(2021-08-09) Future54 Where We Dont Talk About The Metaverse

Future #54: Where we don’t talk about the metaverse.

1: A technology needs the right ecosystem to thrive

as I’m sure you’ve all noticed, something has shifted in the past year or two. QR codes are finally gaining traction

In this insightful essay, Clive Thompson synthesizes four lessons we can take away from the “improbable rise” of QR codes.

2: Diagnostic AI doesn’t work. Yet.

As the Covid-19 epidemic was spreading around the world last spring, doctors were eager to find any tool that would help them more quickly identify patients who were more likely to have been infected by the coronavirus

In a paper in the British Medical Journal reviewing the hundreds of models created, none were shown to have any ability to assist doctors in diagnosing Covid-19.

the largest contributor to the failures was the quality of data in the training sets

3: Solving hard problems in public

Twitter’s image-cropping algorithm. Bounty

4: Automating politeness

many of the problematic social dynamics of meetings only get amplified over video calls. How Cisco is trying to stop mansplaining in meetings

5: Getting real about climate futures

These essays by Alex Steffen and Christopher Butler lay out just how screwed humanity may be if radical, coordinated change doesn’t happen very soon

First, as Alex lays out, this crisis is not going to be characterized by one or two difficult outcomes, like having to migrate away from the coasts or specific extinction events

Steffen argues we will not see continuity again

we may well snap forward into a global boom of sustainable prosperity

Second, as Butler posits, achieving this change is far beyond the ability of individual decisions like going vegan or buying an electric car.

6: Making NFTs even ickier, now with strippers!

3,000 NFTs representing “ownership“ of a hand-drawn picture of a stripper were issued

Soon, NFTs representing ten “Stripclubs” will also be minted

Simply put, you pay to work at your Stripclub and if you work hard and are the most popular Strip Club you can earn $STRIP in return. Each week the highest yielding Strip Club and all the Strippers who worked there that week will be rewarded with $STRIP Coin.