Trends & Signals
Explore the latest insights, thought leadership, and research from FCAT®
A Timely Review of Bitcoin Narratives, Performance, and Trends
September 16, 2022
Bitcoin’s revolutionary design offers a new approach for financial inclusion, distributed ownership, and enforced scarcity. As it has grown in value, however, new narratives surrounding bitcoin’s utility have also emerged. A rocky performance...
Human Centered AI: Q & A with Ben Shneiderman
August 18, 2022
The remarkable progress in algorithms for machine and deep learning have opened the doors to new opportunities, and some dark possibilities. However, a bright future awaits those who build on their working methods by including human-centered AI...
Web3: The Tokenized Web
August 10, 2022
Built on public blockchains, Web3 aims to diminish single point of failure risk and afford users more opportunity to be fairly compensated for their contributions. It’s only beginning to emerge, but once fully operational, Web3 has the potential to...
Synthetic Biology: No Longer Life As We Know It?
May 10, 2022
Synthetic biology is the promising and controversial technology platform that combines biology and artificial intelligence, opening up the potential to program biological systems much as we program computers. FCAT recently hosted Amy Webb, founder...
DAOs: What Are They Good For?
May 5, 2022
Over the past year Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) have emerged as a much hyped yet intriguing new way to organize communities online. Owned and run by their users, these digital-native collectives operate transparently via smart...
Can a Machine Be Moral? A Q&A with Jean-Francois Bonnefon
April 13, 2022
FCAT recently hosted a presentation by psychologist and author Jean-Francois (JF) Bonnefon on his latest book, “The Car That Knew Too Much”. The book discusses a groundbreaking experiment, the Moral Machine, that allowed millions of people from over...
Lydia Chilton on AI Creativity: What’s the Big Idea?
March 10, 2022
Can the design process be enhanced or improved by the power of AI? After a recent Artificial Intelligence Club event, Columbia University’s Lydia Chilton sat down with FCAT’s Sarah Hoffman to discuss the potential of AI as a creative tool. Chilton...
Life and Work Through the Anthropological Lens: A Q&A with Gillian Tett of the Financial Times
February 3, 2022
FCAT recently hosted a presentation by Gillian Tett, Chair of the Editorial board and Editor-at-Large, US, of the Financial Times. Her recent book, “Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life”, has just been published. Following her...
Behind the Scenes: The Intersection of Art and Technology
February 1, 2022
FCAT’s Luke Paxton and Kseniya Galper are responsible for the unique artwork accompanying this year’s Priorities Report, created using digital and physical techniques. The results of their collaboration will be included in a set of limited edition...
I Guess We're Not in Kansas Anymore: Art, NFTs, Gaming & the Blockchain Experience
February 1, 2022
I’d never heard of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – digital proof of ownership enabled by the blockchain – until 2021. Like many, I came to them through mass media, through the likes of Kevin Roose of the New York Times auctioning off his column as an...