I've been thinking a lot about the information age, artificial intelligence, and how machine learning are affecting society today and it's led me to start pondering a few questions. So I thought I would write them down. Here they are in no particular order. 

• What are the implications of a truly intelligent machine? And by truly intelligent machine, I mean one that doesn't need to take directions from a human, but can instead make decisions based on the information it has gathered and the information it predicts will take place in the future. 
• There has always been talk that machines will take over everybody's job and we will all be jobless. I don't think that is completely true, and there is an excellent argument as to why that won't happen here. But I will argue that machines and software will take over many jobs that can be easily automated leading to many who don't have the correct skills or even the ability to learn those skills to suddenly be out of work. Which leads me to ask how society will deal with these types of changes? Will government have to step in with a new set of regulations or mandate a basic wage for everyone effected? 
• In what ways will machine learning really begin to help push our society forward in the future? This is a question that has really been ringing in my mind for a while. Currently there are a lot of machine learning algorithms that are used to help sell us products we may not know we want or help choose the right movies or music recommendations. But how will it be applied in fields like health, weather, logistics, supply chains, or even sports? The right creative applications in these fields will really change society and I would argue for the better. Health is an area that I think will be truly changed, especially if these apps are combined with hardware elements. Being able to collect data about ourselves and better understand the probabilities associated with certain health issues will truly revolutionize the field and help future generations live longer, healthier lives.
• How far into the information age have we transitioned from the industrial age? I would argue that we are still in the middle of the movement and that this is one of the reasons there is a lot of pain the in economy right now. We are seeing it on an almost daily basis with the types of products and services that companies are creating and how people and governments are reacting to them. Many of the past transitions have been extremely painful for everyone but we still have those movements to learn from. I would recommend this book by Carlota Perez if you want to understand what is happening now. The models she uses really help shed a light on what is happening in our current economy and why. 
• Will it be possible to create a Sentient A.I. and if so, how close to it becoming a reality is it? The answer to this question seems like a pretty good dividing line in the technology world and has already gotten some pretty big players a little nervous. I for one am very interested to know if this is even possible in this lifetime. 

As I stated above, these are just questions that are going through my mind at the moment. I don't know the answers to them yet but the direction our society is heading leads me to believe that we will begin to understand them more and more as time goes by.