Genevieve Bell, a Leader to the Future of Artificial Intelligence

Professor Genevieve Bell is a cultural anthropologist, a technologist and a futurist. She is the head of the 3A Institute (3Ai), at the Australian National University, where she is building a new branch of engineering to explore the impact and the management of artificial intelligence, data and technology on human behaviour. She previously worked for 20 years at Silicon Valley, leading a team of 100 scientists at Intel, as The New York Times reported in 2014. 

Genevieve Bell has recently presented the line of research in the 3Ai, which brings together experts in the fields of culture, technology and the environment, with the TED Talk below, entitled "6 Big Ethical Questions About the Future of AI". In this 14':48" video with subtitles, professor Bell speaks with a vey clear, educated, Australian accent and she uses academic words which might be transparent to a Spanish learner, but the cultural and engineering concepts she explains make the talk suitable for C1 students and above. I would like to thank my former student May L. for sharing this video with us.

Some of the words you can find in the video are: algorithm, to make sense of [something], AI, system.level scale, mechanization, automation, digitization, deceptively, sustainably, to research into existence, to theorize into existence, critical thinkers, critical doers, collaboratively, to frame the questions, to decolonize our imagination, work in progress, a glimpse, to gather, [fish] traps, fish holding pens, remarkable, an inspiration, meaningful, to sustain [systems], [our] legacy, a sense of purpose, a [clear] framework, an approach [of problem solving], question framing, to open up, challenges, autonomy, agency, assurance, interfaces, indicators, intent, to wander [down the street], controls, limits, a keyslot, to override [the system], trust, liablility, explicability, manageability, policy, regulation, the electrical grid, productivity, efficiency, sustainable, to articulate [a conversation], decommission, a [new] path, to draw the boundaries, to convene, a banner, cybernetics, a holistic [system], to reclaim, to accommodate, a physicist, a heady mix, expertise, diverse, to launch, a cohort [of graduates], to range, backgrounds, committed, a lone [inventor], a shared sense of purpose, owners, ceded, sacred, to pay my respects to, to dwell on [what they mean], a protracted [period of time].

If you are interested in AI and education you can listen to this podcast which includes a conversation with Professor Genevieve Bell and Dr. Amy McLennan, a research fellow at the 3Ai Institute from the New South Wales Department of Education. You can use the transcript, if you do not understand parts of the conversation.

Abelone Kelley March 01, 2021 0

Why Food Allergies are on the Rise

"Food allergies have risen to an absolutely crazy extent", according to Grahan Rook, emeritus professor of medical microbiology at University College London, and hospital admissions figures in the US, Australia and Europe, are part of the data that prove that strong statement. This BBC Future article discusses two hypotheses -the hygiene hypothesis and the dual-allergen exposure theory- that try to explain this sharp increase in food allergies around the world, and the environmental factors that affect the response of our immune system to certain products. The length, technicality and textual complexity of this article, make it suitable for C2 students.

The more interesting new words you will come across in this article are: on the rise, risky, a minor reaction, itching, swelling, a mild, severe [reaction], anaphylaxis, a state of shock, wheezing, dizziness, vomiting, pulse, blood preasure, to drop, airways, hospital admissions, [increased] threefold, to see [a 72%] rise in [the number of hospital admissions], to be aware of [food allergies], to pinpoint, self-reported data, food intolerance, prevalence, the "gold-standard" test for [a food allergy], to involve [feeding], a [clinical] setting, time-consuming, costly, to come [with risks], peer-reviewed sources, the rate, the range [of foods], to widen, to go by the name of ["the hygiene hypothesis], to give a wide berth, appalling, siblings, hay fever, eczema, declining [family size] household amenities, cleanliness, the gut, [to increase] the likelihood of [meeting] the microbiota, [born by] caesarian section, the birth canal, [an allergic] disorder, to lower the risk, to develop an allergy, to coin [a phrase], biocide-treated timber, plasterboard, to bear [no relation to], a failure, dual-allergen exposure, a detour [into], to end up with [guidance], dust, to trigger [a response], an infant, early-onset [eczema], to handle, a window of opportunity, an EpiPen, to caution [women] against [eating peanuts], pregnancy, a conclusive link, to change tack, barely, vulnerable to [food allergies], to deprive ourselves [of Vitamin D], a Goldilocks [scenario], amid [a rise in food allergy cases], to yield, promising [results].

Abelone Kelley October 31, 2020 0