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AR/VR & The Metaverse

ChatGPT is suddenly everywhere. Are we ready? | Engadget
ChatGPT is suddenly everywhere. Are we ready? The disinformation crisis is about to get so, so much worse.
Engadget
Garrett Pepper
Working With Robots in a Post-Pandemic World
Working With Robots in a Post-Pandemic World Plug-and-play automation systems can be rapidly set up to meet sudden surges in demand — and quickly reconfigured when needs change.
MIT
Garrett Pepper

This article explores the potential impact machine coworkers like robots, low-code tools and plug-and-play automation systems are just beginning to have on jobs.

The EU wants to put companies on the hook for harmful AI | MIT Technology Review
MIT Technology Review
Garrett Pepper

The EU is participating in an international data ethics process as it proposes new bills that would "allow consumers to sue companies for damages—if they can prove that a company’s AI harmed them." This could cause a stifling impact on innovation—but it also could be a major tool to prevent algorithmic bias and other downsides of poor AI.

Why courts need 'explainable AI' when self-driving cars crash
When self-driving cars crash, who’s responsible? Courts need to know what’s inside the ‘black box’ The decision-making proces of self-driving cars is often opaque and unpredictable
TNW (The Next Web)
Garrett Pepper

When self-driving cars cause harm, who is responsible? This problem exploration looks into the ethics, data and complexity of manufacturing AI.

Can You Upload Your Mind & Live Forever? - YouTube
The desire to be free from the limits of the human experience is as old as our first stories. We exist in an endless universe, only bound by the laws of physics and yet, our consciousness is trapped in mortal machines made of meat. With the breathtaking explosion of innovation and progress, for the first time the concept of leaving our flesh piles behind and uploading our minds into a digital utopia seems possible. Even like the logical next step on our evolutionary ladder.
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Garrett Pepper

Uploading one's mind to a computer, also known as whole brain emulation or brain uploading, is a theoretical concept in transhumanism and futurism that proposes to transfer the entirety of a person's consciousness, memories, and personality into a digital substrate, such as a computer or a robotic body. What could go right? What could go wrong? Kurzgesagt's thinkers and animators help us conceive of what some see as nirvana and others see as insanity.

Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now - YouTube
http://www.ted.com Technology is evolving us, says Amber Case, as we become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens. We now rely on "external brains" (cell phones and computers) to communicate, remember, even live out secondary lives. But will these machines ultimately connect or conquer us? Case offers surprising insight into our cyborg selves. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate.
TED
Garrett Pepper

In their prescient TED talk "We Are All Cyborgs Now," Amber Case, a cyborg anthropologist, argues that integration of technology into our daily lives has made us all cyborgs. She defines a cyborg as an organic being that uses technology to extend its physical and mental capabilities, and believes that our smartphones, computers, and other devices have become integral parts of our identity.

Do Robots Deserve Rights? What if Machines Become Conscious? - YouTube
Kurzgesagt
Garrett Pepper

As AI becomes integrated into society, there is growing concern about how these technologies may affect individual and human privacy, human rights, and societal values. But what about the rights of the machines? This rich visual journey explores various facets of the idea.

The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (Bantam Spectra Book)
Amazon
Garrett Pepper

Nanotechnology is often heralded as the answer to scarcity. Nanotech could mean abundant food, shelter, water, and the like. Diamond Age explores how old mental models of hierarchy and scarcity could still shape a world of abundant resources like AI and nanotech—and how tech could be appropriated by the poor to turn the tables.

A.I Artificial Intelligence
Amazon
Garrett Pepper

In A.I., we see what might happen if humanoid robots (androids) were to encounter a lost child in need of help. What would their initial programming guide them to do—and how might they evolve in response to the very human experiences they are all having?

Her
Amazon
Garrett Pepper

What if your Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa became sentient—and became your friend? What if you fell in love with them—and they with you? If they had the ability to become exponentially intelligent, and you didn't, what might happen? This film explores what happens when an everyday person and an AI develop feelings for each other.

A Cyborg Manifesto
University of Warwick
Garrett Pepper

What if you were already a cyborg - a combination of human and machine? The Cyborg Manifesto explores the interlocking relationships between technology, power, and culture and is considered a fundamental text in futurist literature. (Note: dense academic text).

Technology that lets us speak to our dead relatives has arrived. Are we ready? | MIT Technology Review
Technology that lets us “speak” to our dead relatives has arrived. Are we ready? Digital clones of the people we love could forever change how we grieve. By Charlotte Jeearchive page
Garrett Pepper

What would it mean if we could project a simulacrum of our dead loved ones? A new tech field is emerging, with major implications for how we process grief, retain generational knowledge, and ethically navigate our concept of those who have passed.

