Can gaming's growth now offer opportunity for content specialization? In February, 2019, tech and sports entrepreneurs invested $17.3 million to develop the sports content and global expansion of the European company, G2 Esports.
As mentioned in the earlier post, "Looking for a Position as a Top Analyst or a Young Voter?," recruiters now visit gaming competitions to hire winners in what is becoming a $150 billion dollar international gaming phenomena. Companies recognize some youngsters grow up with a talent for gaming development and hire employees at age 16.
Stadiums where spectators watch gamers and teams play "League of Legends", eat snack food, and purchase jerseys and miniature statues of professional, hall-of-fame players attract sponsors in South Korea, China, Russia, and Canada. Tournament prizes totaled $150 million in 2018.
By 2019, since influential gamers attracted millions of followers, some like Ninja (Tyler Blevins) and PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg) also racked up funds from endorsements and merchandise. Ninja hawks a graphic novel and his famous headbands.
China's Tencent company provided the "Honour of Kings" game played as a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games. Although the International Olympic Committee decided against including electronic sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, they will be an official part of the 2020 Asian Games.
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Friday, January 18, 2019
The AI Rush to Unemployment
China, the United States, Vietnam, South Korea, and Europe are rushing to replace human intelligence with artificial intelligence (AI). Recent magazine articles try to reassure readers that they need not fear being replaced by robots, but the evidence is far from conclusive.
An article in The Economist magazine (January 12, 2019) claimed China can cushion falling employment in export-related industries and its tech sector by increasing jobs in labor-intensive services "from restaurants to couriers." But the December 2018/January 2019 issue of the AARP magazine arrived with news that the vending machine business grew 26% in 2018. Sales went up once machines began accepting payments for beverages and snacks by processing credit cards and other cashless payments. The same magazine also touted the "Starship delivery robot," tested in 100 cities around the world, that uses cameras and sensors, not couriers, to avoid traffic by using sidewalks to deliver meals.
According to "The Truth about Robots," an article in TIME magazine (February 4-11, 2019), AI will not replace some jobs: creative jobs performed by inventors, scientists, novelists, artists; complex, strategic jobs of executives, diplomats, economists; and empathetic and compassionate jobs of teachers, nannies, and doctors. Considering there are a limited number of these positions, automation is making inroads into many of them, and others are low-paid, I am not reassured.
AI tells consumers, if you like that, you'll also like this. It suggests more things to buy but not more ways to make money to buy them. Unemployment raises the specter of modern Luddites, civil unrest, and fear of death by unmanned weapons attacking from land, sea, and space. Jobless, frightened humans are going to protest at home, to cause refugee disease and terrorist problems when they migrate to look for work elsewhere, and to prove vulnerable to scams.
Retraining the workforce seems a key path to the future. When executives in any field spot a new direction their business is going, trendwatching.com suggests they form alliances with academic institutions to help teachers train students for future opportunities. The 3M company, for example, created a free, 110-hour college course to help teachers prepare elementary and middle school students for a science competition that opened young eyes to future careers.
At the very least, countries need to focus on educating the public. Left to themselves, the untethered elite will go on blissfully making fortunes and inventing and doing things without considering the consequences as a helpless majority stands by. John Gray's critique of modern secular humanism identifies the mismatch between the human need for income-producing employment and technology's rush to replace human labor. In his new book, Seven Types of Atheism, he writes, "The cumulative increase of knowledge in science has no parallel in ethics or politics, philosophy or the arts."
There was a time when well-educated folks looked out at the world and decided they could help the sick with "Doctors without Borders" or field a Peace Corps to teach all sorts of skills. Dr. Lorna Hahn organized an association that brought together newly-independent countries with experts who knew how to do things like write constitutions.-
We are at a crossroads, where humanity needs the wisdom, for example, to use CRISPR-Cas9 technology to develop uniform crops machines can harvest to feed the human race, while refraining from using CRISPR-Cas9 technology to edit genes that can eliminate all or part of the human race. (Also see the earlier post, "The Where Did I Come From? Game.") We need experts with ideas about how to engage the billions of workers robots are rushing to replace.
