Thursday
April 25, 2019
11:00am - 12:30pm

Spring 2019 Member Meeting
Workshops: Thursday, April 25

The MIT Media Lab spring 2019 member meeting is an invitation-only event. 

A Deep Dive on Research and Education with the Digital Currency Initiative

Rhys Lindmark  |  E14-244

The mission of the Digital Currency Initiative is to “empower individuals by making it as fast and easy to move value across the world as it is to move information.” More specifically, we see ourselves as public stewards to ensure that blockchain technology has a positive impact on society. To that end, this interactive workshop will explore the DCI’s current research priorities, our efforts to “build a field” of cryptocurrency technology, and our educational initiatives both at MIT and around the globe.

The Ethics of Space Exploration

Ufuoma Ovienmhada  |  E14-514b

Spending a summer vacation in lower Earth orbit is an imminent reality. Interplanetary travel to Mars may become as normal as a trip from Boston to San Francisco. Diamonds on wedding bands may one day be sourced from asteroids.

The Space Enabled group has a mission to advance justice in Earth’s complex systems. But what does justice look like in these near future milestones for space exploration? Who gets to have the final say? Designing space futures that are inclusive and equitable for all humans will take a conscious effort from a multitude of backgrounds. In this workshop, we will discuss the current state of space exploration and space legislation, then begin a dialogue about how to define justice in Earth’s complex systems.

An Update on Sleep and Dream Technologies 

Adam Haar Horowitz  |  E14-393

Sleep and dreams are suddenly in the public eye, as their crucial role in structuring daytime cognition has come to light. The Fluid Interfaces group recently invited the world's top sleep and dream scientists to the Media Lab to gauge new developments in the field and share our own work in dream engineering. This workshop will highlight opportunities that surfaced in this gathering, focusing on new nighttime augmentations, from improving memory to augmenting creativity to controlling dream content and more. 

Organizing Organizations

Catherine Havasi (w/ NeCSys)  |  E14-493

Hype aside, AI and automation hold a lot of potential to change the way organizations work and communicate—how we find each other, how we collaborate, and how we hire. Also, how do we make sure we manage the unintended consequences and ethical issues? We are exploring the idea of re-booting the MIT Media Lab's Glass Infrastructure framework to consider other possibilities. We'd love to hear your thoughts, problems, and ideas.