Think: Digital Futures

Techno-sexuality. Digi-sexuality. I-dollatry and Robophilia are new sexualities made possible by technology. So who is behind these identities? And what’s the attraction?   Featuring Dr Belinda Middleweek, Senior Lecturer in Journalism in the School of Communications at University of Technology Sydney   Music from Epidemic Sound   Produced and presented by Lawrence Bull

Ya like robo-jazz? Featured:   Dr. Richard Savery: Macquarie University Research Fellow (MQRF), Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature Produced and Presented by: Cameron M. Furlong Music: Shimon Aarhus perf. Aarhus Jazz Orchestra and Shimon (provided by Dr. Richard Savery) Faster Does It Kevin McLeod   As AI becomes more advanced and nuanced, it is inevitable that we see it entering the arts. After my conversation with Dr. Sara Oscar, I was curious to descend further down the rabbit hole of artificial creativity. Being a musician, there was no better way to challenge my beliefs of what is or isn't "music" than by exploring robot musicians. But it isn't just techno sounds and glitch, Dr. Richard Savery's robot musician Shimon can rap, sing, and play the marimba in a band.

For decades, stem cells have been the technology that’s just around the corner. The medicine that would fix just about part of the body. But stem cell injections haven’t delivered on their advertised potential. Now, thanks to ingenuity and machine learning, they'll have a shot. Featuring Dr Jiao Jiao Li, School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Technology Sydney Produced and presented by Lawrence Bull

What is 'consciousness'? Featured: Dr Mahendra Samarawickrama; Director of the Centre for Consciousness Studies, Director of the Centre for Sustainable AI Produced and Presented by: Cameron M. Furlong Music by Trev Lewis from Hagfilms, Drakensson, and TheoTer. Sourced from Freesound.org The nature of consciousness is an emerging philosophical question that has been pondered for centuries. Now, with the advent of advanced Artificial Intelligence, the ethics and implications of conscious AI is at the forefront of people's minds. However, delving into just what consciousness actually is on the grand scheme of the universe could provide insight into the unanswered questions of the universe.

Where do AI generated imagery fall in the world of art? In September 2022, Jason M. Allen controversially won first prize in the Colorado State Fair's "digital arts/digitally-manipulated photography" competition. This event sparked a growing debate in the art world and on social media over the legitimacy of AI generated artwork. Many artists are calling foul on AI art, and are vehemently opposed to its inclusion in the arts on both creative and legal grounds. However, controversy always follows new technology, one only has to take a look at the last century to see similar fierce opposition to photography's standing as "legitimate" art. To unpack the issue surrounding AI art, I spoke to someone with their foot in both worlds. Dr. Sara Oscar is a photographer and Senior Lecturer at UTS's School of Design. Her research specialises in the cultural impacts of AI and deep neural networks. Hopefully, she can shine some light on the question 'Is AI Art, 'art'? Featured: Dr. Sara Oscar: Senior Lecturer, UTS School of Design Music: Dances and Dames Kevin McLeod Faster Does It Kevin McLeod Presented and Produced by Cameron M. Furlong

All of us have our own relationship with music, for some it provides some background colour to the day, for others it’s an integral part of life. But technology has changed our relationship with music, both in how we consume it and how we collect it. While it’s easier than ever to access an enormous amount of music from every era, genre and country on Earth, has it become more difficult to forge meaningful relationships with artists and their songs? How do we keep track of a lifetime’s worth of music appreciation and listening, and is it even important that we do? Featured:  - Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences - Darren Cross, Musician Music:  Darren Cross - hONEYCOMB (10.8.5) Darren Cross - Honeeey Pot Darren Cross - Pump Up the Dole-Drums (INFINITE3) Darren Cross - S u m_m e r T a p e d (courtesy of the artist)

