Topic list and syllabus


Please let me know of any topic requests - we can try to incorporate them.

 Bolded text is planned for this semester.
Unbolded text is supplementary, possible, etc.

Th 6:00, 1/20/2022 (lecture recordings: 2022, 2021, 2020) 
     General course information
     Let's also look through this syllabus
     Introduction (transcript) 
     Do I get some sort of bragging rights? 
         Here is more on the result 
     Videos: shorts for 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2013 & 2012 
     Futurism organization examples: KurzweilAI, APF, Millenium Project
              --- 7:20 p.m. --- 
     Trajectories of the future (Mars spreadsheet) (transcript) 
     Examples: Space exploration - US vs. USSR, world
     Covid is another partial exponential example
     Homework #1, due F 1/28/2022 
 Th 6:00, 1/27/2022...
     Any HW1 Qs? Why this due date & is it good? 
     Delphi Method (i) (transcript i) (recordings: 2022, pre-2021) 
     Homework #2, due F 2/4/2022 
              --- 7:20 p.m. --- 
     Delphi Method (ii) (transcript ii, ii cont.) 
     Supplementary material: 
         a footnote on (mis)use of the term (ser. #13) 
     real-time Delphi; 
     including probability in the question posed; 
     a similar method (ser. #13) 
Th 2/3/2022...Race to the future (ser. #9)   
     Homework #3, due F 2/11/2022 (extended one day to Friday) 
     Note to instructor 
Th 2/10/2022...Prediction markets (transcript, recordings: Sp'22, Sp'21, Sp'20) (ser. #2) 
     Homework #4, due F 2/18/2022 
     Sample prediction market contract (ser. #12, directory predictionMarketStatements) 
     "How to Really Achieve Your Childhood Dreams" (ser. #3) 
Th 2/17/2022 
     Building your personal future workshop (recordings: Sp'22, Sp'20; inst. note) (ser. #14) 
     Homework #5, due F 2/25/2022 
Th 2/24/2022... Special plan due to campus closure: log in for class 
     To be rescheduled for next week due to weather closure: 
             Theories of Innovation (Sp'20 recording) (slides in Content/...) 
     Homework #6, due F 3/4/2022 
Th 3/3/2022...  
     Questions on HW for tomorrow? 
     Homework #7, due F 3/11/2022 
     Rescheduled for today due to weather last week:
              Theories of Innovation (recordings:  Sp'22, Sp'21, Sp'20) (slides in Content/...) 
     Theories of Innovation and the NRI (recordings: Sp'20) (slides in Content/...) 
     Cones of uncertainty 
Th 3/10/2022...TRIZ (recordings: Sp'22, Sp'20) (ser. #2) 
     Homework #8, due F 3/18/2022 
Th 3/17/2022: Spoil Sports of Prediction 
     Homework #9, due F 4/1/2022 
     Spoil sports of the prediction game (ser. #6) 
               (recordings: Sp'22, Sp'21, Sp'20; transcript parts 1 (ser. #1), 2 (ser. #6) , & 3) 
Th 3/24/2022: Spring break 
     Instructor note: time to (request speaker)  if needed 
Th 3/31/2022 (recordings: Sp'22, Sp'20) .. 
     Discuss plans for student presentations on 4/22/22, 4/29/22 
     Homework #10 (ser. #10), due F 4/8/2022 
     Making the future: from invention to customer discovery (ser. #16) 
Th 4/7/2021...The singularity (recordings: 2022, 2021)    
     Homework #11, due F 4/15/2022 
     Who is Ray Kurzweil? (a, b, c, d) 
     View Transcendent Man (rent, free) (84 min.) (ser. #15) 
     Discuss Transcendent Man and the singularity (transcript) 
     Life extension demo spreadsheet 
Th 4/14/2022...Climate change  (recordings: 2022, 2021) 
     Plan for next week
     Watch Movie Earth 2100 (length 1:23) (ser. #4) 
         Take notes! What would you be interested to discuss? 
     Discuss movie & etc. (transcripts i and ii) (ser. #5) 
     Homework #12, due BY CLASS TIME, Th 4/21/2022 
          A climate change resource page 
               Supplemental as time allows: About NYC & flooding (article) 
Th 4/21/2022...Student presentations (CP, TA, JC)  
     Recording (must login): 2022 (see file ./proj...) 
     Homework #13, due THURSDAY 4/28/2022 
     Long term societal cycles 
Th 4/28/2022...Student Presentations (OA, JB, PS,  JS) 
     Recording (must login): 2022 
     Homework #14, due THURSDAY 5/5/2022 
     Long term societal cycles 
     Prediction market summary 
        Supplementary
         Transit: people on the move (transcript) (90 min.)
Th 5/5/2022...Final Exam, if there was one, but there isn't 
     HW14: project due (instead of final exam) 
Have a Good Break! 


Below are potential additional topics
Information references of the future:
     Robotics (if time allows) 
         Option 1: 
           Decentralized Societies (with robots)
           Robotic Dilemmas (ser. #mult. c)
           Robogenesis
           Some robot pics and videos (first, just search anew)
              AIShield, safeguarding humanity and the risks of AI/robotics
           Robot pets (what about robot friends, partners, parents, kids...?)  
         Option 2:
           Robotics (option 2): Setup, Using it, IR signal
 thing pages; wiki-wiki-wikipedia; Watson; ???
Will we find other intelligent life?
SETI: see end of this video
Drake equation and such (transcript i, and ii)
Toxoplasmosis (ser. #11)(Slate and The Atlantic articles)(transcript)
toxoplasmosis related Homework (see unposted draft)
Impact: the futurism board "game"
Review & recap
Science, pseudoscience, and the simulated universe hypothesis
Futurism web site examples: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/government/video-museum-of-
the-future-in-dubai-1.1466419
TED videos and discussions
http://videos.singularityu.org/
hyperglossaries 
Backup plan for homo sapiens: space adventure
From geotagging to the end of privacy
 Do scientific proofs exist? (transcript)
      Homework (see unposted draft)
Guest lecture (remote): Dr. Harry Pence (MilneBigData13-3.ppt) (transcript)
Futurist organization example (transcript)
nanotech: http://ethics.iit.edu/research/nano-ethics-bank
Covid: 
     COVID-19: "We interrupt this broadcast..." (Sp'20 recording) 
     COVID-19 simulations (COVID-19.xsl, 2) (Sp'20 recording) 
     More on COVID-19 (Sp'20 recording) (see content/COVID-19.xsl) 
     Update on COVID-19 (Sp'20 recording) (see content/COVID-19.xsl)  
     Update on COVID-19 (Recording Sp'20) (see content/COVID-19.xsl) 
 Crowdsourcing innovation 
3-D printing and rep-rap
The future of the presidency (ser. #8)
Peak oil, solar cells, and new energy (see peakoil.tv & tv.aspousa.org)
Shift happens (& prediction heuristics)

Hubbert peak for oil
   photovoltaics (solar cells) ser. #7
   Solar cells from agricultural waste
Trend analysis
Video discussions II (last video not that great) 
Some rough notes on potential other discussion topics
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