When Futurism Led to Fascism—and Why It Could Happen Again
The Italian Futurists praised invention, modernity, speed, and disruption. Sound familiar?
Wired
Garrett Pepper

Technology shapes, and is shaped by us. Developing ethical frameworks for the use and development of technologies is critical in establishing futures that are equitable, and kind, and thwart fascism.

How to Unlearn Racism - Scientific American
How to Unlearn Racism Implicit bias training isn't enough. What actually works?
Scientific American
Garrett Pepper

Before you begin a journey to "unlearn racism" you must first learn about it's history and development as a concept and a tool of political oppression. This article explores these histories while also examining the mindsets and motivations why individuals and groups would take on this task.

Google and Off Launch Mosquito Forecast Tool - CNET
CNET
Garrett Pepper

Want to go to the river, but unsure if you'll be swarmed by a cloud of mosquitos? Fear not, friend—data scientists and the bug repellant brand Off have come together to provide a tool that predicts mosquito populations via machine algorithm and live weather data.

Liver Surgery - Fraunhofer MEVIS
Clinical Challenges There are several risks during liver surgery, with liver failure being the most severe. Major risk factors include the volume of the remnant liver after surgery as well as the health of the remaining liver tissue. For oncologic resections, the tumor safety margin presents another risk and is a critical marker for cancer recurrence and the success of the surgery. Unfortunately, the goal of having a large safety margin around the tumor is contradictory to the aim of saving as much healthy liver tissue as possible, especially in the context of keeping the resection procedure simple. These risk factors, added to the complexity of the liver vasculature, motivated the development of a patient-specific, computer-assisted planning platform at Fraunhofer MEVIS.
Mevis
Garrett Pepper

AR/VR technology can transform the practice of surgery and medical care. Fraunhofer's suite of software serve as machine coworkers to provide data-backed decision support about the best strategies for surgical interventions and risk reduction.

This tech uses augmented reality to give surgeons 'superpowers' - CNN
A new medical device collaboration is giving surgeons "x-ray vision," by fusing digitally enhanced images directly into the microscope of a surgical device.
CNN
Garrett Pepper

Is it the new Marvel movie with heroic doctors? No, it's real-world AR/VR technology giving surgeons superpowers.

Augmented Reality | AccuVein
AccuVein® Vein Vein Visualization: The Future of Healthcare is Here Augmented reality (AR) is revolutionizing the delivery of healthcare from routine checkups to point-of-care diagnostics to surgical procedures. AccuVein is at the forefront of this revolution.
AccuVein
Garrett Pepper

Getting your lab tests done shouldn't be painful or frustrating. AccuVein is an augmented reality tool that uses near-infrared technology to help practitioners find a vein with ease.

This Company is Fast Becoming the Warby Parker of Scrubs - WSJ
Figs’ slick, brightly lit approach to branding and marketing their scrubs has more in common with fashion brands than it does other medical apparel companies.
The Wall Street Journal
Garrett Pepper

Figs captured the attention of the healthcare industry by offering scrubs as a lifestyle brand with more in common with fashion than with stiff and scratchy uniforms. Figs see the value in self-expression and empower their customers to be "Awesome Humans" who take pride in their profession and appearance.

A bionic pancreas could solve one of the biggest challenges of diabetes | MIT Technology Review
A bionic pancreas could solve one of the biggest challenges of diabetes The device uses an algorithm to calculate a meal’s carbohydrates, then automatically releases insulin, taking those burdens off the patient.
MIT Technology Review
Garrett Pepper

A new device, the "iLet," is a diabetes-focused implant that uses sensors and algorithms to compute the exact amount of insulin to release into the bloodstream—removing the burdensome (and sometimes impossible) task of requiring patients to compute the carbohydrate content of their meals.

Relational Agent for Mental Health | Woebot Health
WoebotHealth
Garrett Pepper

Woebot Health has created an AI chatbot that applies a combination of clinically tested psychological techniques alongside AI and NLP technologies—aiming to challenge users' thinking and assist them in shifting their mindsets for the better.

Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative Is The Ultimate Big-Data Project
especially now that doing a full genetic sequencing of every patient is becoming affordable and more prevalent.
Fast Company
Garrett Pepper

Precision medicine and genome sequencing have massive potential to revolutionize health and medicine—but are only as good as our data capabilities. This slightly older article is still relevant—It articulates the complexity and importance of managing data in medical innovation.

