The TechCast Team is excited by our new study on MisInformation and DisInformation -- Mis/DisInformation. Please look over the preliminary background data on the TechCast site.  Here's a quick summary of the problem from this analysis:
 

"Right-wing Americans have accepted conspiracy theories like QAnon and lies about how the 2020 US presidential election was 'stolen.' Roughly 70 percent of Internet users think fake news causes doubt and confusion, with social media the least trusted news source worldwide. And 83% of people believe disinformation negatively affects their country’s politics.  Norman Lear, the famous TV producer, said: 'We just may be the most-informed, yet least self-aware people in history,'  and Senator Ben Sasse worried, 'We are living in an America of perpetual adolescence.' ” 

As always, this is preliminary and we invite your comments and suggestions to improve this analysis.  Please review the background data as above and send your thoughts to Bill at Halal@GWU.edu. The TechCast Team will incorporate the comments into a more complete analysis in our next newsletter and then ask for your considered estimates.
 

We are tentatively planning to invite estimates on how bad Mis/DisInformation is likely to get and how well various solutions are likely to relieve this problem. Here are some tentative questions:
 

1. How serious is the Mid/DisInformation problem now?

2. How effective would it be to have media companies self-manage their content?  (like Facebook's committee of experts)

3. How about Federal regulation of media companies?

4. How effective would it be to encourage a social ethic of "Seeking Truth"?

5. Would strong national leadership help?

6. How about AI systems that automatically detect and remove inaccurate content?

7. Can you suggest other solutions?

8. How serious is the Mid/DisInformation problem likely to be in 2030?
 

Please offer what you think would be good questions to answer.

 

We are thankful for our readers' participation in this TechCast method of collective intelligence. Look for a final analysis and questions to answer in the next TechCast Newsletter.

The TechCast Team

 

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First Conference, June 30, 2021 -- Planning for Transformative Change

This session drew 170 registrants to set the foundation for the entire conference series. It made the case for global transformation. 

Bill Halal showed the present system is not sustainable, requiring a global consciousness. Jess Garrettson presented survey results indicating that strategic foresight needs to be managed from the bottom up and the outside in. Hazel Henderson noted how "love economics" is the basis for a cooperative global consciousness. 


A video of the proceedings can be found on YouTube. Click Here.



Second Conference, July 28, 2021-- Foresight Lessons From the Pandemic:
Implications for Strategy Formulation and Response

Ideally, foresight precedes strategy formulation, but in moments of crisis normal order must be abandoned and foresight and strategy inevitably unfold together in real-time.  We will offer a set of lessons learned from conducting a major Delphi-based scenario foresight project during the darkest days of the unfolding pandemic and reflect on the long-term implications for how foresight and strategy can more effectively blend in the face of deep uncertainty.
   Complimentary Admission 
Anyone with an interest in strategy, foresight, future studies and related fields is encouraged to attend. 

Conference Begins at 2000 UTC (coordinated universal time) and ends at 2130 UTC

Wednesday, July 28, 2021 
1 pm PDT (Los Angeles, San Francisco)
4 pm EDT (New York, Washington, DC)
9 pm daylight time (London)
10 pm daylight time (Paris)

Thursday, July 29, 2021
6 am standard time (Seoul, Tokyo)
7 am standard time (Sydney)
 

Register Here for the July 28 Conference
 

Offer Donations to the July 28 Conference
 

Register Here for the July 28 Workshop

 

 

PROGRAM

   

Exxon, Shell and Other Big Oil Companies Forced to Address Climate

Exxon was forced to accept two climate activists who were voted onto its board of directors. Meanwhile, A Dutch court forced Royal Dutch Shell to make deeper, faster cuts to its climate-warming emissions, setting a legal precedent that may plague other oil companies. Coming on the heels of the Business Roundtable announcement that overturned shareholder supremacy, is this the end of "business as usual"?







Space Tourism Is Almost Here

Virgin Galactic took two people to the very edge of suborbital space for the first time in more than two years, and its third time overall.  This flight was the first of four planned crewed missions slated for this year, and they will all be crucial to the company proving it can fly quickly, consistently, and safely. Virgin Galactic plans to launch 400 space tourism flights from the site, called Spaceport America. And Jeff Bezos himself is planning to be on board the maiden flight of his space vehicle, Blue Origin, in a few months.  





 

 

Germany Gives Greenlight to Driverless Vehicles 

Germany has adopted legislation that will allow driverless vehicles on public roads by 2022, laying out a path for companies to deploy robo taxis and delivery services in the country at scale. While autonomous testing is currently permitted in Germany, this would allow operations of driverless vehicles without a human safety operator behind the wheel.  With driverless cars roaming the streets of Germany, how much longer can it take to do the same everywhere?
 

 

TechCast always encourages letters, comments, and suggestions.