Trust. What does it mean to be trusted and how can we use technology to improve trust. Blockchain and bitcoin are technologies that were originally presented as solving the trust problem but seem only to have shifted it from one group to another. The challenges of trust are mirrored in the recent trust crisis that … Continue reading »

What does it mean to have situational awareness? And how does situational awareness have to do with modern computing? And what kind of responsibility do you take when you lie about your situation? We explore these issues and the story of a neighbor who took events into his own hands. [16170]

What do we teach when we teach students the scientific method? And what do they learn? In this episode, we explore potential lessons of an effort to teach. [16160]

A screwdriver is a mediocre hammer but when will it suffice for the hob on hand? How do we take technology form one domain and redeploy it for another? And what happens when a train wreck intervenes? How we improvise with technology on this episode of How We Manage Stuff. [16150]

Do we truly represent a global profession? While our technology easily crosses cultural and political boundaries, can we honestly say that our professional ties move with equal ease from one country to another. I had thought that they did until an email from a young Indian student caught me short. [16140]

Yet another game has fallen to a computer program. We now have programs that can play the game of Go at an advanced level. Does it teach us anything about the way that we think? And does it teach us anything that matters to us? This week on Errant Hashtag. [16130]

Just three years ago, maybe four, we believed that MOOCs, Massive Online Open Courses, were going to be the disruptive technology. Yes, they have proven to be only the newest way of mass-distributing courseware. In the interim, we may have lost yet another opportunity to think deeply about technology in education. [16120]

Every January, we return to Las Vegas like migratory birds. The Consumer Electronics Show, now the Consumer Technology Show, has grown to become a major force in the technological industry. Yet, like all artificial cycles, it hides more than the it offers. So this year, we ask what are we not seeing at the CES … Continue reading »

How do we talk about software as a tool of government? Do we always see its transformative power? A recent meeting on the Open Government Project at the White House Conference Center suggests that still working to understand how we use software in a strategic manner. [15125]

Do we need to know quantum physics in order to do quantum computing? When will physics just become a metaphor for a new mode of calculation? Is is really something new or does it just harken back to the old (and failed) hybrid machines of the 1960s? [15120]