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What We’re Missing in Machine Learning

03.26.18

BY DEVASHISH CHANDRA In 2017, Elon Musk commented that artificial intelligence is more dangerous than North Korea. Exponential technological growth led by artificial intelligence and machine learning has generated tremendous fear and anxiety. However, this apprehension isn’t a new one for humanity. In the 16th century, the scientific revolution, which led to the emergence of modern empirical […]

Can Blockchain Revolutionize Civic Engagement?

03.14.18

BY HAMADA ZAHAWI A year ago I was a part of a delegation from the Harvard Kennedy School competing in the Student Challenge at the World Government Summit in Dubai, UAE. Against twelve teams, we won with a pitch to incentivize civic engagement through citizen-government digital coins that directly activate the power of the people. […]

Beyond an Artificial Intelligence Magna Carta: The Role of Government in Preempting Risks

11.2.17

Artificial intelligence leaders are proposing principles to address the risks of new AI technology, but these lack legal force. Governments should take more powerful measures in order to mitigate the risks of AI.

Apprenticeships in a Shifting Economy: Nevada’s Safer Bet

09.8.17

BY ANDREW SUGRUE More than most states, Nevada suffered greatly during the recent recession. Unemployment peaked at 14 percent in 2010, housing prices had fallen 60 percent by 2011, and as of last year, GDP per capita remained at 20 percent below its pre-recession high. The state’s economy relies heavily on gaming, tourism, entertainment, hospitality […]

Restoring Economic Opportunity to Working-Class America

07.3.17

BY JOHN SCIANIMANICO David Ricardo, the father of modern-day trade theory, must be rolling in his grave. Ricardo’s doctrine of comparative advantage helps explain how the rise of international trade has benefited countries around the world. Global GDP per capita has exploded, life expectancy has increased, and billions have been lifted out of poverty. In […]

Trump’s Technology Week Stumble

06.26.17

BY MATTHEW ERIC SPECTOR President Trump’s recent “technology week” was full of contradictions. Although the administration put on airs to appeal to Silicon Valley, top CEOs, and emerging innovators, the Trump team failed to spell out concrete plans for expanding technological opportunities and closing the growing digital divide. While playing host to executives from Facebook, […]

Trafficking and Autonomous Vehicles: A Long Road Ahead

06.21.17

BY DOUG LAVEY Many hail autonomous vehicles (AV) as a life-altering innovation that will radically transform the way society transports individuals and goods. However, few resources are dedicated to the impact AVs may have on those individuals and goods that should not be transported, namely illegal human and drug trafficking. Consider the following scenarios: 1)     […]

Beyond Mobile Phones: Will Virtual Nurses and Drones Deliver Healthcare in Africa?

05.30.17

BY MARTA MILKOWSKA “This technology will save millions of patients!” This was the elated comment from the head of a tuberculosis health facility in Lesotho, in response to my prototype of a mobile phone application. Last summer, I was exploring the value of machine learning in predicting patients’ default rates in HIV and tuberculosis treatment […]

Trump’s Dance With Tech

12.22.16

BY MATTHEW E. SPECTOR The most critical activity at Trump Tower last week was not the selection of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as the president-elect’s secretary of state or the appearance of Kanye West for a short meeting about “life,” but a small, closed door meeting with 25 tech leaders with potentially dramatic implications for […]

Facing the Technological Revolution in Latin America: How to Keep the Pace?

04.20.16

An interview with Diego Molano Vega, Minister of Information Technologies and Communications of Colombia. Interviewed by Juliana Uribe Villegas Diego Molano Vega has been the Minister of Information Technologies and Communications of Colombia since 2010. In this interview, he reveals his perspective on one of the most challenging issues for the development of Latin America: […]

Skolkovo: The Moscow Suburb’s Struggle to Survive

04.14.16

BY JUSTIN REYNOLDS The bus trundled to a stop in front of a dismal looking barbed wire gate. The vodka from the previous night still featured prominently in my thoughts as I struggled to build a picture of a place I never thought I would visit: Russia.  It was the third day of a week-long […]

More Than “What”: Why Science and Technology Studies Would Benefit Policy Students

04.11.16

BY JESSICA CUSSINS The Harvard Kennedy School encourages us to ask what we can do. At a time when a U.S. government shutdown is an ongoing and legitimate concern, the importance of getting things done should not be underestimated. But as graduate students taking time away from the confines of the workplace, we are in […]

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