You might want to get more comfortable with machines taking on responsibilities you never imagined, according to Amir Husain, founder and president of SparkCognition and author of ‘The Sentient Machine” which details the coming age of artificial intelligence. He’s of the ‘glass half full’ school when it comes to how these machines will interact with us. Already, there are so many devices(can you say Siri or Alexa)who are of this kind with whom we have found great utility in our daily lives. We discuss the role that artificial intelligence can play in medical breakthroughs and everyday life. You must hear his explanation of what an autonomous vehicle can do to make the driving experience safer that we can not. One clue is we don’t have eyes in the back of our heads. Perhaps, that’s a design flaw but the human condition, with all its capabilities, is limiting. And that’s where these machines come in. It’s a fascinating discussion. GET THE BOOK ON AMAZON HERE

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That’s the name of a new report from the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and it reminds us that the trend is toward more encampments for those without permanent housing.  The primary reason is that we have not built enough affordable housing to keep up with the demand. And, yet, our approach to solving the problem often is to criminalize those who find themselves out on the streets. (And even to arrest good neighbors who try to assist in feeding those who are dispossessed.)  We explore different approaches that cities are taking to the problem with Attorney Eric Tars, of the Center, who is the lead researcher on this report.

Check out the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty Website

If you haven’t yet checked out our recent Renters’ Rights report, please do! This provides an excellent take on how to prevent homelessness in the first place.

 

 

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Like many of us, you’re wondering what the fuss is all about when it comes to Bitcoin. It’s part of something we’ve long heard was on the horizon–a cashless society. Perhaps, you hear terms like ‘Bitcoin wallets’ or block-chains and your eyes glaze over. We asked Mark Jamison, of the American Enterprise Institute, to break it all down for us and let us know the basics about Bitcoin–its advantages and disadvantages and what kind of play we can expect in the entire field of cryptocurrency in the period ahead. He lays it all out in very clear terms, though you may want to listen more than once to make certain the concepts resonate.

check out more of mark on Bitcoin

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It’s fair to say the answer to that question for many of us is a long time ago. Given the rapid, almost unimaginable, disruption in every sector, caused by technology, how could schools remain immune from this? Or are they? One of our listeners asked that we look at the future of public education. In order to do that, we step back and walk you through the role of public education in our society and bring you to the present and beyond regarding the expectations we have in preparing our children for an uncertain future. Jonathan Costa, author of ‘Digital Learning for All, Now: A School Leader’s Guide for 1:1 on a Budget’. We take the jargon out of education parlance and break it down for you in ways that help you to frame questions and thoughts as you go to your next school board meeting or have the one on one with your child’s teacher.

GET THE BOOK HERE

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In laws as complex as the one involving significant tax changes, adherents on all sides can say just about anything they want about its impact on one group or another before its implemented. So, we decided to turn to Steve Malanga, an expert in state and local finance at the Manhattan Institute, to break down a key element of the new law now that the dust has settled. Will residents in blue states, because of new limits on the destructibility of state and local taxes, get walloped? After all, the revenues the federal government stands to raise as a result of this change represents one of the biggest sources of new revenue in the law. And, yet, there are many elements of the law that stand to benefit some of the same people. It’s not a zero sum game, as you will learn in this conversation.

CHECK OUT STEVE MALANGA

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Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Jake Bernstein, introduces us to a world apart–offshore and out of view to most except the wealthiest and most powerful. And yet, the investigative team he was a part of that broke the Panama Papers story shook that world to its core recently by exposing the methods and means they use to amass these huge fortunes and avoid taxation. Most importantly, after breaking down how this works, we explore its impact on regular people like us. (And there is.) And whether there are any governmental or international agencies attempting to limit its corrosive effects on economies around the globe.

Audio Used in opening from CNN money click here to see video

get the book on Amazon click here

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While we can blame the internet or Amazon, in particular, or the smartphone that brought them to us so easily, the way we shop has changed forever.  But, according to Kristen Bahler, in an article in a December 2017 article in MONEY Magazine, don’t give up on the brick and mortar store just yet as some are making it a whole new experience. With her, we explore those stores that are best at the game of ‘experience shopping’.  And we find out who is making the most of the ‘omni-channel strategy’ as they blur the lines between in-store and on-line.  And  since so many people find themselves employed in the retail sector, we ask whether the more immersive approach to selling can turn these jobs into careers.  Buy in by clicking play now.

http://www.kristen-bahler.com/

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Many have predicted much doom about the FCC’s striking down of net neutrality rules put in place during the Obama Administration.  Some suggest that you will now pay for the Internet the way you do(or did)for cable television–in bundles.  Our guest, Professor Richard Hanley, of Quinnipiac University, does not think we can rush to judgment about the impacts and that the major players involved will have to respond cautiously to the what we, as consumers, have come to expect from our internet experience.  He frames the issues in ways we can all understand and calls out the companies who will dominate our internet experience.  He also weighs in on the other recent moves by the FCC and entertainment companies that will affect the way we consume media in this digital age.

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Zak Dychtwald is an American millennial. And while he has great faith in his fellow countrymen, he is quite impressed with those his age in China. They are many times larger in number than their American counterparts and determined to help China achieve very ambitious goals in their lifetime. And while they may be different than other Chinese generations, they will still uphold many of the traditions of their country and not yield to Western values. Zak offers us amazing insights into this formidable generation as a result of his years spent in China, even though he himself is 28 years of age. Wise and traveled beyond his years, we capture the essence of his book, ‘Young China: How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World’, in this interview. His command of Mandarin is really impressive.

https://www.amazon.com/Young-China-Restless-Generation-Country/dp/1250078814/ref=sr_1_1/143-8172354-1205065?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519934367&sr=1-1&keywords=young+china+dychtwald

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