Involution Studios

Are We Too Trusting of Technology?

30.Sep.16
by Jon Follett

Episode Summary

This week on The Digital Life, we discuss the question: "Are we too trusting of technology?"

It takes time to build trust in technology — using e-mail instead of mail, for instance, or using a credit card to purchase something online, rather than going to the store and paying there. But we now have a host of new, emerging technologies that could help us navigate life and death situations. How do we develop trust in these new systems?

An study conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology, placed people in a fake emergency situation to see whether they would blindly follow a robot, rather than trust their own instincts. According to the researchers, 26 out of the 30 participants decided to follow the robot, even though it was clear that it was potentially leading them in the wrong direction and into a dangerous scenario. What kinds of questions does this raise for battlefield robots or even surgical robots? How do we maintain a healthy skepticism, but still incorporate such emerging technologies into our lives?

Resources:
People Blindly Follow Their Robot Leaders

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: Podcast

Business Model Innovation in Unusual Places

23.Sep.16
by Jon Follett

Episode Summary

On this episode of The Digital Life, we discuss business model innovation in places you might not expect. Bill Taylor, the founder of Fast Company magazine, spoke at the Business Innovation Factory Summit last week about his new book "Simply Brilliant". We use his examples of companies experimenting and succeeding with unique business models and practices — from Lincoln Electric to Megabus — as a jumping off point for our discussion about progressive firms.

Resources:
Business Innovation Factory Summit
Simply Brilliant by Bill Taylor

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: Podcast

Labor and the Gig Economy

15.Sep.16
by Jon Follett

Episode Summary

On The Digital Life this week, we discuss the gig economy and labor disputes. What are the new labor disputes? In many ways, they're the same as the old ones — unemployment insurance, workers comp, minimum wage, snf the right to organize — but for a new kind of worker. If the future of many kinds of work is found in their Uber-ization, what does this mean for fair labor practices? Does distributed, just-in-time work, mean that the protections for workers are gone forever? Or are there new models that we could use to fairly compensate people? We discuss regulation and the design of new labor policy in the age of Uber.

Resources:
App Based Services Spark a New Age of Labor Disputes

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: Podcast

Quantum Computing

09.Sep.16
by Jon Follett

Episode Summary

This week on The Digital Life, we discuss the strange and exciting world of quantum computing. Quantum computers operate on an atomic level, harnessing the power of quantum mechanics to perform processing tasks much more rapidly than computers designed using classical physics. They have the potential to perform calculations much, much faster than any of our silicon-based super computers today — up to 100 million times faster, in fact.

Research in quantum computing has up until recently, been largely theoretical, with the practical technology needed to achieve it beyond reach. But now both Google and D-Wave, a Canadian company, have made some significant progress. Will there be a coming revolution in computing power? Will quantum computers one day replace our silicon chip based computing devices?

Resources:
Google's Quantum Dream Machine
Revealed: Google's plan for quantum computer supremacy

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: Podcast

Embeddables

01.Sep.16
by Jon Follett

Episode Summary

This week on The Digital Life, we discuss the quickly progressing evolutionary cycle from wearable devices to electronic clothing to embeddables. We're in a time of design experimentation combined with rapid technological advancement. A great example of this experimentation comes from design student Lucie Davis, who embedded the RFID chip for a subway pass into her high tech nails for a university project.

Technology, like attachable computers from Cambridge, Massachusetts company MC10, will provide computing power that can be placed almost anywhere on the body, in the form ofsmall, rectangular stickers. And the MIT Media Lab working with Microsoft Research has created DuoSkin, a smart tattoo that can act like a smart device or connected interface.

Resources:
Student embeds subway card in her fingernails

MIT and Microsoft Research creates DuoSkin smart tattoo that turns skin into touchpad

0 Comments Click here to read/write comments

Topics: Podcast