases was 20.8% — up from 18.1% in 2020. [cnbc.com] The Buzz 3: Retail in the Age of Instinct. Trends shaping CPG and retail organizations include 'Optimized Reality': CPG and retail companies are using data and digital technologies to tailor experiences, services, products, and promotions to the individual and shift from maximizing supply chains to personalizing demand chains. [www.genpact.com] We'll ask Praful Karanth, Victoria Wieck, Matt Laukaitis, Navjit Bhasin and Oliver Stocks for their take on The Future of Retail and Technology: How Many Happy Returns?

We're living 'on the edge', but in ways you might not be aware of: edge computing. The Buzz 1: Edge computing means putting processing power, software services, and data as close as possible to end users – like you – where the speed of light is still too slow for data packets traveling from server to server across thousands of miles of fiber. It's also less exposed to cyberattack and less prone to breaches. The Buzz 2: Edge computing is used to create smarter buildings, cities, work spaces, retail experiences, digital wind farms, and factory floors. Intelligent edge devices include smartphones, smart home bots, smart watches, in-hospital patience monitoring, medical instruments, cloud gaming, Wall Street trading tools, and autonomous vehicles. The Buzz 3: An appetizing use case: farms. Moisture sensors embedded in the soil tell farmers where and when to water. Drones fly over fields to spot pest infestations. Smart harvesters use computer vision and AI to separate wheat from chaff as they plow. Precision agriculture in rural areas relies on 5G connections and edge computing devices. Your next meal will likely be brought to you by technology. We'll ask Eric Simone at ClearBlade, Don DeLoach at Rocket Wagon Venture Studios, Jeff Kimmel at Elipsa and Jason Shepherd at Zededa for their take on The Future of Sensors on The Edge: What's In It For You and for Society?

The Buzz 1: "In the 19th century, inventors were heroes … Their ideas helped drag humanity from agrarian poverty to manufactured plenty. These days, though, inventor-superstars, while not absent, are fewer and farther between." [economist.com] The Buzz 2: "While we've had our fair share of inventive breakthroughs in the past that have changed the world, the dazzling and world-shaking inventions of the future will change the world in even stranger and greater ways." [bigthink.com] The Buzz 3: "There's a way to do it better … find it." [Thomas A. Edison] The Buzz 4: Professor Philip Brainard [played by Robin Williams in Flubber, 1997 American sci-fi comedy], a mad scientist developing a new energy source to save his college from closure, accidentally creates a sentient green goo substance with enormous elasticity and kinetic energy that bounces and is difficult to control. His robot assistant Weebo classifies it as flying rubber" aka Flubber. We'll ask modern inventors Veronica Vargas, Pat Daily, Tammie Sykes and Carol Novello for their take on Your Great Idea: The Future of Inventors, Inventing and Technology.