Advances in technology and art require a solid foundation of history in order to improve, progress and innovate. What happens when that history is tied up with copyright restrictions or only exists as an expensive artifact? With video games the highest earning entertainment products, can publishers be forgiven for protecting their investments by deciding what relics from the past we now get to discover, or should these long lost treasures be more accessible? Featured: Dr Jaime Garcia Deputy Director (T&L Engagement), Faculty of Engineering and IT, Co-director UTS Games Studio   Music:  Lexica - Albatross (courtesy of Endemic Sound) DEX - Light In Reverse (courtesy of Endemic Sound) Ben Salter - Semi- Pro Gamer (courtesy of the artist)

Do you trust a robot with your beer? Featured: Doctor Nick Bennett: Senior Lecturer, School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Danielle MacDonald: Brewer, Sydney Brewery Produced and Presented by: Cameron M. Furlong Music by Trev Lewis from Hagfilms; sourced from Freesound.org. Outro music Modern Compersion One Man Book. AI will soon have a say in how you beer tastes. Researchers at UTS are developing new brewing technologies that will be able to monitor the brewing of beer at every step of the process. This could lead to more economical and cheaper brews, and the micro-analysis of the process means that brews could be cloned to twin breweries around the world. Can an AI analyst hold a candle to the experience and intuition of a human brewer, or will their own individual strengths elevate the process?

Can a printer save a life? Featured: Professor Majid Warkiani: Biomedical Engineer, University of Technology Sydney Sajad Razavi Bazaz: Biomedical Engineer, PHD Candidate, UTS Produced and Presented by: Andrew Herlinger Music by Trev Lewis from Hagfilms, Drakensson, and TheoTer. Sourced from Freesound.org Stem cell research offers great promise in the treatment of Australians living with diseases, cancers or a physical disfigurement. But with that potential comes concerns over its tendency to being labour intensive, time consuming and expensive. As such, there is plenty of research being conducted that is looking to reduce its costs and time in a way that is both ethical and profitable for those that are investing money into this area. Think Digital Futures' Andrew Herlinger investigates.

Does your robot trust you? As research hastens to making Brain-Computer Interfaces between robots and human a reality, we ought to examine the cultural significance behind it. We must consider the definition of “trust” and how it can be applied to an interface between a robot and a human. We can easily understand how much a human trusts a robot, but have you ever considered if a robot can trust a human? Can we even consider it at all? Cameron M. Furlong investigates. Features: Distinguished Professor CT Lin, UTS School of Computer Science Doctor Chris Muller, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature Produced and Presented by: Cameron M. Furlong Music by Trev Lewis from Hagfilms, Drakensson, and TheoTer. Sourced from Freesound.org

What happens when you ask Google to tell you the truth? Featured: Associate Professor Heather Ford: Head Of Discipline Digital and Social Media, UTS Produced and Presented by: Lawrence Bull Music: Theme for Empty Stage by Luella Gren It’s never been so easy to access quick information – a third of Australian adults use virtual assistants. But are we getting the facts?

Just how representative is the world’s largest encyclopedia? Featured: Associate Professor Heather Ford: Head Of Discipline Digital and Social Media, UTS Produced and Presented by: Lawrence Bull Music: Ha-He by Just a Band The world’s biggest encyclopedia has a big problem. Female editors at Wikipedia are outnumbered by a factor of eight. Africans are underrepresented by a factor of 17.  The bias is built into the code, and that code is programming our future. If Wikipedia – one of the largest databases of information on the internet and now used to train neutral networks – is biased, then how can we rely on it be a source of balanced information? Think: Digital Futures’ producer Lawrence Bull investigates.

