Published 26 February 2024
Michael and Michael are back in studio, inspired by an article that connects science fiction with scientific innovation leading to science fact. The post from the Interconnected blog posits that we are in the midst of a vibe shift, and that the technology is shifting from Star Trek to that from the imagination of Douglas Adams. The Games at Work team is no stranger to the works of Douglas Adams – check out the discussion with Ross Smith on e60: Bubbly Bubblers in Gamified Buildings from Sept 2013, and e105 from Feb 2015 was titled “Glad to be of Service”, or the Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses project discussed on e187: Bionic Eye from Dec 2017 to give just a couple examples.
Shifting to AI, Michael and Michael discuss the challenges many LLMs have with basic math based on a recent WSJ article, and how combining the LLM with capabilities such as WolframAlpha’s can help fix this. The pair also talk through how the idea of creating entire virtual worlds from a few lines of text is not entirely new, though the recent advances from Sora take things to an entirely new level.
Then, the co-hosts talk through how the idea of how games themselves can inspire sustainability. Michael M shares that he’ll be volunteering at the NCSSM-sponsored SMathHacks hackathon next weekend in Durham and Morganton, North Carolina, which has several sustainability inspired tracks this year.
Last, Michael and Michael focus on XR and spatial computing, starting with a repository of 3D objects on Beautifulthings. Then Michael R shares his experiences from The [Archive], which provides 3D experiences of a variety of Star Trek bridges. Check out the video below for an example. The team wrap things up for this episode with Mono, a magnifying glass that offers a new take on a mixed reality experience.
What Douglas Adams inspired technology would you most or least expect to experience? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz (our home for now) and let us know!
These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.
Selected Article Links
Holodecks and Electric Monks
Interconnected Blog: Tech has graduated from the Star Trek era to the Douglas Adams age
Technovelgy List: Douglas Adams: Science Fiction Technology and Ideas
AI
Wall Street Journal article: We Tested an AI Tutor for Kids. It Struggled With Basic Math.
The Verge article: Google pauses Gemini’s ability to generate AI images of people after diversity errors
PC-Tablet article: OpenAI’s New AI Transforms Text into Dynamic Metaverse Worlds
Games at Work e428: Is you is, or is you AIn’t my AI?
Games
Atmos article: From Pixels to Politics: How Video Games Can Inspire a Green New World
NCSSM’s SMathHacks Hackathon 2024
Kingmakers on Steam
The Verge article: Sony’s PlayStation Portal hacked to run emulated PSP games
XR
App Store: The [Archive]
App Store: Blackbox for Vision
Yanko Design post: Mixed Reality Magnifying Glass for Kids Shows the World in a Different Light
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:20 — 34.2MB) | Embed
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