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CONTENT

Lead Article

What are Hollywood actors and writers afraid of?
A cinema scholar explains how AI is upending the movie and TV business
by Holly Willis, University of Southern California

Article 01

Switzerland’s Mad Scientists Soar to New Heights | Hello World with Ashlee Vance
by Bloomberg Originals

The Future Now Show

The Entertainment Futurist
with Robert Tercek & Miss Metaverse

Article 02

AUM TAT SAT
by Arnab Bishnu Chowdhury

News about the Future

> Swisspod
> Equatic’s climate solution

Article 03

Finding The Wisest Ways To Global AI Regulation
by IEEE Spectrum

Recommended Book

Digital Twins for Digital Transformation: Innovation in Industry
by Aboul Ella Hassanien, Ashraf Darwish, Vaclav Snasel

Article 04

Why Act Now: The World in 2050 | Jeffrey Sachs, Jane Goodall, Obiora Ike, Brian Wong
by GIFT ed

Climate Change Success Story

Digital Twins and Climate Change

Futurist Portrait

Morris Misel
The Futurist's Futurist

Tags:
Artificial Intelligence, Auroville, Carbon Removal, Climate Change,
Digital Twins, Digital Water, Entertainment Futurist, Equity, Green
Hydrogen, Hollywood, Hyperloop, Inclusivity, India, Innovation, LiDAR,
Movies, Plants, Resilience, Sri Aurobindo, Entertainment Futurist,
Hollywood, Movies, Artificial Intelligence

Welcome




Felix B Bopp

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Quotes

Morris Misel: "We all have a digital twin. It lives inside of our mobile phone. It's just not as sophisticated as it will be in five or 10 years, but it knows pretty much everything about you. “

Robert Tercek: ““everyday life is about to get strange or amazing, depending upon how comfortable you are with devices that talk back.”

Lead Article:

What are Hollywood actors and writers afraid of?
A cinema scholar explains how AI is upending the movie and TV business
by Holly Willis, University of Southern California

 

Holly Willis

 

Holly Willis, University of Southern California

The bitter conflict between actors, writers and other creative professionals and the major movie and TV studios represents a flashpoint in the radical transformation roiling the entertainment industry. The ongoing strikes by the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild were sparked in part by artificial intelligence and its use in the movie industry.

Both actors and writers fear that the major studios, including Amazon/MGM, Apple, Disney/ABC/Fox, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount/CBS, Sony, Warner Bros. and HBO, will use generative AI to exploit them. Generative AI is a form of artificial intelligence that learns from text and images to automatically produce new written and visual works.

So what specifically are the writers and actors afraid of? I'm a professor of cinematic arts. I conducted a brief exercise that illustrates the answer.

I typed the following sentence into ChatGPT: Create a script for a 5-minute film featuring Barbie and Ken. In seconds, a script appeared.

Next, I asked for a shot list, a breakdown of every camera shot needed for the film. Again, a response appeared almost instantly, featuring not only a "montage of fun activities," but also a fancy flashback sequence. The closing line suggested a wide shot showing "Barbie and Ken walking away from the beach together, hand in hand."

Next, on a text-to-video platform, I typed these words into a box labeled "Prompt": "Cinematic movie shot of Margot Robbie as Barbie walking near the beach, early morning light, pink sun rays illuminating the screen, tall green grass, photographic detail, film grain."

About a minute later, a 3-second video appeared. It showed a svelte blond woman walking on the beach. Is it Margot Robbie? Is it Barbie? It's hard to say. I decided to add my own face in place of Robbie's just for fun, and in seconds, I've made the swap.

I now have a moving image clip on my desktop that I can add to the script and shot list, and I'm well on my way to crafting a short film starring someone sort of like Margot Robbie as Barbie.

The fear

None of this material is particularly good. The script lacks tension and poetic grace. The shot list is uninspired. And the video is just plain weird-looking.

However, the ability for anyone - amateurs and professionals alike - to create a screenplay and conjure the likeness of an existing actor means that the skills once specific to writers and the likeness that an actor once could uniquely call his or her own are now readily available - with questionable quality, to be sure - to anyone with access to these free online tools.