An article in The Economist magazine (January 12, 2019) claimed China can cushion falling employment in export-related industries and its tech sector by increasing jobs in labor-intensive services "from restaurants to couriers." But the December 2018/January 2019 issue of the AARP magazine arrived with news that the vending machine business grew 26% in 2018. Sales went up once machines began accepting payments for beverages and snacks by processing credit cards and other cashless payments. The same magazine also touted the "Starship delivery robot," tested in 100 cities around the world, that uses cameras and sensors, not couriers, to avoid traffic by using sidewalks to deliver meals.
According to "The Truth about Robots," an article in TIME magazine (February 4-11, 2019), AI will not replace some jobs: creative jobs performed by inventors, scientists, novelists, artists; complex, strategic jobs of executives, diplomats, economists; and empathetic and compassionate jobs of teachers, nannies, and doctors. Considering there are a limited number of these positions, automation is making inroads into many of them, and others are low-paid, I am not reassured.
AI tells consumers, if you like that, you'll also like this. It suggests more things to buy but not more ways to make money to buy them. Unemployment raises the specter of modern Luddites, civil unrest, and fear of death by unmanned weapons attacking from land, sea, and space. Jobless, frightened humans are going to protest at home, to cause refugee disease and terrorist problems when they migrate to look for work elsewhere, and to prove vulnerable to scams.
Retraining the workforce seems a key path to the future. When executives in any field spot a new direction their business is going, trendwatching.com suggests they form alliances with academic institutions to help teachers train students for future opportunities. The 3M company, for example, created a free, 110-hour college course to help teachers prepare elementary and middle school students for a science competition that opened young eyes to future careers.
At the very least, countries need to focus on educating the public. Left to themselves, the untethered elite will go on blissfully making fortunes and inventing and doing things without considering the consequences as a helpless majority stands by. John Gray's critique of modern secular humanism identifies the mismatch between the human need for income-producing employment and technology's rush to replace human labor. In his new book, Seven Types of Atheism, he writes, "The cumulative increase of knowledge in science has no parallel in ethics or politics, philosophy or the arts."
There was a time when well-educated folks looked out at the world and decided they could help the sick with "Doctors without Borders" or field a Peace Corps to teach all sorts of skills. Dr. Lorna Hahn organized an association that brought together newly-independent countries with experts who knew how to do things like write constitutions.-
We are at a crossroads, where humanity needs the wisdom, for example, to use CRISPR-Cas9 technology to develop uniform crops machines can harvest to feed the human race, while refraining from using CRISPR-Cas9 technology to edit genes that can eliminate all or part of the human race. (Also see the earlier post, "The Where Did I Come From? Game.") We need experts with ideas about how to engage the billions of workers robots are rushing to replace.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Hot Topics Presidential Candidates Should Debate
Since tonight is the last presidential debate between the U.S. candidates for President, I turned to the Foreign Policy Association to see what Clinton and Trump should be discussing on TV today.
The topics the organization has selected for their Great Decisions program in 2017 are as follows:
The topics the organization has selected for their Great Decisions program in 2017 are as follows:
- The Future of Europe
- Trade and Politics
- Conflict on the South China Sea
- Saudi Arabia in Transition
- U.S. Foreign Policy and Petroleum
- Latin America's Political Pendulum
- Prospects for Afghanistan and Pakistan
- Nuclear Security
Experts have written short summaries for each of these discussion topics at fpa.org. At the same site, you can sign up to receive Foreign Policy Association updates and to learn how to start a Great Decisions discussion group.
Looking back on the Foreign Policy Association's past discussion topics, such as the rise of ISIS, international migration, and Cuba and the United States, suggests this organization has useful insights on issues the world is likely to face in 2017.
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