In Search of the Infinite Tomorrow
As Thursday, June 1st approaches, which is the last day of school for Harrisburg School District students & faculty, many of the projects at the Foundry have begun to shift into Assessment, Reflection and Celebration of Making. This does not mean that the months of April or May are not important.
In April we had a group field trip for the 4/10/17 Trout in the Classroom Release Day. This was a great experience for the 18 students & teachers that attended. For the May blog post, we'll be highlighting the event Makershift, which is a celebration of Makers on Saturday, May 6th. If you would like more information please feel free to visit the Makershift website. This is to encourage all types of making in the areas of STEAM. If you do not recognize that acronym, it is an expansion from STEM to include Arts. So STEAM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.
I titled this post "In Search of the Infinite Tomorrow," because this was a phrase I used constantly during my undergrad and graduate education. At the time it was about finding enough time in the early morning, working to complete a studio project. Now this has a bigger meaning as I ponder the impact, through exponential growth, of artificial intelligence.
The the reflection process on Making, I was impacted by a recent Part 4, NPR TED Radio Hour broadcast. It contained clips from Jeremy Howard's TED Talk, Will Artificial Intelligence Be The Last Human Invention? During a recent road trip to Erie, PA for a Technology Workshop, I listened to the entire 4 Part Series and it really shook up my thinking. I now encourage everyone (young and old) to go listen to the April 21, 2017 TED Radio Hour The Digital Industrial Revolution broadcast. The reason, nobody is really talking about the impact. In the tech world, this is known as Technology Singularity.
I have known about the concept of singularity, but it wasn't succinctly presented. It originated in 1965 from I.J. Good (a British Mathematician). This has been the plot of many movies, that are too long to list. Just Google "movie plots with Technology Singularity." As for a point our human timeline, I see the situation to be similar to the Y2K Problem. The difference is that during that time everyone was talking about it, but nothing happened. Here we have a few futurists and tech gurus talking about it, and the topic of Jobs, Wages, Projects, etc. are in the discourse of Local, State and Federal Levels.
In the 6:00 minute mark of the NPR TED Radio Hour (here is the transcript) and 7:20 minute mark the issue of Deep Learning is pretty staggering.
At the 8:08 minute mark Guy Raz asks a question and as I heard the answer, Howard's words just stopped me in my tracks as I absorbed them. They summarized what I have been seeing the past 8 months.
RAZ: Do you think we can even articulate or imagine what this technology will do to change our world, our lives, our species?
HOWARD: Not only is it impossible for us to imagine, there is a great many things which are stopping us from being able to imagine it.
RAZ: Like what?
HOWARD: So people often talk about exponential technologies, but the fact is, every technology that's come so far is actually an S-shaped technology. Before electricity, nearly everything that required an input of energy was done with human energy or horse energy or something like that. Then we learnt how to electrify nearly every energy-requiring process until eventually, we did them all. And so there was initially exponential growth as the newly electrified processes allowed us to improve other processes, but then it flattened off again.
Now, on the other hand, think about replacing intellectual power, all right? There's no S-curve here. There's no drop-off. There's no point where you go, OK, we've now used all of the intellectual power that could be used. So our ability to actually understand the outcome of a truly exponential technology cannot be based on anything that has been observed in history because there's never been a technology like this before.
In a very simply discussion, Jeremy Howard makes reference to the S-Curve (logistic) as our current thinking of technology. It has limits. What he discusses with the next revolution has no limits, which is exponential, a J-Curve.
So what might be the impact of the Technology Singularity, where artificial intelligence is able to "reinvest in itself" surpassing human knowledge? Well the concept of work disappears. I remind students daily that they should be seeing things as TASKS. What are the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA). I talk about the KSAs a whole lot.
This is reinforced by another researcher that I have followed since 2011, Erik Brynjolfsson, who is an MIT Professor in Economics and Management. He spoke of the concept of tasks in Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour Broadcast.
BRYNJOLFSSON: It's not out of the realm of possibility, although you've got to think about the timelines. It's most useful to think about not jobs but tasks. And within any given job, there are lots of different tasks. If you're a radiologist maybe reading the images machines can be able to do that better, maybe making the broader diagnosis and communicating it to the patients.
