Future Thinking, AI & Society with Jane McGonigal and Kriti Sharma.Are you interested in the future? Who isn’t. It seems our brain however does...

Game Changer: Jane McGonigal / Kriti Sharma - Future Thinking

Location:

2 Angel Pl
2000 NSW
Australia

Venue:
City Recital Hall

Featuring

Kriti Sharma

Kriti is a leading global voice in AI and its impact on society and the future of work. She built her first robot at the age of 15 and has been building AI technologies to solve global issues ever since, from productivity to education to domestic violence. Kriti was recently named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for advancements in AI and was included in the Recode 100 list of key influencers in technology in 2017 alongside Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. She was invited as a civic leader to the Obama Foundation Summit or her work in ethical technology. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Google Grace Hopper scholar and recently advised the UK Parliament in the House of Lords on AI Policy. Kriti is frequently featured in global media such as Forbes, Fortune, BBC, Bloomberg, The Times, Financial Times and TechCrunch.

 

Jane McGonicgal

Jane McGonigal, PhD is a world-renowned designer of alternate reality games — or, games that are designed to improve real lives and solve real problems.

She believes game designers are on a humanitarian mission — and her #1 goal in life is to see a game developer win a Nobel Peace Prize.

She is the New York Times bestselling author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (Penguin Press, 2011) — and is the inventor and co-founder of SuperBetter, a game that has helped nearly half a million players tackle real-life health challenges such as depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and traumatic brain injury.

She has created and deployed award-winning games, sports and secret missions in more than 30 countries on six continents, for partners such as the American Heart Association, the International Olympics Committee, the World Bank Institute, and the New York Public Library. She specializes in games that challenge players to tackle real-world problems, such as poverty, hunger and climate change, through planetary-scale collaboration. Her best-known work includes EVOKE, Superstruct, World Without Oil, Cruel 2 B Kind, Find the Future, and The Lost Ring. These games have been featured in The New York Times, Wired, and The Economist, and on MTV, CNN, and NPR.

Jane is also a future forecaster. She is the Director of Games Research & Development at the Institute for the Future, a non-profit research group in Palo Alto, California. Her research focuses on how games are transforming the way we lead our real lives, and how they can be used to increase our resilience and well-being. Her future forecasting work has been featured in The Economist, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, O(prah) Magazine, Fast Company, The New York Times Science section, and more.

She is the founder of Gameful, “a secret headquarters for worldchanging game developers.”

She has a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in performance studies, and has consulted and developed internal game workshops for more than a dozen Fortune 500 and Global 500 Companies, including Intel, Nike, Disney, McDonalds, Accenture, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Before joining IFTF, she taught game design and game theory at UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Art Institute.

 She has appeared at TED and the New Yorker Conference, and keynoted SXSW interactive, the Game Developers Conference, the Idea Festival, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Web 2.0 Summit, UX Week, Webstock, and more. Invite her to speak to your organization or at your event. (She especially loves to travel to Asia, the UK and Scandinavia!)

She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Games for Change.

A former New Yorker, she now lives in San Francisco with her husband Kiyash and two Shetland Sheepdogs, Meche and Tsonga.

Access and Inclusion

  • Wheelchair Accessible - Access to the venue is suitable for wheelchairs (toilets, ramps/lifts etc.) and designated wheelchair spaces are available.
  • Auslan Interpreted - Auslan interpreted events are for audiences who are Deaf and use Australian Sign Language (Auslan) as their primary means of communication. Experienced Auslan theatre interpreters stand to the side of the stage and translate what the speakers are saying or Auslan signing the text and dialogue live. Audiences requiring this service are seated in the section closest to the interpreter to ensure good sightlines.
  • Hearing Loop - A hearing loop (sometimes called an audio induction loop) is a special type of sound system for use by people with hearing aids. The hearing loop provides a magnetic, wireless signal that is picked up by the hearing aid when it is set to 'T' (Telecoil) setting. Many venues have an induction hearing loop system. Check if your venue has this system.
  • Companion Card Acceptance - The Companion Card is for people with a significant permanent disability, who always need a companion to provide attendant care type support in order to participate at most available community venues and activities.