Da Vinci Robot | Robotic Assisted Systems | Intuitive
Intuitive
Garrett Pepper

What if you went for a surgical consultation and learned your surgeon was, at least in part, a highly skilled robot? Da Vinci Surgical Systems is providing the technology to revolutionize the operating room by pairing humans and machines.

Chris Hemphill: The Ethics of Our Algorithms | The Health Technology Podcast | Podcasts on Audible | Audible.com
Chris Hemphill is the Vice President of AI at SymphonyRM and an expert in the field of healthcare data and analytics. In this episode, Chris explains how systemic biases in data collection can affect how companies care for their patients. We discuss how these biases can impact underserved communities and look towards some solutions. Do you have any thoughts? Please email us at hello@rosenmaninstitute.org. We post new episodes every Monday. “The Health Technology Podcast” is produced by Herminio Neto, hosted by Christine Winoto, and engineered by Andrew John Rojek.
UCSF Health Technology Podcast
Garrett Pepper

The impact of bias in AI systems is significant. Source data can have sample bias, such as under-representing people of color. When AI-derived strategies are based on datasets with these embedded biases, they then reinforce the biases present in the original sample. Chris Hemphill, a healthcare AI expert, explains how to make more equitable health strategies.

11 Examples of Humans and AI Working Together in Small Business - Small Business Computing
Small Business Computing
Garrett Pepper

To help small business owners see the ways they can incorporate AI into their processes, Small Business Computing asked experts and business leaders for suggestions. From automating billing tasks to curating optimal user experiences, this is a great collection of use cases that could spark some new thinking for you about how to leverage digital coworkers.

Digital Workforce | What is a Bot | Automation Anywhere
Automation Anywhere
Garrett Pepper

Machine Coworkers are a concept that goes beyond robotics and industrial applications. Bots or 'software robots', also known as 'digital workers' can be built to "Think>Act>Analyze" in many job roles. These machine coworkers work alongside human employees to augment business processes.

How Humans and AI Are Working Together in 1,500 Companies
Summary. Artificial intelligence is transforming all sectors of the economy, but there’s no reason to fear that robots will replace all human employees. In fact, companies that automate their operations mainly to cut their workforces will see only short-term productivity gains, say the authors. Their research, involving 1,500 firms in a range of industries, shows that the biggest performance improvements come when humans and smart machines work together, enhancing each other’s strengths. People need to train AI agents, explain their outputs, and make sure they are used responsibly. AI agents, in turn, can assist people with information gathering, data crunching, routine customer service, and physical labor, thereby freeing them for higher-level tasks that require leadership, creative thinking, judgment, and other human skills. To get the most out of AI, companies need to redesign their business processes. After deciding what needs improvement—their operational flexibility, speed, or scalability; their decision making; or their ability to personalize products and services—they can devise appropriate solutions. That will mean not only implementing AI technology but also developing employees who can work effectively at the human-machine interface. The authors describe how a number of firms are already taking these steps and optimizing collaborative intelligence. But many more should follow their example
Harvard Business Review
Garrett Pepper

When we think about AI and business, we tend to think of automated production lines and robots taking jobs away from humans. However, if we shift our thinking and consider how we can redesign business processes to work with machines, the future gets much more exciting. Collaboration, not competition, is key.

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work
MIT
Garrett Pepper

When considering the concept of Machine Coworkers one of the first topics that comes up is AI (Artificial Intelligence) and its impact, both current and potential, on our global economic workforce and social cultures. This whitepaper dives into the history of AI and example use cases by specific industry. It's a deep dive, but worth a scan to get a full sense of how many ways AI is already working in all kinds of contexts.

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work - Infographic
MIT
Garrett Pepper

To see opportunities for machine coworkers, it's important to have some understanding of excellent and not-good use cases for Machine Coworkers based on where tech is at now. This requires understanding how machines think and what they can and cannot do on their own. This diagram is a cool resource or cheat sheet to assist in deciding if this is a job a machine could do. For a deeper dive, click through to their PDF report for a more thorough understanding of roles and future use cases of AI.

What is Quantum Computing? | IBM
IBM
Garrett Pepper

Explore use cases for quantum spanning from electronic vehicles to complex energy challenges, along with explainers of key quantum concepts.

Get Ready for the Quantum Impact
Accenture
Garrett Pepper

This white paper by Accenture details their perspective on the future of quantum computing with compare and contrasts to analog computing, foresight into business use cases and steps you can take to apply this to your business.

IBM Quantum Composer
IBM
Garrett Pepper

Want to get nerdy and experiment with quantum circuits? IBM built an interactive tool for you to experiment with—all you need is a browser.

