"To me, Chicago is a lot like the White House. They both have a large and vibrant Russian community," former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel said at the Gridiron winter dinner. | Scott Olson/Getty Images

A FEW FUNNIES from the GRIDIRON WINTER DINNER: RAHM EMANUEL: Here we are, on December 7, the day the president reminds us that Ukraine bombed Pearl Harbor Some more about me: Im Jewish, so like Elizabeth Warren, Im a member of the tribe. To me, Chicago is a lot like the White House. They both have a large and vibrant Russian community I see cameras are banned from this event, which explains why AOC is not here

HILLARY CLINTON is now saying many, many, many people are now asking her to run. So now lets cut to the chase: are any of those people from Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania? In fact, are any of them Democrats? Joe [Biden] says he cannot remember when hes had more fun on the campaign trail. Literally: he cannot remember

SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-MO.): Im really known by most of these reporters or at least referred to by most of these reporters as unnamed source Why is it in Washington everytime someone wants to do something nefarious they go incognito, they pick suggestive names like Deep Throat, or Carlos Danger, or Pierre Delecto, or Wolf Blitzer or Carl Leubsdorf. Names you couldnt possibly get any other way besides making them up.

NOT AT THE GRIDIRON THE PRESIDENT, last night in Hollywood, Fla., at the Israeli American Councils national meeting on a Middle East peace deal, via MERIDITH MCGRAW, who was with the president: I love deals and I was told the toughest of all deals is peace with Israel and the Palestinians. But if Jared Kushner can't do it, it can't be done." Meridiths story

-- MIAMI HERALD on the Florida GOP dinner TRUMP attended: He also pulled an unusual move, bringing on stage Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance and Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, who Trump pardoned last month for cases involving war crimes. Lorance was serving a 19-year sentence for ordering his soldiers shoot at unarmed men in Afghanistan, and Golsteyn was to stand trial for the 2010 extrajudicial killing of a suspected bomb maker. Miami Herald

THE SHOOTING IN PENSACOLA

-- WAPO: Investigation broadened in Pensacola Navy base shooting, by T.S. Strickland in Pensacola, Ellen Nakashima, Joby Warrick and Hannah Knowles: FBI officials broadened their probe Saturday into the deadly shooting rampage at a Navy flight school here amid reports that several of the gunmans Saudi compatriots took video footage as the attack was underway.

Law enforcement officials combed through the shooters belongings and social media accounts on Saturday while questioning six other Saudi nationals, at least some of them fellow students in the same Navy flight training program. Three of the Saudis were said to have taken cellphone video at the scene, according to a U.S. official familiar with investigation. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing probe. WaPo

-- AP/PENSACOLA: Official: Base shooter watched shooting videos before attack: The Saudi student who fatally shot three sailors at a U.S. naval base in Florida hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday. AP

-- PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL on the victims: Airman Mohammed Sameh Hathaim, 19, from St. Petersburg, Florida. He enlisted July 18 and reported to the Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes, Illinois. He reported to Pensacola on Sept. 21 and had earned the Navy Basic Military Training Honor Graduate Ribbon.

Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, from Coffee, Alabama. He was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis who was commissioned May 24 and reported for duty in Pensacola on Nov. 15. Airman Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters, 21, from Richmond Hill, Georgia. He enlisted Sept. 16 and also reported to the Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes before he reported to Pensacola on Nov. 24. PNJ

-- NYTS DAVID SANGER in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: For Trump, Instinct After Florida Killings Is Simple: Protect Saudis: When a Saudi Air Force officer opened fire on his classmates at a naval base in Pensacola, Fla., on Friday, he killed three, wounded eight and exposed anew the strange dynamic between President Trump and the Saudi leadership: The presidents first instinct was to tamp down any suggestion that the Saudi government needed to be held to account.

Hours later, Mr. Trump announced on Twitter that he had received a condolence call from King Salman of Saudi Arabia, who clearly sought to ensure that the episode did not further fracture their relationship. On Saturday, leaving the White House for a trip here for a Republican fund-raiser and a speech on Israeli-American relations, Mr. Trump told reporters that they are devastated in Saudi Arabia, noting that the king will be involved in taking care of families and loved ones. He never used the word terrorism.