Given the rate of technological change, the quality of all this material created through generative AI is destined to improve visually, not only for people like me and social media creatives globally, but possibly for the studios, which are likely to have access to much more powerful computers. Further, these separate steps - preproduction, screenwriting, production, postproduction - could be absorbed into a streamlined prompting system that bears little resemblance to today's art and craft of moviemaking.

Writers fear that, at best, they will be hired to edit screenplays drafted by AI. They fear that their creative work will be swallowed whole into databases as the fodder for writing tools to sample. And they fear that their specific expertise will be pushed aside in favor of "prompt engineers," or those skilled at working with AI tools.

And actors fret that they will be forced to sell their likeness once, only to see it used over and over by studios. They fear that deepfake technologies will become the norm, and real, live actors won't be needed at all. And they worry that not only their bodies but their voices will be taken, synthesized and reused without continued compensation. And all of this is on top of dwindling incomes for the vast majority of actors.

On the road to the AI future

Are their fears justified? Sort of. In June 2023, Marvel showcased titles - opening sequences with episode names - for the series "Secret Invasion" on Disney+ that were created in part with AI tools. The use of AI by a major studio sparked controversy due in part to the timing and fears about AI displacing people from their jobs. Further, series director and executive producer Ali Selim's tone-deaf description of the use of AI only added to the sense that there is little concern at all about those fears.

Then on July 26, software developer Nicholas Neubert posted a 48-second trailer for a sci-fi film made with images made by AI image generator Midjourney and motion created by Runway's image-to-motion generator, Gen-2. It looks terrific. No screenwriter was hired. No actors were used.

In addition, earlier this month, a company called Fable released Showrunner AI, which is designed to allow users to submit images and voices, along with a brief prompt. The tool responds by creating entire episodes that include the user.

The creators have been using South Park as their sample, and they have presented plausible new episodes of the show that integrate viewers as characters in the story. The idea is to create a new form of audience engagement. However, for both writers and actors, Showrunner AI must be chilling indeed.

Finally, Volkswagen recently produced a commercial that features an AI reincarnation of Brazilian musician Elis Regina, who died in 1982. Directed by Dulcidio Caldeira, it shows the musician as she appears to sing a duet with her daughter. For some, the song was a beautiful revelation, crafting a poignant mother-daughter reunion.

However, for others, the AI regeneration of someone who has died prompts worries about how one's likeness might be used after death. What if you are morally opposed to a particular film project, TV show or commercial? How will actors - and others - be able to retain control?

Keeping actors and writers in the credits

Writers' and actors' fears could be assuaged if the entertainment industry developed a convincing and inclusive vision that acknowledges advances in AI, but that collaborates with writers and actors, not to mention cinematographers, directors, art designers and others, as partners.

At the moment, developers are rapidly building and improving AI tools. Production companies are likely to use them to dramatically cut costs, which will contribute to a massive shift toward a gig-oriented economy. If the dismissive attitude toward writers and actors held by many of the major studios continues, not only will there be little consideration of the needs of writers and actors, but technology development will lead the conversation.

However, what if the tools were designed with the participation of informed actors and writers? What kind of tool would an actor create? What would a writer create? What sorts of conditions regarding intellectual property, copyright and creativity would developers consider? And what sort of inclusive, forward-looking, creative cinematic ecosystem might evolve? Answering these questions could give actors and writers the assurances they seek and help the industry adapt in the age of AI.

Holly Willis, Professor of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

CONTENT

Article 01

Switzerland’s Mad Scientists Soar to New Heights | Hello World with Ashlee Vance
by Bloomberg Originals

Switzerland is full of advanced tech startups, thanks to business-friendly laws and an appetite for new ideas. We visit an inventor who makes drones do miraculous things and a company that’s growing human skin in a lab.