Event Details

Future Thinking, AI & Society with Jane McGonigal and Kriti Sharma.

Are you interested in the future? Who isn’t. It seems our brain however does something weird when we think about our future self. It starts acting as if you’re thinking about a completely different person.  As Director of Game Research and Development at the Institute of the Future, Jane Mc Gonigal Phd teaches How to Think Like a Futurist: Improve your Powers of Imagination, Invention and Capacity for Change at Stanford University. Jane will take you on a crash course in thinking about the near and the far-off-future as more than an exercise in intellectual curiosity, but instead an essential practical skill from which we can all benefit.

Drawing on her work as a game developer and a futurist – Jane will present a 20 minute session – How to make friends with the Future.  She asks: Can you imagine the single biggest challenge you’ll personally face five years from now? Can you picture what will be the three most important technologies in your life twenty years from now? What about the biggest challenge the world will face in fifty years? Research reveals that imagination has a direct neurological link to greater creativity, empathy, and optimism. In other words, futurist thinking gives you the ability to create change in your own life and the world around you, today. 

Jane McGonigal PhD is renowned for her work as a pioneering game designer, TED speaker and author of the New York Times bestselling books Reality is Broken and SuperBetter. After suffering a debilitating concussion that left her bedridden and suicidal, Jane decided to turn her experience into the role-play game SuperBetter. Not only did gamifying her recovery help Jane overcome her brain trauma, it has helped half a million people overturn their depression, anxiety and chronic pain.

Jane McGonigal will then be joined by Kriti Sharma.
Kriti is a leading global voice in AI and its impact on society and the future of work. She built her first robot at the age of 15 and has been building AI technologies to solve global issues ever since, from productivity to education to domestic violence. Kriti was recently named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for advancements in AI and was included in the Recode 100 list of key influencers in technology in 2017 alongside Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. Amongst other achievements, Kriti has recently advised  the UK Parliament in the House of Lords on AI Policy and was invited as a civic leader to the Obama Foundation Summit for her work in ethical technology.

Kriti is perfectly positioned to talk us through the ethics of AI and will share her insights into why there is a need for more diversity in technology – from those developing it - to those who are coding the future. The good news is that AI is within our control. We can teach AI the right values, the right ethics. We just need to act sooner rather than later.

After Kriti Sharma’s 20 minute presentation – these two pioneering women will be in conversation with Marc Fenell, Australian radio and tv broadcaster, award-winning journalist, interviewer, author and the anchor of SBS VICELAND's live nightly news show The Feed to discuss their crusade to retain the human element in a digital world.

Together, they’ll explore what sort of society are we creating with technology and who benefits? By the end of this session, you will have the practical tools you need to imagine how your life — and  the world — could be very different and use your newfound imagination to create change today. 

 

When: Sunday 3 June 5pm

Where: City Recital Hall

You can also secure a ticket with a travel package through our travel partners, Qantas and Virgin Holidays. Click here to view the deals.

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Access and Inclusion

  • Wheelchair Accessible - Access to the venue is suitable for wheelchairs (toilets, ramps/lifts etc.) and designated wheelchair spaces are available.
  • Auslan Interpreted - Auslan interpreted events are for audiences who are Deaf and use Australian Sign Language (Auslan) as their primary means of communication. Experienced Auslan theatre interpreters stand to the side of the stage and translate what the speakers are saying or Auslan signing the text and dialogue live. Audiences requiring this service are seated in the section closest to the interpreter to ensure good sightlines.
  • Hearing Loop - A hearing loop (sometimes called an audio induction loop) is a special type of sound system for use by people with hearing aids. The hearing loop provides a magnetic, wireless signal that is picked up by the hearing aid when it is set to 'T' (Telecoil) setting. Many venues have an induction hearing loop system. Check if your venue has this system.
  • Companion Card Acceptance - The Companion Card is for people with a significant permanent disability, who always need a companion to provide attendant care type support in order to participate at most available community venues and activities.