What was missing was any assurance that the Saudis would aid in the investigation, help identify the suspects motives, or answer the many questions about the vetting process for a coveted slot at one of the countrys premier schools for training allied officers. Or, more broadly, why the United States continues to train members of the Saudi military even as that same military faces credible accusations of repeated human rights abuses in Yemen, including the dropping of munitions that maximize civilian casualties.

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SUNDAY BEST NEW SCREENING OF FOREIGNERS ... CHRIS WALLACE spoke to DEFENSE SECRETARY MARK ESPER on FOX NEWS SUNDAY: ESPER: One of the first things I did yesterday, in the wake of this incident, was I spoke to my deputy secretary, the acting Navy secretary and others to say I want to immediately make sure we put out an advisory to all of our bases, installations and facilities and make sure we're taking all necessary precautions appropriate to the particular base to make sure our people are safe and secure. That's number one. Number two, I ask that we begin a review of what our screening procedures are with regard to foreign nationals coming to the United States.

ON THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE KINGDOM GEORGE STEPAHANOPOULOS spoke to REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FLA.) on ABCS THIS WEEK: GAETZ: Of course, what happened in Pensacola has to inform on our ongoing relationship with Saudi Arabia. That is the message I directly delivered to the Saudi ambassador when she called to offer her condolences.

There are Saudis that are currently with us that are being investigated, and I made the point as clearly as I possibly could that we want no interference from the kingdom as it relates to Saudis that we have, and if there are Saudis that we do not have that may have been involved in any way in the planning, inspiration, financing or execution of this, that we expect Saudi intelligence to work with our government to find the people accountable and hold them responsible.

A message from BP:

NOW FOR IMPEACHMENT

-- NEW CHUCK TODD spoke to REP. JERRY NADLER (D-N.Y.) on NBCS MEET THE PRESS. NADLER said articles of impeachment coming THIS WEEK: There will be a lot of consultations, I assume, between members of the committee, with the House leadership, with members of the House. And we'll have to make those decisions. So we'll bring articles of impeachment, presumably, before the committee at some point later in the week.

-- PERHAPS A VOTE LATER, NADLER told DANA BASH on CNNS STATE OF THE UNION: BASH: Is it possible that you are going to vote on articles of impeachment this coming week? NADLER: It's possible. I don't know. BASH: Is that your goal? NADLER: My goal is to vote -- is to do this.... BASH: In terms of the timeline. NADLER: My goal is to do it as expeditiously, but as fairly as possible, depending how long it takes.

KYLE CHENEY and DARREN SAMUELSOHN: House Dems refresh Nixon-era impeachment report for Trump: The staff of the House Judiciary Committee on Saturday issued a historic report laying the groundwork to impeach President Donald Trump, outlining in Constitutional terms what the panel believes amounts to an impeachable offense.

Chairman Jerrold Nadler described the 55-page analysis as the heir to the only similar report produced by the Judiciary Committee, which was released during the impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon. That document was updated during the Bill Clinton impeachment but not fully rewritten. The 55-page report

SCENE SETTER MARK LEIBOVICH and NICK FANDOS on NYT, A1: Behind the Scenes of Impeachment: Crammed Offices, Late Nights, Cold Pizza: In cramped spaces in the Rayburn and Longworth House Office Buildings, as well as the speakers suite, the final articles of impeachment are being incubated in the shadow of the Capitol dome. It is a frantic backstage tableau of Washington anthropology, populated by Judiciary and Intelligence Committee aides, lawmakers and counsels hunched over computer screens and yellow legal pads.

History can get cluttered sometimes. The rooms are littered with empty soda cans, pie leftover from Thanksgiving and boxes pulled from shelves containing files from past impeachments. There are recurrent calls for tech support, caffeine and blankets, because the rooms can get cold, like the pizza. With so much grand talk about constitutional duties and respecting the founders and honoring oaths, there is also the mundane and the workaday. NYT

ALSO FROM MATT GAETZ on THIS WEEK On RUDY GIULIANIS trip to UKRAINE: It is weird that he's over there. REP. MARK MEADOWS said this to DANA BASH on CNNS STATE OF THE UNION: I don't know that any role -- I don't know of any role that Rudy Giuliani is playing on behalf of the president of the United States. I think he's over there as a citizen. I think part of that is probably trying to clear his name.