For a long time, the humans are going to be better at that than the machines and so different parts of the job will be leveraged. In a way that's happened for centuries, and we've adapted. And it's made the people who had parts of their jobs automated more valuable and more productive to the extent that they are essential for the other components of their jobs.
Looking at things in a larger perspective is another resource that I reference often, the November / December 2015, MIT Technology Review Business Report: The Future of Work: 2015. There are a couple of great articles, including an interview with Andrew McAfee, When Machines Do Your Job. by Antonio Regalado. McAfee and Brynjolfsson wrote Race Against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy. This is a great read as a primer on the subject.
The one article that I love to return to, partly because it is a bit far fetched - 500 years from now. This is somewhat nonsensical, but in light of the Technology Singularity discussion, nothing should be off limits. The article, On the Edge of Automation (9/28/2015), the author Nanette Byrnes interviews Venture Capitalist, Steve Jurvetson.
NANETTE: It’s hard to imagine what that life would be like.
JURVETSON: It pretty much will be what life was like for most of human history—just without the gruesome servitude. The concept of a 'job' is pretty recent. If you go back a few hundred years, everyone was either a slave or a serf, or living off slave or serf labor to pursue science or philosophy or art. We’ll live off the production of robots, free to be the next Aristotle or Plato or Newton. Unless we’re miserable without doing busy work.
During this journey of stopping to see a big picture, I really see it narrowing down into one finding one's purpose in life. As a parent, teen mentor, and educator, I know this is extremely important. Shifting focus off of a job or career is helpful, because we need to shift from the ends, but to the means. The journey of discovery and learning, with a mix of curiosity for LIFELONG LEARNING.
In my experience with the Foundry and in working with parents in Midtown Harrisburg, I know the importance of the 4C's - Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. This is 21st Century Learning. We are in a transition, the early days of looming potential impact of advances in technology. I hope this post encourages more discussion. If you are a K-12 student, it is difficult to even fathom the types of jobs that may or may not be available when you graduate. I tell this to my own two daughters. The best course of action is to be in the process of MAKING and focus on 21st Century Learning. During the TED Radio Hour, Guy Raz continues to talk to Jeremy Howard on the topic of work.
HOWARD: Yeah. There's no question that the vast majority of things that humans are doing today are going to be replaced. And it's also important to remember, though, that the vast majority of people have jobs that kind of suck, right?
RAZ: Yeah.
HOWARD: There's far more people who are chopping celery for a living than there are people running TED Radio Hour for a living. So given that we both agree that the jobs that we have today are going to disappear probably quicker than anybody expects, that means that we need to have ways of supporting people.
That "supporting people" branches out to a whole other discussion on Universal Basic Income. This concept will continue to trail the ideas behind Technology Singularity. For the moment anyone outside of technology or government should be researching the issues and if you are a student or parent, educate yourself. There are impacts to our physical world, which I hope to connect with during the May Blog Post, highlighting some thoughts from Richard Florida's new book, The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasingly Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class - and What We Can Do About It.
During the Technology Workshop in Erie, PA I asked the students this question, "How many had heard of the 4C's?" I did not get any responses. I told them that I would talk about them all through the workshop. I told them to remember them and quiz your teacher to see if he/she knew of them. I told the students to help educate those around them becoming more digitally literate.
STEAM Making @ Camp Curtin Academy Middle School
SCIENCE:
Trout in the Classroom
On Monday, 4/10, after 6 months, the students from SciTech and Downey participated in the Trout Release Day at the Yellow Breeches. This happens every year at Messiah College with help from the Oakes Museum of Natural History Staff. Unfortunately, due to a scheduling issue the students from Camp Curtin Academy were not able to attend. The students started the day off with a "Bucket Brigade" release, which was an idea from the Greater Latrobe, SW PA 7th Grade Release Day Field Trip. Trout Unlimited provides teachers with excellent Lessons Plans for Trout in the Classroom. Other Release Day activities were provide through the PA TIC Field Trip Forms & Agendas website. Each student enjoyed putting one fish into a bucket and passed the bucket down the line as students wished them
well. The last student in the line had the pleasure of seeing the fish off into their new home. We tried to give each one a name as they made it down the line.