Meta establishes 4-foot “personal boundary” to deter VR groping [Updated] | Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Garrett Pepper

Our virtual experience impacts our physical well-being. Online harassment has real-world consequences. Read this article to see how the personal space boundary was developed to curb the virtual harassment of avatars—our virtual extensions of self.

What is Quantum Computing | Microsoft Azure
Microsoft
Garrett Pepper

Microsoft Azure provides a simple and direct set of definitions, explanations and examples of quantum computing.

Quantum Computing Expert Explains One Concept in 5 Levels of Difficulty | WIRED - YouTube
Garrett Pepper

Learn about quantum computing as it's explained to a child, a teen, an undergrad, a graduate student, and an expert to see the concept at various levels of complexity and gain language to communicate it to others.

Acura Integra NFT
Acuraverse.com
Garrett Pepper

Acura is the first automaker to open a digital showroom in the metaverse. This digital showroom offers a look at the company's newest model coupled with a limited edition NFT and digital clothing line by artist Andreas Wannerstedt. Acura is differentiating itself from other competitors by meeting customers in virtual worlds.

Horizon Worlds | Virtual Reality Worlds and Communities
Oculus
Garrett Pepper

Horizon Worlds is a virtual world powered by Meta's Oculus technology. Meta is the rebranded name for the Facebook corporation, and their rebrand emphasizes the mainstream importance of metaverses. Given Meta's considerable financial resources and popularity, as well as VR hardware technology, Horizon Worlds will likely be a prominent metaverse over the next few years.

The Sandbox Game — User-Generated Crypto & Blockchain Games
Sandbox.game
Garrett Pepper

The Sandbox is a metaverse that was initially a mobile phone game and has pivoted to become a decentralized immersive 3D world-builder. It has over two million users. To join in, you will need a cryptocurrency wallet that enables you to buy and sell NFTs on its marketplace, backed by the Ethereum blockchain. A unique aspect of The Sandbox is the ability to buy, sell and rent out virtual land, sometimes for a profit.

Welcome to Decentraland
Decentraland
Garrett Pepper

Decentraland is a metaverse where users have the agency to develop and profit from their content. It was the first metaverse to be backed by the Ethereum cryptocurrency. Its blockchain-based software allows users to purchase and own virtual land as a recorded digital asset.

Fortnite’s Ariana Grande concert offers a taste of music in the metaverse | TechCrunch
Tech Crunch
Garrett Pepper

Virtual worlds lack physical boundaries and are by nature immersive and deeply expansive. Currently, the most coveted metric for any online experience is user engagement. The metaverse can host millions of users simultaneously, revolutionizing event production. Pop star Ariana Grande's massively attended and immersive online concert shows us the potential for future music and entertainment platform events.

The Metaverse and Crypto | The Motley Fool
The Motley Fool
Garrett Pepper

In an open and immersive virtual world, data, currencies, and transactions are core aspects of a digitally native experience. Use this article to get to know how these ideas are entangled with the economic fabric of virtual reality.

Roblox
Roblox
Garrett Pepper

Roblox is a gaming platform that has several virtual worlds contained within it. Wildly popular first among young people, Roblox has an active user base exceeding 150 million. What sets this platform apart from its competitors is its concern for the safety of its (often young) user base while connecting them in real-time. Their success proves a critical aspect of a developing metaverse is real-time interaction with engaging activities in a welcoming environment.

The Ikea Place App Shows the Practical Promise of AR Kit | WIRED
Wired
Garrett Pepper

Ikea shortens the gap between designing your space and purchasing their products by developing an AR app that helps you improve your furniture buying experience.

How the Metaverse Could Change Work
Harvard Business Review
Garrett Pepper

Virtual reality and the technologies that power it are not only changing the way we think about work but also how and where we work together. This technology opens up opportunities for business and innovation on a global scale.

Metaverse DAO – Let's build the future
Metaversedao.app
Garrett Pepper

MetaverseDAO is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that creates value through "yield-farming" across different networks. This site is not a metaverse but a financial organization that uses its profits to build VR/AR gaming. Using blockchain technology, the user's who have invested in this process collectively vote and authorize projects.

VR vs. AR vs. MR vs. XR: What's the difference? - Big Think
Big Think
Garrett Pepper

New technologies can have overlapping capabilities while taking up the same conceptual space. Use this article to understand the basics of VR, AR, MR, and XR and how they relate to each other.