SNEAK PEEK THE PRESIDENTS WEEK: Monday: PRESIDENT TRUMP will have lunch with VP MIKE PENCE, and will participate in a roundtable on empowering families with education choice Tuesday: THE PRESIDENT will travel to Hershey, Pa., for a political rally. Wednesday: THE PRESIDENT will go to the ceremonial swearing in of Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, and he will host a Hanukkah reception.

Thursday: THE PRESIDENT will speak at the White House Summit on Child Care and Paid Leave: Supporting Americas Working Families, and will attend the Congressional Ball. Friday: The president of PARAGUAY will be at the White House.

A message from BP:

Good Sunday morning. SPOTTED: Hillary Clinton at Politics and Prose on Connecticut Avenue Saturday evening. Photos, via Kate Woodsome

HARTFORD COURANT FRONT PAGE: Low-profile prosecutor leads high-profile hunt: John Durham of Connecticut digs into origin of Trump collusion claims

A DAN DIAMOND CLASSIC: Medicare chief asked taxpayers to cover stolen jewelry: A top Trump health appointee sought to have taxpayers reimburse her for the costs of jewelry, clothing and other possessions, including a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, that were stolen while in her luggage during a work-related trip, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.

Seema Verma, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, filed a $47,000 claim for lost property on Aug. 20, 2018, after her bags were stolen while she was giving a speech in San Francisco the prior month. The property was not insured, Verma wrote in her filing to the Health and Human Services department.

The federal health department ultimately reimbursed Verma $2,852.40 for her claim, a CMS spokesperson said. Vermas claim included $43,065 for about two dozen pieces of jewelry, based off an appraisal she'd received from a jeweler about three weeks after the theft. Among Verma's stolen jewelry was an Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, made of gold, prasiolite and diamonds, that Vermas jeweler valued at $5,900.

Vermas claim also included about $2,000 to cover the cost of her stolen clothes and another $2,000 to cover the cost of other stolen goods, including a $325 claim for moisturizer and a $349 claim for noise-cancelling headphones.

FRONT PAGE OF THE LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER: Bevin mum on contract to investigate Steve Beshear

2020 WATCH

-- WAPOS DAN BALZ: Will impeachment be forgotten by November 2020? Dont be so sure.

-- BOSTON GLOBES JAMES PINDELL: Tiny Dixville Notch may see its midnight tradition disappear: [W]ith the 2020 New Hampshire presidential primary less than 10 weeks away, it is increasingly likely that the Dixville Notch tradition is dead, victim of a shrinking population too small to meet the legal threshold of five residents to be a polling place.

It is what it is, said Tom Tillotson, one of four residents of Dixville Notch, the town moderator and son of the creator of the midnight voting concept in the unincorporated town. This is obviously not what I wanted to see happen.

The probable demise of the Dixville tradition comes as the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary is fading in other ways. The small house parties, face-to-face glad handing, and herculean efforts to secure endorsements from small-town officials have given way to national polls, cable-TV debates, and rock-star candidates who command arenas from day one. Boston Globe Front page PDF

-- WAPO: Mike Bloombergs money buys him a very different kind of campaign. And its a big one, by Isaac-Stanley Becker and Michael Scherer, with an Augusta, Ga., dateline: After two weeks in the presidential race, Mike Bloomberg now employs one of the largest campaign staff rosters, has spent more money on ads than all the top-polling Democrats combined and is simultaneously building out ground operations in 27 states.

But when the former New York mayor showed up to get the endorsement of Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. on Friday, only two of the 10 chairs initially placed before the lectern were occupied. When Bloomberg joked about his college years, saying he was one of the students who made the top half of the class possible, he was met by silence.

