IV123 Informatics-Driven Future

Faculty of Informatics
Spring 2021
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus extra credits for completion). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: k (colloquium), z (credit).
Teacher(s)
prof. RNDr. Jozef Gruska, DrSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. RNDr. Jozef Gruska, DrSc.
Department of Computer Science – Faculty of Informatics
Contact Person: prof. RNDr. Jozef Gruska, DrSc.
Supplier department: Department of Computer Science – Faculty of Informatics
Timetable
Wed 14:00–15:50 Virtuální místnost
Prerequisites
There are no special technical requirements. Main requirement is a deeper interest to know the expected role of Informatics for society in future,\, as well as its main challenges and potential
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Exponentially fast developments in Informatics, especially in information storing, transmission and processing driven technologies, and in artificial intelligence, create potential for enormous impacts on society. The impact that has potential to be very positive, but also very negative, even historical. Moreover, due to that development, what can be nowadays expected as to happen in the next 50-100 years, in most of the areas of society, especially in science, technology, health care,...., if the current rate of development is sustained, can happen actually already within next 20-40 years. The goal of the course is to provide a visionary and thoughts-provoking, but well grounded, analysis of the main developments that we can, reasonably, expect, and why, in the (very) near future. Especially due to the development in all information processing and communication driven technologies, nanotechnologies, genetics, non-biological (artificial) intelligence and in fights with natural death and in explorig intelligence as a commodity. Informatics, once properly understood and developed%and sufficiently broadly and deeply understood, is to play at that a key role. Merits of the favorable future, but also ways to avoid perils, if possible, will also be discussed. The course should be of interest and importance to all those interested to find out the frameworks, tools, tasks and main challenges they and society will face in the (already quite near) future. To understand that should be for anyone not only very interesting, but actually much needed for knowing how to prepare oneself in the best way for the expected long future carrier in enormously fast changing frameworks. Contents: 1. Introduction: Why and how to foresee future? Main megachallenges. 2. Evolution - from biological to non-biological one and to their merge. 3. Exponential acceleration of all information-driven technologies. 4. New perception of Scientific Informatics and its grand challenges. 5. Impulses and roads to a new perception of Informatics 6. Technological and Applied Informatics and their grand challenges. 7. New, Informatics-driven, methodology and its grand challenges. 8. Developments in the understanding and simulation of human brains. 9. GNR-revolution - Artificial intelligence and robotics,aibeings 10. GNR revolution - Genetics and Nanotechnologies. 11. Singularity: merge of bio- and non-bio-intelligence-merits/perils. 12. Longevity - Can we fight death? Can we make life enjoyable till/after 150?!
Learning outcomes
Understanding of unpredictability of impact of IT evolution to the future.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction. Why and how we need/can forsee future? Old and new mega-challenges of science, technology and informatics. 2.Evolution. From biological to non-biological (technological) evolution and their merge. Enormous expected impacts of the merge ot the biological and non-biological intelligence. 3. Exponential developments in information processing and communication technologies and their impacts on science, technology and the rest of society 4.New perception of informatics and its grand challenges. Informatics as a merge of scientific, engineering, methodological and application informatics. New perception of the scientific informatics and its grand challenges. 5. New perception of the technological iand applied nformatics and their grand challenges. 6. New, informatics-driven methodology for science, technology, and actually for all areas of society. 7. Recent developments in understanding and simulation of human brains and minds 8. GNR revolution - I. Robotics and artificial intelligence. Long hhistory, hot outcomes, big dangers. 9. GNR Revolution - II. Geniomics and nanotechnologies 10. Singularity - a merge of biological and non-biological evolution. 12. Longevity - Can we fight death? How (much). Can we make life ebjyable till/after 150?!
Literature
  • R. Kurzweil: The singularity is near, Penguing books, 2005
Teaching methods
lectures
Assessment methods
esseys or exams or colloquia
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
http://www.fi.muni.cz/usr/gruska/future13
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Autumn 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2021, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fi/spring2021/IV123