Vol. 2, Issue 2.

AI/ML and Cross-Functional Data

At Singular XQ we got a chance to work with a graduate school team on foresight analysis at the end of last year and I am always struck how people make predictions that are descriptions of current events.

I’m sci-fi fantasy geek to the ultimate degree. There was a line in a sci-fi tv show called Dollhouse that was intoned by the inimitable Patton Oswalt. “Our biggest obstacles are the people who won’t admit the change has already happened.” By that he means that the speed of change can create a lag between the changes and our perception of them, and many people begin fighting the change that they fear because they don’t realize it is already there.

I thought of this as I pored over this report from the Pew Charitable Trust.

Many of the pessimistic predictions made appear to me not like predictions made in June for 2035 but like descriptions of current events. Or even far past, on-going problems. For a quick sampling:

• Human-centered designers and researchers feared that “digital systems will continue to be driven by profit incentives in economics and power incentives in politics and that will lead to advanced surveillance and data collection aimed at controlling people to act freely share ideas, and protest injuries and injustices.” They note that the end result would be an erosion of democracy and increased inequality. Meanwhile, all the way back in 2019, the public school system has been noted to be using surveillance technologies to disproportionately target particular people, increasing the school-to-prison pipeline.
  
• Knowledge management experts fear that “the best of knowledge will be lost or neglected in a sea of mis- and disinformation, that the institutions previously dedicated to informing the public will be further decimated” and that most publicly available information will be lies and manipulation. In a recent post. In a recent post by Hector Zenil, AI researcher and policy advisor with his own think tank spun out of Oxford University, he explores through numbers the way the internet has already been flooded with synthetic data and rational discourse is breaking down. Most concerning is the prevalence of fact free information and a tendency to move from rational discourse to emotionality. (I tend to eschew the binary of reason/emotion but the point is still well-taken.)

What do you all think? Hit me up. I’d like to know.

Blockchain and Philanthropy

Our volunteer team at SXQ has been researching and modeling how blockchain and defi might empower philanthropic causes through an initiative we call Project Duo. We are early in planning and development but SXQ aims to become a blockchain powered nonprofit by the end of 2025. It’s an ironic thing. Initially promoted as a tech that provides anonymity and untraceability, it turns out that it actually provides complete transparency. Blockchain has the power to really drive transparency and build trust in the philanthropic community and we plan to drive a model to demonstrate it that is gamified to boot. Interested in learning more? Reach out at info at singularxq dot com and put Bchain 4 Good in the subject line.

Higher Ed Tech

At Singular XQ a lot of our staff have a background in “human factors” the antecedent to human-centered design and UX. Human factors is a science that emerged in response to the point at which technology exceeded the capacity of the average person to understand. We have more coming about Human Factors here but to that point: in an age where technology is exceeding the power of all of us to understand and contain education should be a key component in making sure technology does more harm than good for humans and the planet they inhabit. Unfortunately, the university has had a tough time with digital transformation. We’ve been conducting a lot of formal and informal research through Project Unicorn (our EdTech Initiative) and are looking forward to publishing a report in Q2. In the meantime we’d like to share with you this well researched and thoughtful analysis of the top blockers to digital transformation in the higher ed space.

Sustainability

We use a broad definition of the term sustainability at Singular XQ. In general we conduct research for greener technology and generally educate on how as our friend Don Norman has described it, we have to expand our understanding of Human Centered to include the whole planet. We also see sustainability as an issue that must address human psychological and physical safety in the workplace. And finally we see emerging technology sustainability as linked to the need to actively support a robust digital commons, open access technology and open, public facing, nonprofit academic research. At a time when fraud is rampant, and the modes of research that were designed to protect and check commercial power are becoming corrupted…

…the need for open source and publicly funded research and publicly funded journalism are crucial to the protection of democratic values and a free society.

What do you think? We really do want to know.

Don’t forget. Like, share, follow and subscribe.

JP