Youre supposed to laugh at that, folks, Bloomberg said to a room at the citys African American history museum filled mostly with staff and media. For a normal presidential campaign, such moments would be a worrying sign, a potentially viral metaphor for a struggling effort. But with the Bloomberg campaign, it is not at all clear what established rules apply, if any. Everything he is doing is so unlike what has been done for decades that it is difficult to decipher how voters will react. WaPo

THE PRESIDENTS SUNDAY THE PRESIDENT and first lady are scheduled to attend a Childrens Reception at 12:30 p.m. in the Blue Room.

PHOTO DU JOUR: A U.S. Marine stands in front of the USS Missouri on Saturday, during a ceremony to mark the 78th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. | Caleb Jones/AP Photo

TOP-ED KATIE HILL in the NYT: Its Not Over After All: I overcame the desperation I felt after stepping down from Congress, and Im still in the fight.

BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman (@dlippman):

-- Video Games and Online Chats Are Hunting Grounds for Sexual Predators, by NYTs Nellie Bowles and Michael H. Keller: Criminals are making virtual connections with children through gaming and social media platforms. One popular site warns visitors, Please be careful. NYT

-- Why Mike Posner Walked Across America, by Caitlin Giddings in Outside Magazine: Years after he took that pill in Ibiza, Grammy nominee Mike Posner left behind his life in L.A. to go on a 2,851-mile journey in search of... something. Heres what he learned about grief, motivation, struggle, and authenticity. Outside

-- The Epic Rise and Hard Fall of New Yorks Taxi King, by NYTs Brian M. Rosenthal: A Russian immigrant and a cabdrivers son who got his nickname by building the citys biggest fleet, [Evgeny A.] Freidman was a primary architect of some of the tactics used to build the bubble ... At the height of the market, he had accumulated $525 million in assets. He befriended the filmmaker Spike Lee, the baseball star Mo Vaughn and Mayor Bill de Blasio. His outsize antics and lavish spending often landed him on Page Six, the New York Posts gossip column. NYT

-- The Octopus from Outer Space, by James Ross Gardner in Seattle Met per Longreads.coms description: Gardner explores the Pacific Northwests evolving relationship with the octopus and how theyve gone from dangerous devil-fish bent on drowning unsuspecting sea goers to intensely curious, suction-cupped wonders. With nine brains one in their head and one in each of their eight arms octopuses are thought to be the most intelligent invertebrates on earth, capable of deep connection with humans. Seattle Met

-- The confession, by WaPos Peter Jamison in Bean Blossom, Ind.: Heil Trump and an anti-gay slur were scrawled on an Indiana church right after Trumps election. The investigation led to an unlikely suspect and the discovery of a hate crime hoax. WaPo

-- The New China Scare, by Fareed Zakaria in Foreign Affairs: The United States risks squandering the hard-won gains from four decades of engagement with China, encouraging Beijing to adopt confrontational policies of its own, and leading the worlds two largest economies into a treacherous conflict of unknown scale and scope that will inevitably cause decades of instability and insecurity. A cold war with China is likely to be much longer and more costly than the one with the Soviet Union, with an uncertain outcome. Foreign Affairs (hat tip: TheBrowser.com)

-- An Unbelievable Story of Rape, by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong in ProPublica and the Marshall Project in Dec. 2015: An 18-year-old said she was attacked at knifepoint. Then she said she made it up. Thats where our story begins. ProPublica

-- How Racism Ripples Through Rural Californias Pipes, by NYTs Jose A. Del Real in Teviston, Calif.: In the 20th century, Californias black farmworkers settled in waterless colonies. The history endures underground, through old pipes, dry wells and shoddy septic tanks. NYT

-- Hippie Inc: how the counterculture went corporate, by Nat Segnit in the Dec./Jan. issue of 1843 Magazine: Half a century on from the summer of love, marijuana is big business and mindfulness a workplace routine. Nat Segnit asks how the movement found itself at the heart of capitalism. 1843 (h/t Longform.org)

-- How Ring Went From Shark Tank Reject to Americas Scariest Surveillance Company, by Caroline Haskins in Vice: Amazon's Ring started from humble roots as a smart doorbell company called DoorBot. Now its surveilling the suburbs and partnering with police. Vice

-- The False Promise of Morning Routines, by The Atlantics Marina Koren: Why everyones mornings seem more productive than yours. Atlantic

-- Your Honor, Can I Tell The Whole Story? by Nick Chrastil in The Atavist: To read the transcript of Erin Hunters trial, which runs all of 81 pages and can be digested in half an hour, is to encounter a disregard for human dignity instrumental in producing the most sprawling system of incarceration in the world. Atavist (h/t Longform.org)

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.

