2016 Socrates Spain Seminar
Changing How We Change: Major Trends Shaping the Future of Technology, Education, Business and Society
Moderated by William Powers, Research Scientist at MIT Media Lab
Digital technology is radically changing just about everything we do, from raising families to running businesses. Optimists welcome this shift, arguing that technology is growing up and starting to take care of us. Are they right? What are the most important trends, both existing and emergent, and how can we prepare for them? What are the specific ways in which technological change is improving our individual and collective lives? What are the dark sides? How is this shift affecting the workforce, productivity and the nature of leadership? How does technology affect generations differently? We’ll examine a number of current trends including the new automation revolution and the rise of artificial intelligence. We will also look at the growing chorus of technology skeptics who contend that we’re losing touch with the qualitative, spiritual, human aspects of existence that make life worth living.