 

CONTENT

The Future Now Show

The Entertainment Futurist
with Robert Tercek & Miss Metaverse

Robert discusses the trends reshaping the media business, including the shift from ownership to generated content, the rise of streaming services, and the digitization of everything. He expresses concerns about the impact of these trends on the entertainment industry and the potential for studios to exploit actors' likenesses. Robert also highlights the emergence of tech companies as major players in the entertainment industry. - AI summary by Zoom

 

 

 

 

Moderator

Robert Tercek: My book, Vaporized: Solid Strategies for Success in a Dematerialized World, was selected as the 2016 International Book of the Year from a field of 10,000 business books at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Vaporized: Solid Strategies for Success in a Dematerialized World
by Robert Tercek

Digital technology has overturned entire industries and irrevocably altered the way we live and work. But the changes are far from over: now, tech is set to transform our planet and society in once unimaginable ways.

In his groundbreaking new book Vaporized, Robert Tercek takes us inside the world's largest cultural and economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution, and explains what it means for consumers, employers, and policymakers.

Tercek does for digital business theory what Malcolm Gladwell has done for sociology, translating a complex subject into approachable and relevant terms. Insightful and optimistic, Tercek presents a practical blueprint for survival that no business leader, from Fortune 500 CEO to small startup owner, can afford to ignore.

 

Credits

Robert Tercek
keynote speaker, board member and facilitator of strategic planning processes

Founder and CEO, General Creativity
www.generalcreativity.com
Co-Founder, The Futurists Network
www.thefuturists.com
The Owner's Guide to the Future | Robert Tercek | Substack
tercek.substack.com
President, Milestone Entertainment

roberttercek.com

Moderator

Katie (Miss Metaverse™) King
Futurist and Content Creator
Bangkok, Thailand & Cary, North Carolina, USA
missmetaverse.io
futuristmm.com

Felix B Bopp
Producer of The Future Now Show
clubofamsterdam.com


The Future Now Show
clubofamsterdam.com/the-future-now-show

You can find The Future Now Show also at

LinkedIn: The Future Now Show Group
YouTube: The Future Now Show Channel

CONTENT

Article 02

AUM TAT SAT
by Arnab Bishnu Chowdhury

AUM TAT SAT - Nritya Yoga in The Light of Sri Aurobindo

A 3 act exploration of Sri Aurobindo's visionary experience and interpretation of AUM TAT SAT across His Works including ‘Essays on the Gita’, ‘Record on Yoga’.

AUM TAT SAT (All That is Truth) is an offering for Sri Aurobindo's 150th birth anniversary. It was performed at Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Sri Aurobindo Ashram on 25th August and Amphitheatre, Matrimandir, Auroville on 30th August.

script & music composition by Arnab Bishnu Chowdhury
choreography by Madhumita Patnaik, Devasmita Patnaik, Grace Gitadelila
co-created with 50 artists from Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville, Europe, Russia & USA

 

 

 

About Arnab Bishnu Chowdhury

Arnab is the founder of ‘Know Your Rhythm’ (KYR) – a training programme that helps participants discover their Musicality and their own sense of Rhythm – in life and work. Through joyful immersive exercises, KYR creates ‘conditions’ for participants to experience Aha! Moments, raising empathy, teamwork and productivity.

At SLI, KYR weaves exercises with paradigms of ‘culture’ and Musicality found across agri-culture, management, rural development, folklore, livelihood and climate change.

KYR has engaged several thousands of teachers (KG onward) with young learners, special educators, govt. officials, women self-help groups, youth, managers, university professors, policy makers, scientists, therapists, patients, nurses, doctors and seekers from all walks of life at conferences and workshops in India, Austria, France, Belgium, Russia, Thailand and China. Papers have been published in Music & Medicine Journal, International Journal of Pharma & Bio Sciences.

KYR was selected among the 8 training programs worldwide to be presented as a Pre-Congress seminar at the 14th World Congress for Music Therapy at University of Music & Performing Arts, Vienna.

Arnab is a composer – musician – trainer – explorer of Consciousness with Music as medium, a third generation from a family of Indian Classical musicians, he offers Composition, Training and Therapy services.

 

CONTENT

News about the Future

> Swisspod
> Equatic’s climate solution

Swisspod

The first infinite trajectory hyperloop testing facility in the world, built in Switzerland.