SPOTTED at a book party for Tom Rosenstiels book, Oppo: A Novel ($26.64 on Amazon): Ruth Marcus, E.J. Dionne, Luke Albee, John Podesta, Jon Leibowitz, Len Downie, Amanda Bennett, Mike McCurry, J.J. Yore, Alan Miller, John Gomperts, Tamera Luzzatto, David Leiter and Jon Haber.

SPOTTED at Microsofts Suhail Khans 50th birthday party at Union Stage at the Wharf on Saturday night: Grover Norquist, Jim Rowland, Glynda Becker, Wil Gravatt, Ximena Barreto, Susan Benhoff, Travis Korson, David Ferguson, Rebecca Furdek, Tania Mercado, Grace Morgan and Geoff Smith.

TRANSITION -- Anthony Ornato will be deputy chief of staff for operations at the White House. He previously was deputy assistant director for the Secret Service.

ENGAGED -- Kara Voght, a national politics reporter at Mother Jones, and Ben Cushing, a campaign representative at the Sierra Club, got engaged Saturday night at the Line Hotel. The couple, who met on Bumble, have been dating for two years. Pic

BIRTHDAYS: Ann Coulter is 58 Sabrina Siddiqui, WSJ reporter and CNN political analyst Kerri Kupec, director of public affairs at DOJ former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim is 6-0 Aaron Kissel, POLITICOs VP of product, is 45 (h/t Patrick Steel) APs Pablo Martinez Monsivais Debra Saunders, Las Vegas Review-Journal White House correspondent Judd Legum Brooke Lorenz, senior manager for communications at CBS Rachel Sklar Lizzie OLeary (h/ts Ben Chang) Marc Burstein, senior executive producer at ABC News POLITICOs Annie Yu and Danica Stanciu ... Ginny Badanes, director of strategic projects for cybersecurity and democracy at Microsoft ... Brie Sachse, managing director and head of state and local external affairs at Siemens ... Cayman Clevenger Nick Colvin

Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner, NBC News White House producer Jena Baker McNeil Preston Hill Steve Bouchard (h/t Jon Haber) former Rep. Ral Labrador (R-Idaho) is 52 Stephen Spaulding, elections counsel for the House Administration Committee ... Kevin Carski ... BBCs Samantha Granville ... P. Lynn Scarlett Honey Sharp (h/t son Daniel Lippman) Sylvester Okere Courtney Johnson Luis Rosero Karen Keller of FP1 Strategies and PLUS Communications B.R. McConnon of DDC Emily Leaman Solange Uwimana Alison (Matarazzo) Edwards Jen Minton Anna Miller Tom Bush Austin James Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is 66 Jeff Neubauer Jackie Gran Nancy Balz (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) Randy Altschuler is 49

Originally posted here:

POLITICO Playbook: Inside the Gridiron - Politico

Fans of Ridley Scotts 1982 masterpiece Blade Runner returned to cinemas last month for an unusual milestone: history catching up with science fiction.

Blade Runner opens in Los Angeles, in November 2019. Furnaces burst flames into the perennial night and endless rain. Flying cars zoom by. The antihero film-noir detective, Deckard (Harrison Ford) has seen too much, drinks too much, and misses his mother between retiring replicants.

As in Back to the Future day, (October 21, 2015), which marked Marty McFlys journey into the future in the 1989 film, the Blade Runner screenings came with a flurry of discussion about what the filmmakers got right and wrong. Environmental collapse, yes. But where are our flying cars?

So: what now that the future is here?

Our current versions of near future stories - namely the television series Black Mirror (now on Netflix) and SBSs Years and Years - explore more extreme versions of the present.

