SUNZ Summit - Day 3

When I think about genetically modified food I'm still not sure how this fits with me. When we look at what NZ uses to produce some of our export foods then I begin to be convinced that the future of solving the world's food shortage may very well be in GM food which would also reduce carbon emissions and use some of our precious resources like water.

Genome editing may be able to restore some of our extinct species - is this a good thing?

Will this technology decrease our sympathy to protect nature if we have the power to bring back the past?

It's not hard to see the link between medicine and how technology can enhance a range of areas in this field.  The latest trend is in 'carriables' - devices that plug into your phone to diagnose and collect personal medical information.  Technology is becoming more reliable and faster than human doctors at diagnosing medical conditions.  Everything has a genetic code and maybe the answer to many issues is in fixing the code before a medical issue can arise?  One of the most recent technological advances is in replicating a canine nose.  Dogs have proven to be able to detect cancers, epilepsy and low blood sugars etc.,  Imagine the possibilities of having an electronic canine nose app or carriable on your phone.

For every good and positive outcome technology can bring, there is alway a dark side that the same technology can be used for.  The underworld of innovation is using technology for evil means whilst the majority of the world's population use it to benefit others.  eg: Pokemon Go - players were drawn to a spot to tag a creature and were robbed.  Technology is helping the bad people rob us en masse. Hackers can steal information and money from the many without having to even meet their victims.

I was very surprised and elated to hear Sue Suckling from NZQA denounce the assessment system for NCEA.  She recognises that students are being assessed in conditions that are foreign to them.  We remove devices and information from our students when they sit and exam yet this isn't how the real world functions so why?

We all recognise the need for some foundation learning:

What was more exciting was the idea of 'verification vs qualification' 

Sue recognised the limits of disruption of assessment in education to involve:- Fear, Control and a new currency of qualification which is "YOU"

Will the future of quality assurance look more like the rating system we use online?

Up until now, I have had little understanding of exactly how artificial intelligence might impact directly with education. Today, Mark Sagar brought another dimension to how AI could be used.  Human's instinctively are seeking and collecting feedback with everything we engage with.  As we have a conversation with someone, we will be automatically scanning their body language, and monitoring their responses to what we say.  Mark has created a physical manifestation of our human body to help humans relate better to AI.  The Baby X4 has all the physical systems of a human and all our chemical responses can be manipulated by sliders.  The camera in our devices are the eyes of the AI.  Meet BabyX:

Variables that can be manipulated in this AI are: race, gender, spoken language, chemicals in the brain that influence emotion and behaviour.

Do we have the courage to make change?

If you don't believe it then you will not be able to do it!

If you are not seeing the failures, then you are not taking the (calculated) risks.