Our mission is to ensure high-speed transportation is sustainable and efficient using fully-electric Hyperloop pods, a breakthrough technology that allows for the scalable and fast travel between distant cities.

We are currently safely building the most affordable and energy-efficient pods, and bringing together a strong team of multidisciplinary experts passionate about disrupting high-speed travel.

Swisspod is an EPFL spinoff founded in 2019 by Hyperloop veterans and multiple award winners of the SpaceX Hyperloop Competition. The company is headquartered in Monthey, Switzerland, with U.S. offices in Miami Beach, Florida.

This is the century of electric transportation.

 

Equatic’s climate solution

... enables low cost decarbonization with atmospheric carbon removal and green hydrogen production at a massive scale.

Equatic’s carbon removal plants use four inputs (seawater, air, rock, and renewable electricity) to remove and store carbon dioxide while simultaneously generating carbon-negative hydrogen. Equatic passes an electrical current through seawater(electrolysis) and then passes atmospheric air through the processed seawater(direct air capture); these steps trap carbon dioxide in solid minerals and as dissolved bicarbonate ions that are naturally found in the oceans, ensuring that the trapped carbon dioxide will remain stable for 10,000+years. Finally, Equatic uses rock to neutralize the processed seawater and ensure that the ocean’s chemistry is unaffected.

This patented process is the key to delivering scalable, high-quality carbon removal, permanent storage, and accessible, carbon-negative hydrogen fuel.

CONTENT

Article 03

Finding The Wisest Ways To Global AI Regulation
by IEEE Spectrum

 

Around the world, legislators are grappling with generative AI's potential for both innovation and destruction. Russell Wald is the Director of Policy for Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. In this episode, he talks with IEEE Spectrum senior editor Eliza Strickland about creating humane regulations that are able to cope with a rapidly evolving technology.

 

 

CONTENT

Recommended Book

Digital Twins for Digital Transformation: Innovation in Industry
by Aboul Ella Hassanien, Ashraf Darwish, Vaclav Snasel

 

This book aims to present dominant applications and use cases of the fast-evolving DT and determines vital Industry 4.0 technologies for building DT that can provide solutions for fighting local and globalmedical emergencies during pandemics. Moreover, it discusses a new framework integrating DT and blockchain technology to provide a more efficient and effective preventive conservation in different applications.

Aboul Ella Hassanein

Dr Aboul Ella Hassanein is the Founder and Head of the Egyptian Scientific Research Group (SRGE), Cairo Univesrity, and a Professor of Information Technology at the Faculty of Computer and Information, Cairo University. Professor Hassanien is ex-dean of the faculty of computers and information, Beni Suef University.

Ashraf Darwish

Professor of Computer Science, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt




Vaclav Snasel

Rector at Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic

CONTENT

Article 04

Why Act Now: The World in 2050 | Jeffrey Sachs, Jane Goodall, Obiora Ike, Brian Wong
by GIFT ed

Introducing Why Act Now, GIFT.ed’s flagship discussion series with visionary thinkers, renowned experts, and passionate activists from around the world. From economic transformation to technological innovation, from climate change to public health, Why Act Now bridges the gap between understanding and doing.

THE WORLD IN 2050
We’re very excited to announce that the inaugural edition of Why Act Now will feature Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Dr. Jane Goodall (DBE), Monsignor Professor Dr. Obiora Ike, and Dr. Brian Wong.

Together, these esteemed experts will engage in crucial discussions centred around The World in 2050. By examining how our societies function today, learners will gain an understanding of future realities and why we need to take action now to redesign society for greater resilience and equity.

 

Jeffrey Sachs

is a world-renowned economics professor, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development.

Jane Goodall

Jane’s work builds on innovative science, growing a lifetime of advocacy particularly through her global organization the Jane Goodall Institute, founded in 1977. Her trailblazing efforts advance community-led conservation through JGI’s Tacare approach which empowers local communities toown the process of sustainable development and conservation, and through Roots & Shoots, JGI’s international youth program which supports young people in more than 60 countries to create positive change in their communities.
Today, Jane continues to connect with worldwide audiences, despite the challenges of the pandemic, through ‘Virtual Jane’ including remote lectures, recordings, and her podcast, the “Jane Goodall Hopecast.” In 2021, Jane was the recipient of the Templeton Prize, and published her newest book, “The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times.”

