New Agora Overview

In the “New Agora: New Geometry of Languaging”, Schreibman and Christakis describe a dialogue facilitation methodology based on the Structured Design Dialogue Process (SDDP), which may overcome obstacles to group concensus building inherent in human cognition. To support their claims, the authors site real-world examples where a systems approach to managing group dynamics has yielded successful results. Their approach consists of a two-phase methodology they call WebScope. Phase 1 – Generative Dialogue facilitates formulation of ideas for discussion and consensus building. Phase 2 – Strategic Dialogue facilitates influence ranking of ideas produced in Phase 1 and is assisted by an inferential engine software available from George Mason University and Leading Design International.

Stem Cell Research

In Technology’s Promise, Halal discusses the possibility of growing replacement organs that are genetically identical to a patient’s own cells. His conjecture is based on the early results of stem cell technology used to grow various types of human tissue in the laboratory. He notes that millions of people with debilitating medical conditions could benefit from replacement tissue and organs. While this technology holds the promise to improve the lives of millions of people, there are cultural and religious issues surrounding the harvesting of stem cells that cannot be ignored. Some of those issues may be made less relevant by recent successes in coaxing adult skin cell into stem cells.

The market for replacement cells, tissue, and organs is enormous. Large pharmaceutical and bioengineering firms have already devoted considerable resources to this nascent field producing remarkable results. With U.S. healthcare spending approaching $2 trillion dollars annually, state and federal agencies will welcome the savings this technology could deliver.  Barring any political intervention, the trend for continued investment and scientific successes in this field will increase.

Text to Speech Conversion and Translation

Zeta’s imTranslator converts text written in one language to speech in another language. The voice quality is lifelike and the translation accuracy impressive. imTranslator is able to convert written text to speech for English, German,  Spanish, French, Portuguese as well as, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. imTranslator could be useful for low-rate text to speech translation in international or multi-cultural collaboration efforts. Best of all, the service is free.

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