STAR TREK THE FUTURE TELESCOPES TO THE PAST

Posted on June 5, 2009 by Jeffrey Newman

Meet The New Spock - Same As The Old Spock?

This is my first blog about the future. Yesterday, I went to see Star Trek and although my expectations were tempered from prior Star Trek films, I came away thinking that this one had a lot to it and a lot that is relevant to this particular point in human history, where all that is past and all that will be future are on a direct collision course. Without giving away the plot, there is a point in the film where the elder Spock travels back in time and meets himself, the young Spock. It seems to me that given the state of the planet, we are all facing our younger selves and must ask the question, what can I do to help protect our fragile future.

 I am now obsessed with all things future.  I am reading about predictive analysis and machine learning and the immense potential that these endeavors have on our ability to reliably model global trends and changes. This is an arena of hope which may help us work through the more difficult problems of environmental damage and alternative energy. I recommend the book Super Crunchers by Ian Ayres which explains the impact that analytics is having on our society.
The question remains however as to whether we have enough time to catch up with the dilemmas we have created.

I have read Nassim Taleb’s The Black Swan which explains why over-reliance on statistical models can lead to destruction. However, enhanced data analysis may enable us to make changes more efficiently and using fewer resouces. This is especially the case in medicine and Ayres book explores the use of statistical analysis to seek out trends in human illness (AIDS/HIV).

See you in the future