Current and Potential Uses of AR/VR for Equity and Inclusion | ITIF
ITIF
Garrett Pepper

There is a profound opportunity to develop AR/VR technology that uplifts marginalized and disabled communities. Read this post as it is a powerful primer on future action and innovation toward an accessible and equitable Metaverse.

The creation of the metaverse: The market | VentureBeat
VentureBeat
Garrett Pepper

Use this article to familiarize yourself with the basic concepts of the Metaverse. It contains an interesting take on how VR headsets will need to become a lot more user-friendly before GenZ mass adopts the hardware.

Goldman, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan embrace quantum computing - Protocol
Protocol
Garrett Pepper

Learn why some of the biggest banks are investing in quantum computing and how simulations are used to forecast market effects. Could the race to this new faster technology redefine the banking industry?

3 Reasons Why VR and AR Are Slow to Take Off
Gartner
Garrett Pepper

Curious about the market potential for VR and AR? Introduce yourself to three reasons why VR and AR might be considered "slow to take off".

Quantum computers: Computing the impossible - YouTube
Garrett Pepper

This fun-to-watch introduction to quantum computing introduces fundamentals such as the definition of a qubit, quantum entanglement, and some potential use cases for this type of computing.

Can we create a moral metaverse? | The metaverse | The Guardian
The Guardian
Garrett Pepper

People bring behaviors like creativity, joy and care into the metaverse. They also bring bad ones, like harassment and abuse. The metaverse as an idea requires moderating not just content but attending to behavior. Some moments of harassment lead to innovation of features like a personal boundary function around an avatar. Also there is a lot of opportunity for skillful upgrades of AI and content moderation—especially in 'context-aware' recognition of potential harms.

Now Is The Time To Talk About Ethics And Privacy In The Metaverse
Forbes
Garrett Pepper

Several issues are important to solve in the creation of metaverses, such as hyper-reality that causes VR sickness and privacy. Users are willing to engage in an exchange of data as long as they have agency over it. If technology starts to catalog thought through Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) or biometric data larger ethical issues can arise.

What distinguishes a metaverse from an online video game? – Plugavel
Plugavel
Garrett Pepper

Online video games are a rallying point for entertainment and world-building. The need to play, explore and create is a shared value between games and metaverses because gaming is often an entry point into new ideas and technology. The metaverse takes the world-building of gaming a step further and releases us from any single programmed narrative, and allows the user to explore and define their own experience.

Metaverse and Money: Decrypting the Future
Citi Bank
Garrett Pepper

Take a deep dive into the definitions of the metaverse and their financial and market implications with this white paper written by Citibank.

The Metaverse, Explained for People Who Still Don’t Get It
Vice
Garrett Pepper

If you still don't quite get what the Metaverse is, this article will help you with some basic definitions, relationships, and applications.

What Is the Metaverse, Exactly? | WIRED
What Is the Metaverse, Exactly? Everything you never wanted to know about the future of talking about the future.
Wired
Garrett Pepper

The term 'metaverse' isn't a single place. It is a collection of technologies that produce virtual worlds where users interact with broad (and often speculative) shifts in perspective, use, and engagement with technology.

APIs are becoming a cybersecurity disaster zone
TechRadar
Garrett Pepper

APIs are becoming very popular, and many companies are experiencing API-related cybersecurity incidents. Techradar breaks down the facts about API security risks and links them to a report that can help enterprises make informed decisions about their data.

Workrooms | VR for Business Meetings
Oculus
Garrett Pepper

By meeting in virtual space teams create a space for relationships to grow regardless of physical proximity. Oculus by Meta looks to promote an immersive and global remote working culture using VR technology.

How Brands Can Enter the Metaverse
Harvard Business Review
Garrett Pepper

A quick read focusing on how brand management teams can access the marketing and community potential of the metaverse. Becoming an early adopter in this new digital landscape sets brands apart from their competitors.

Opportunities in the Metaverse
JPMorgan Chase
Garrett Pepper

This whitepaper from ONYX by J.P Morgan promotes a "buy-in early" mentality alongside a valuation of the metaverse being a $1 trillion market opportunity.

Virtual real estate plot sells for record $2.4 million | Reuters
Reuters
Garrett Pepper

A patch of virtual real-estate in the metaverse Decentraland sold for the equivalent of 2.4 million USD using MANA (Decentraland's unique cryptocurrency). These digital "land grabs" show a building interest and act as a legitimizing signal for innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital business.

The risks and rewards of investing in the Metaverse real estate boom
CNBC
Garrett Pepper

A CNBC video reporting on the speculative value of virtual real-estate while also explaining some fundamentals of the potential metaverse.

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