After all the approximately 50 fish made it down the line they students divided into two groups. The SciTech students stayed along the creek and did some "D-Net" capturing of the silt and studied what was picked up. It was amazing to see Macroinvertebrates and small fish during a large discussion of creek healthiness and watershed conditions. The students used a Dichotomous Key to Common Aquatic Invertebrates. While the SciTech students were in the water, the Downey Students enjoyed a trip through the Oakes Museum. Students saw a lot of taxidermied animals animals from PA and many others from around the globe. Many of them were donated by Jerry Bierbower. Both groups met up for a packed lunch along the creek.
In the afternoon the groups changed location. The SciTech students enjoyed a walk through the campus, which included several stops. First was the sustainable habitation program. It was a great connection to the discussion about watersheds and sustainable impact. There was a discussion about planning for campus life as we
walked over to the Library. Upon arrival, the students were impressed with the "cafe" and lounge type study areas. Next up on the tour was a visit to the Engineering Building. This allowed for more discussion about classes and careers in STEM. This let us to the community garden that included chickens and through the Biology Labs. Finally the tour concluded at the Oakes Museum and then it was back to the bus to travel home. All the students stated they enjoyed the tour and presentations they had on campus, making it a very memorable day.
ARTS:
AV Studio Morning Broadcasting
Through the month of April, the Middle School Students were in two weeks of PSSAs. This impacted the morning broadcasting and provided a bit of a break for the students. We provided a small exercise for students during the hiatus. It included a review of 10 morning broadcasts from other schools in the nation, which were posted on YouTube. The goal of this exercise was to help students discuss the process of school broadcasting. It will be used for further discussion until the last day of school.
STEAM Making @ SciTech High School
SCIENCE:
Trout in the Classroom
Below are photos of the SciTech Student's experiences on campus. See the SCIENCE: Trout in the Classroom / STEAM Making @ Camp Curtin Academy section above to read about the experience. SciTech students joined Downey Elementary School and Camp Curtin Academy Middle School Students for a trip to Messiah College for the Trout Release Day and visit to the Oakes Museum of Natural History.
SCIENCE:
Robotics
Since the middle of March the SciBots Robotics club has been on hiatus. That doesn't mean that they are not out promoting the club. Mr. Steps was out during a New Student Meeting on Wednesday, April 26th. He setup the Robots that were used during the 2016-2017 FTC Competition Seasons. On display was the SciBots promotion clip. The location for this display was intentional to greet all the parents and students as they signed in for the event. It caught the eyes of a few students and Mr. Hopes to see them in the fall, when the club starts back up.
STEAM Making @ the SciTech Cafe
On Friday, April 7th, Ms. Roberts held a soft opening of the SciTech Cafe. It included a brief video of the process of getting the cafe implemented at the school as well as some performances from SciTech students. This was an effort that began as an idea that Ms. Roberts shared with me on the 11/19/16 bus ride to the FTC Scrimmage at Ambler, PA.
Through December, I helped to visualize the space by creating a Sketchup model. Images of these can be seen in the January Blog Post. Two SciTech students helped me to measure the space. I then began the process of procuring the 21 pallets that were needed for the stage backdrop and the movable seating area. This was quite the effort as I found some outside of Hummelstown and made two trips to pick them up with my vehicle.
This project would have never been completed had the United Way of the Capital Region not gotten involved. With the Foundry Makerspace's partnership connections to Heidi Neuhaus & Michelle Loomis, work on the Cafe could begin. They were helping to plan the Volunteer Effort for the the January, 16th MLK Jr. Day of Service.
As the date approached, the United Way's Women's Leadership Network had hooked me up with pallet resource in Hampden, PA. The Foundry Makerspace is extremely grateful for the work of all the participants of the Women's Leadership Network during MLK Jr. Day of Service. They also deserved to be recognized for an extremely generous monetary gift to purchase the furniture in the SciTech Cafe. Ms. Roberts was able to furnish the space and realize an idea that was a couple of years in the waiting.
