Future Salon

Leaders In Software and Art Conference 16th October 2012 New York

Update: LISA is not at the Library but even cooler at thr Guggenheim Museum :-) 
Bonus link: ELIZA one of the first AI coutionary programs  

One of the most interesting places to be is where art and technology intersect. The tech enables new form of expressions that the artist fill with their creativity. That art inspires the techies to push the envelope of the currently possible. 

My friend Isabel Draves is organizing a one day conference that is focusing exactly on that intersection: 

LISA Leaders in Software and Art Conference October 16th 2012 NYC Public Library. 

I will be super busy with SAP TechEd this fall, otherwise I would be at the confernce to be inspired and may be even participate. It will be a place of wonder in the beautiful New York Public Libray.

They are having a KickStarter campaign running that just reached its goal, therefore the conference will happen, which makes me really happy. 

Some may remember our Hard Science and Smart Art Future Salon from 2004? Scott (Spot) Draves was introducing us to his Electric Sheep art. Man those Sheep have grown in the last 8 years ;-) Check it out at the LISA Conference as they will be mingeling there too.

3 questions to Blind Spotting Future Salon presenter Peter Marks

As a little tease for the audience we like to ask the Future Salon speaker three questions beforehand. Further down are Peter Marks' answers. Great answers, can't wait for his talk. Please join us on Wednesday the 30th of June RSVP http://bit.ly/9Bny5B.

1)      What was the biggest blind spot that you overcame yourself.

 One thing I've become more aware of is how the "confirmation bias"  affects me.  Most of us, myself included, are confident in our own beliefs.   When challenged, we start looking (only) for evidence that supports our opinion.  Early in school and in my career, my knee-jerk reaction was to bury contrary opinions in an avalanche of facts.

An example of how the confirmation bias plays out,  many conservatives will dismiss liberal news sources and watch only, say, Fox News.   Similarly, liberals will avoid Fox, and listen only to sources that confirm their beliefs.   Confirmation biases affect everything from science to business decisions to decisions to go to war  (with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as a recent example).

If we're after the truth, we want to look as hard for disconfirming evidence as confirming evidence.   These days, I try to be slower in coming to conclusions; first looking for contrary evidence.In many cases, the result is a greater tolerance for ambiguity. 

All that said, there comes a time when we have to decide and move forward with action.   Weighing both the disconfirming and confirming evidence gives us a better chance of making the right decision when the time for action comes.

Blind Spotting Future Salon with Peter Marks

We all have blind spots, not only in our vision, but also in our thinking. This Future Salon will help you spot your own blind sides. Please join us on Wednesday the 30th of June RSVP http://bit.ly/9Bny5B.

Imagine if programmers were stuck with the Intel 4004 architecture (perhaps the first microprocessor) and had to write better software to work around its many limitations in memory and speed.   At the least, they'd bitterly complain.  Many would despair of creating modern applications.    Yet, in a sense, that's the situation we face with using our cognitive hardware (our brains) to make modern decisions.   The physiological hardware of our brains has been essentially unchanged for 35,000 years.  

The limits of human cognition are especially apparent with conscious decision making and social or group decisions.   This month's speaker, Peter Marks, has conducted significant  research in what he calls "Blind Spotting."   It turns out that we have more than a hundred documented cognitive and perceptual biases that often hide aspects of reality from conscious examination.  The last decade's stunning research on mirror neurons and imitation figures in this as well.

Reality Mining Future Salon: Understanding Information Flow In The Mobile Corporation

Please join us on Thursday 25th of March for Mining Future Salon: Understanding Information Flow In The Mobile Corporation with MIT Professor Sandy Pentland. Please RSVP http://bit.ly/amkhve

Abstract: Mobile phones, laptops, and other digital devices form a network of sensors, recording their user's location, time, who else is nearby, as well communication patterns.  We can `reality mine' this data to better understand and predict human behavior within the corporation, and improve coordination, job satisfaction, and productivity.  In more than a dozen case studies we have found that this `reality mining' approach to management often uncovers dramatic possibilities for improvement in both job satisfaction and productivity, by allowing more effective combination of face-to-face and digital communications.

Of course there is the flip side to this development: George Oswell's 1984 constant supervision nightmare finally arriving. We the Future Salon audience is known for our interesting questions and dialog during the Future Salon. Therefore it is going to be a super interesting evening, not to be missed.

Alex (Sandy) Pentland Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Alex (“Sandy”) Pentland is a pioneer in organizational engineering, mobile information systems, and computational social science. Sandy's focus is the development of human-centered technology, and the creation of ventures that take this technology into the real world.  He directs the Human Dynamics Lab, helping companies to become more productive and creative through organizational engineering, and the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, which helps translate cutting-edge technology into real-world impact around the world. He is among the most-cited computer scientists in the world, and in 1997 /Newsweek/ magazine named him one of the 100 Americans likely to shape this century.