Obiora Ike

Monsignor Prof. Obiora Ike is a Professor of Ethics and Intercultural Studies at the Godfrey Okoye University in Enugu State, Nigeria. He is the Founding Director of the Catholic Institute of Development, Justice, Peace and Caritas (CIDJAP); Chairman of Umuchinemere Pro-credit Microfinance Bank Limited; Chairman of the Enugu State Economic Advisory Committee. He is the immediate past Executive Director of the Geneva-based GlobEthics.net.

Brian Wong

Brian Wong is the co-founder and CEO of Kiip (pronounced "keep"), a category-creating mobile rewards network that is redefining mobile advertising through an innovative platform that leverages "moments of achievement" in games and apps to simultaneously benefit users, developers and advertisers.

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENT

Climate Change Success Story

Digital Twins and Climate Change

 

 

 

Deploying Digital Twins to Combat Climate Change
by Qatium

At the Greentech Livestream Day of the Must High Tech Expo, Qatium’s very own Damien Acheson shared his thoughts on how deploying Digital Twins can help utilities, municipalities and governments to combat climate change.

Water and wastewater systems contribute significantly to our carbon footprint. In fact, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), they produce up to 2% of the US’ energy consumption, with energy representing 40% of a water distribution system’s operating costs.

To kick things off, Damien clarifies what a Digital Twin is exactly, before discussing how sensors, IOT enabled devices, 5G and the Cloud provide an abundance of available geospatial data.

Damien then shares a real-life example of how a mid-sized city in North America is leveraging Digital Twin technology to better understand their network and run what-if scenarios. The result: reduced energy costs, a lower carbon footprint and optimized system operations.

 

 

Destination Earth – new digital twin of the Earth will help tackle climate change and protect nature
by DigitalEU

Destination Earth (DestinE) aims to develop – on a global scale - a highly accurate digital model of the Earth to monitor and predict the interaction between natural phenomena and human activities. As part of the European Commission’s Green Deal and Digital Strategy, DestinE will contribute to achieving the objectives of the twin transition, green and digital.

DestinE will unlock the potential of digital modelling of the Earth systems at a level that represents a real breakthrough in terms of accuracy, local detail, access-to-information speed and interactivity. The initial focus will be on the effects of climate change and extreme weather events, their socio-economic impact and possible adaptation and mitigation strategies. Through the unprecedented observation and simulation capabilities of DestinE, empowered by Europe’s HPC computers and AI capacity, we will be better prepared to respond to major natural disasters, adapt to climate change and predict the socioeconomic impact. By consolidating access to valuable sources of data across Europe, DestinE represents also a key component of the European strategy for data.

 

 

The European Digital Twin of the Ocean
by MERCATOROCEAN

A digital twin is a virtual replication of a real-world object, system, or process. Extensively used in engineering and manufacturing, digital twins are increasingly being used to capture natural world properties and behaviours, revolutionising our knowledge and providing a safe and controlled environment to simulate scenarios, monitor and analyse impacts on existing entities.
www.mercator-ocean.eu/en/digital-twin-ocean

 

 

Digital Water
Operational digital twins in the urban water
case studies
by International Water Association


The aim of this white paper is to highlight how digital twins can help the water industry to improve performance of its infrastructure. The white paper presents two case studies where online digital twins are used for operational decision support: one in a sewer network and the other in a water resource recovery facility.

Download publication here

Digital Water White Papers Series by International Water Association

 

LiDAR Data and Digital Twins for Better Forest Management
by Interpine Innovation

Natural Resources Commission Forest Monitoring and Improvement Program Mobile LiDAR Scanning.

Interpine in New Zealand is committed to “shaping today’s forests with the technology of tomorrow”. Our research and innovation sets us apart from other industry providers as we continue development of step change technology in the forestry sector. It is based on a committed management team of professional foresters and backed up by qualified technicians and data analysts that provide credible solutions across the sector.

