In this recorded webinar Bob Charette discusses the steps makers and users of technology should be taking to offset what appears to be a rising backlash against automation.

Cloud computing, data analytics, sensors and the Internet of Things, robotics, mobile and social computing, "super-intelligent" systems and advanced cognitive systems are merely a few of the technologies that have moved from the realm of being an interesting idea into the main stream. Just over the horizon are not only improvements to each of these technologies but also virtual/augmented reality systems, autonomous vehicles, private drones, 3D printing, quantum computing, gesture control systems and wearable computing, among others that promise to change our daily routines in a myriad of ways.

High tech companies like to tout the many benefits of these technologies. Simultaneously, there is a rising disquiet being voiced about the risks -– social, economic, political, technical and personal -– these technologies may bring as well. For example, while autonomous vehicles, robotics and advanced datafication may create new jobs, will the number be greater than the jobs they eliminate, and will they pay the same, more or less?

In this thought-provoking webinar, Cutter Fellow Robert N. Charette discusses the steps technology companies or those who use technology should be taking to offset what appears to be a rising backlash against automation; topics such as:

• What is future of work in the age of ever-smarter machines? What are the possible social, economic, education, etc., impacts of such a future?
• What is being asked of individuals and society as whole by emerging technology? Should individuals give up their privacy, e.g., constrained access to the information their medical records, for the greater societal good, .e.g., the ability to data mine medical records to discover new disease treatment or stop pandemics?
• How can the staggering power of technology to improve our quality of life be balanced as to also keep our humanity intact?
• Changing the public's perception of emerging technology in a positive way – is this even possible when technology is highly socially disruptive? Are the likely social disruptions exaggerated?
• What you, as an IT person, might want to think about to prepare for a future where automation is changing in ways not seen since the 1930s.