Are the decisions made by AI really as unbiased as we think they are? Featured: Distinguished Professor Fang Chen: Executive Director of The Data Science Institute, UTS Doctor Ben Swift: Senior Lecturer, School of Computing, ANU Produced and Presented by: Andrew Herlinger Music by Trev Lewis from Hagfilms, Drakensson, and TheoTer. Sourced from Freesound.org As AI and machine learning systems become more advanced, the more we see them enter into different aspects of our day to day lives. We may think that the mathematical functions the machine learning algorithms are trained on are free from the mortal flaw of bias human decisions are cursed by – but the unfortunate reality is that they may not be as unbiased as we want them to be. How do we ensure these digital decision makers are operating fairly? This quandary is quickly becoming a significant concern as AI driven processes become involved in choices that have far-reaching impacts on our daily lives. Think: Digital Futures’ producer Andrew Herlinger investigates.

For the last 5 years, Dr. Su and his team have been developing an electronic nose that can sense gas compound patterns in the air. The E-nose that they have developed has the capability to distinguish between different brands of whiskey, including smelling out counterfeits. However, the dream does not end there for Dr. Su. He sees potential uses for this e-nose as far as drug detection and food safety, and even as a part of a robot with the full suite of human sensors. But how does an e-nose work; how similar is it to a human nose; and can it beat out an eager set of human nostrils in a whiskey sniff test? Dr. Su has your answers.

How can AI help in ensuring gender equality in legislation? Featured: Dr. Ramona Vijeyarasa: Senior Lecturer Faculty of Law, UTS; Architect of the Gender Legislative Index The Hon. Ruth Forrest: Member of the Legislative Council of Tasmania; Independent member for Murchison Produced and Presented by: Cameron M. Furlong Music by Trev Lewis from Hagfilms, Drakensson, and TheoTer. Sourced from Freesound.org As more scrutiny is put on the type of exclusionary and gender-biased language used in legislation, law makers should be looking for ways to improve the process of creating laws. How can we know which laws need changing, and to what degree? Such a question cannot be answered by a human-powered review into every single law in existence - there is just too much to go through, and humans are inherently biased no matter how neutral they claim to be. The challenge has been set, and Dr Ramona Vijeyarasa has a solution - the Gender Legislative Index. The GLI compares legislation to global standards and gives a rating as to how biased or unbiased the law is. The GLI currently being used in 4 countries; Australia, Indonesia, The Philippines, and Sri Lanka to assess laws currently in effect. But what about future laws? Well, thanks to Ruth Forrest, the GLI may start to be directly involved in legislation passed in the Tasmanian Parliament. Hopefully, the value of the GLI is seen and its services are implemented at a Federal Level.

Most of our search for love and sex has been uploaded onto apps - for better or worse. What effect is this having on queer communities, and what are the experiences of queer people using these apps? Language warning Featuring: Paul Byron, Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Communication, UTS Eric, Former dating app user Damien, Current dating app user Producer/presenter: Josh Green Music: Epidemic sound

As technology and social media algorithms evolve faster than we can monitor them, how has our ability to empathise with others been affected? Featuring: Joshua Krook, PhD candidate, University of Adelaide. Dr Heather Ford, Head of Digital and Social Media, UTS. Brennan Hatton, CTO and co-founder of Equal Reality. Producer/presenter: Bageshri Savyasachi Music: Epidemic sound

What are the experiences of women using technology to make a baby? And how are they navigating the fertility industry online? Featuring: Natalie Hart, donor egg recipient Professor Anita Stuhmcke, faculty of law, UTS Dr Lizle Oosthuizen, reproduction medicine specialist, Cape Fertility Producer/presenter: Julia Carr-Catzel Music: Epidemic sound

In order to open up safely after two years of restricted movement, many countries are introducing COVID-19 vaccination passports. But how will this work? In this episode we look at the safety and privacy concerns of these technologies and consider how they should cater to the digitally disadvantaged. Featuring: Dr Manoranjan Mohanty, Lecturer in School of Mathematical and Physical Science at the University of Technology Sydney Dr Helen Paik, Senior Lecturer the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of News South Wales. Dr Katie Attwell, Senior Lecturer in School of Social Sciences at University of Western Australia and Lead Researcher of Coronavax: Preparing Community and Government Producer/Host: Sophie Ellis Music: Epidemic Sound