We are proud of our Maori heritage and the influence it brings to the business culture. Interpine believes our Maori values in oranga wairua, oranga whanau, oranga whenua will survive any circumstance if we can continue to embrace our role as kaitiaki, the primary focus being the health and wellbeing of all peoples. These values are infused into Interpine services strengthening our commitment to all those we work with; a unique characteristic that sets Interpine apart.
Project Profile

Digital twins in plant breeding - Rick van de Zedde
by Seed Valley

Rick van de Zedde, working at Netherlands Plant Eco-phenotyping Centre at WUR shows us in this Talk why we grow tomatoes, digitally.

Phenotyping plants costs hours, this means there is a lot of brainpower wasted. At Wageningen University & Research they develop vision technology specifically for this measurement. The next step is to develop digital twins. What would we gain if we grow plants virtually? It becomes possible to predict how plants grow under different circumstances.

 

CONTENT

Futurist Portrait

Morris Misel
The Futurist's Futurist

 

For over 30 years, Morris Misel (Miselowski), acclaimed global business futurist, in demand presenter and sought-after international media commentator, has been hypothesising about what the future holds.

Turns out he was right.

Nothing feels more natural to Morris Misel (Miselowski) than challenging the status quo. He’s forever imagining what a different world might look like.

Morris was born to be a futurist. The son of World War 2 refugees, who barely survived the world imploding around them, he grew up in a household that believed there would always be a better tomorrow.

This belief has become his lifelong passion. Through powerful storytelling, and practical and uncanny insights, Morris takes some of the world’s biggest organisations and brands on a journey that enables them to see what tomorrow might look like – long before they experience it.

A hell-raiser to the core. Morris is known to hurl metaphorical hand-grenades into rooms to push companies to unshackle from legacy systems and stuck-in-the past thinking.

A conversation with Morris often starts with making people uncomfortable, in order to get them comfortable to dream – big, bold, audacious dreams.

He’s teeming with questions about the world around us. Through childlike wonder and curiosity, Morris approaches organisational challenges from the viewpoint that tomorrow is under our control – and it can be transformed.

He’s no Nostradamus though. Through his depth-of-knowledge he hypothesises, rather than predicts what lies ahead.

For over 30 years, Morris has been methodically collecting evidence and information across 160 industries. He’s also picked up an assortment of weird and wonderful facts, much like a bowerbird. It’s through this wide lens that he provides bespoke and matter-of-fact exchanges, exercises and experiences so organisations can understand what their future potential might be in the marketplace.

Through his inquisitiveness and human-centric approach to future thinking, Morris motivates businesses to do things differently – by shifting and shaping their thinking. He assists them to see their own industry with a clarity they may not have been able to before.

It’s these a-ha moments that gives Morris the greatest joy and drive.

Morris has identified opportunities in all sorts of areas, from dynamic architecture and active bedding to the aged-care workforce and digital twinning. He was speaking about digital wallets, branded fruit and vegetables and smart homes and cities well before they became a reality.

To Morris, everything that businesses do and believe in is a construct of the mind. It can be broken down – and rebuilt for a successful future.

To get to where he is, Morris has worn many hats. By the age of 18, he was living the entrepreneurial life running a direct mail business. However, moving from his garage-bound start-up to the global stage, including delivering a TEDx talk, took a few more steps. He spent many years, simultaneously growing his consultancy and as an academic, lecturing in management and marketing and even spent 10 years behind prison bars, volunteering as a visiting Chaplain.

He’s also Australia’s first and only futurist in the Einstein 100 Genius (G100) alumni, an honour he shares with the exceptional, Barbara Streisand. More recently Morris has joined Griffith University as an Adjunct Industry Fellow.

No matter your business type, Morris will assist you to smash all the barriers that are boxing you in. He is lively, forthright and a truly global thinker, who will awaken your creative force.

Imagine the possibilities.

 

INCLUSIVITY IN PLAY - the pitch

 

 

CONTENT

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