SAP Labs North America, Building D, COIL (Co-Innovation Lab). SAP is located at 3410 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304[ map ]. Free and open to the public. Please spread the word and invite others, but be sure to RSVP http://bit.ly/amkhve so we know how many people to expect.

We will do our best to webcast the event again via Ustream.tv on the Future Salon Channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Future-Salon

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/futuresalon
Follow all twittering Future Salon speakers: http://twitter.com/futuresalon/futuresalonspeakers.

Future Salon Speaker Joe Quirk reading in Berkeley

You may remember Joe Quirk presenting the very funny Sociobiology Future Salons.

He is out with a super cool new book Exult trying to answer the question: Is a life fully lived worth an early death? About a hang glider from Berkeley that is experiencing death and near death and everything in between ;-)

Joe used to hang glide, which is one of the reason the book is thick with emotions like the exhilaration of flying and the fear of the crash.

It is a fast paced page turner and keeps you mulling the essential question of how to live your life.

Correction: Next Saturday December 12th  you have the chance to hear him read from his book.

EXULT by Joe Quirk

In his own words: At the new Books Inc. in Berkeley, I'm going to read two sections
from my new novel, Exult.  It's a philosophical action adventure, so
I'll read a harrowing action scene, and the harrowing argument that
results.

I'm also going to talk about the promise and challenges of ebooks and
print-on-demand publishing, and I'm going to break the authors'
silence and address the deep problems with traditional publishing.

Only Books Inc. would allow me-- no, encourage me-- to talk about
this.  Gotta tip the hat to Calvin Crosby, store manager.

Saturday, December 12, 7 PM.
1760 Fourth Street
Berkeley, CA
510.525.7777
-- a stone's throw from the site of the former Cody's Books.

Alameda Sun review of Exult:
http://www.alamedasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5614&Itemid=14

Here's a CBS interview with me about Exult:
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=51930@kpix.dayport.com

Video: Brain Plasticity Future Salon with Professor Michael Merzenich Part 1

Brain Plasticity Future Salon with Professor Michael M Merzenich Part 1 from Mark Finnern on Vimeo.

It took us a while to post it, as we were hoping to get the slides. People came up to me after the talk and said that it was one of the best Future Salons ever.

It is only part one, as I maxed out the weekly allowence for uploading video. Next week part II.

John Smart's Evo Devo Future Salon Video

John Smart is someone who has thought deeply about the future and shared his insight at the Future Salon. Video in two parts. He also is sharing his slides here: http://accelerating.org/presentations/EvoDevoUniverseBAFS2009.ppt

Bay Area Future Salon - Evo Devo Universe? Part 1 of 2, John Smart from John Smart on Vimeo.

Bay Area Future Salon - Evo Devo Universe? Part 2 of 2, John Smart from John Smart on Vimeo.

FreeRisk Future Salon Webcast @ ustream.tv

If you can't be here in person, you can join us online, as we are broadcasting starting at 7:00pm PST:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/future-salon Enjoy!

Live TV : Ustream

Future Salon Topic FreeRisk applicable for Bioinformatics too!

Image by Darwin Bell via Flickr

Interesting observation / aspect of this months Future Salon topcic:

Freerisk.org sucks in financial data from the SECXBRL format, allows the community to add additional annotations, and then makes that data available to standard risk analysisbioinformatics. Keep the data available, add annotations, and have this sandbox in which algorithms can be applied and developed. using the algorithms and, this is the best part, available for others to apply their own algorithms. My first reaction was, this is what we want to be able to do in bioinformatics. Keep the data available, add annotations, and have this sandbox in which algorithms can be applied and developed.mndoci.com, Freerisk – An open platform for risk modeling, Jun 2009
If you want to find out more about FreeRisk, the two founders are going to present at the Future Salon on Thursday 20th of August.

FreeRisk Future Salon Thursday 20th of August

Even though we had the biggest financial breakdown since the great depression, so far no fundamental changes that I know of to our economic system have been implemented. It sets us up for a similar crisis in the future. This is the first Future Salon in a series where we are looking at alternative economic solutions. 

One of the problems was, that even Moody's and Standard & Poor's AAA rated companies were falling. Their risk assessment was useless. This month's Future Salon speakers are working on solving that problem by bringing transparency and competition to risk assessment.

Please join us at the FreeRisk Future Salon on Thursday the 20th of August 6pm please RSVP http://budurl.com/j6n2.