Charlie Brookers Black Mirror is an anthology of standalone episodes, produced between 2011 and 2019, each set in a slightly different, undated, near future.

Years and Years, written by Russell T. Davies, bravely spans 2019 to 2034 with each episode leaping forward a few years through striking montages of fictional news events: the collapse of the European Union, the US leaving the United Nations, catastrophic flooding, mass migration, widespread homelessness.

We are in a very familiar world. The near is depicted in a realistic way through identifiable locations, documentary-style visuals, news footage, and lifelike dialogue.

Back in the real world, the future in the 21st century is unfolding in the palm of our hands. Elections are won and lost on social media, Sydney is covered in smoke. The rate at which technology is altering our lives is rivalled only by the rate were transforming our planet.

These shows explore these rates of change. In a 2016 episode of Black Mirror, Nosedive, every interpersonal interaction becomes a transaction: an extreme version of Uber Ratings with Chinas Social Credit System.

Read more: Chinas Social Credit System puts its people under pressure to be model citizens

Lacie (Bryce Dallas Howard) is an ambitious young professional excited by the opportunities higher ratings open up, such as discounts on luxury apartments, but being pleasant to her barista and workmates only gets her so far. So begins a perilous spiral of trying too hard to be liked, echoing the personality-as-product phenomenon of social media influencers around the world.

The standalone episode format of Black Mirror means it can be challenging to develop empathy for characters, consequently the interest often rests on the single concept or final twist. The episode Striking Vipers explores the possibility of extra-marital love between best mates in Virtual Reality; Hang the DJ envisions dating apps as an authoritarian apparatus.

Most episodes are neatly wrapped up for viewers to escape to for pure entertainment but also to escape from each dystopian possibility.

In Years and Years, we follow one Mancunian family over 19 years. The series opens with Trump re-elected for a second term. In the UK, the unconventional populist Four Star Party, led by straight-speaking Vivienne Rook (Emma Thompson), rides to success on the back of social instability.

Sci-fi concepts are introduced early on so we can explore their evolution and implications. In the first episode, teenager Bethany declares herself trans. As progressive parents, Stephen and Celeste immediately comfort their child, who they presume is transsexual.

Bethany shrugs, Im not transsexual Im transhuman. A concept not lost on Blade Runner fans who may be aware of transhumanist gatherings in Los Angeles in the 1980s, transhumanism is premised on the idea that humans have breached evolutionary constraints through science and technology. Biology is a restriction to the possibility of eternal life.

Read more: Super-intelligence and eternal life: transhumanism's faithful follow it blindly into a future for the elite

Disgust and dismay ensue from parents unable to comprehend why their child wants to rid her flesh and live forever as data. Through the course of the series we see how Bethanys transhuman ambitions influence her personal relationships, health, career trajectory, and political activism.

It even starts to feel normal.

Years and Years delicately resists portraying a dystopia, allowing room for technology to demonstrate a positive influence on society. Seor, the ubiquitous virtual assistant, connects the Lyons family whenever they wish. Like Alexa or Siri, Seor is always at hand to answer questions but more importantly, facilitates an intimacy that could easily be lost to technological isolation.

In 2029, grandmother Muriel digs up the dusty digital assistant Seor because she misses its company. By now, virtual assistants are embedded into the walls and omnipresent digital cloud but the Luddite grandmother resists.

I like having something to look at, Im not talking to the walls like Shirley Valentine, she says.

Its moments like these that remind us of our agency over technology and hint at its revolutionary potential to connect us all.

While classics like Blade Runner looked to the future to ignite our technological desires, near-future fiction reveals how new technologies are injected into our lives with little choice as to whether we should adopt them and little thought to their long-term appropriateness and sustainability.

These shows ask us to be critical of what might seem like minor developments in technology and politics. In an age of rapidly changing political landscapes and the climate catastrophe, it can feel like we are approaching the final frontier. In creating stories set in the near, instead of the far, future, science fiction provides valuable lessons for the present.

In other words: the choices we fail to stand up for in the near-future may prevent us from having a distant future at all.

See original here:
How our screen stories of the future went from flying cars to a darker version of now - The Conversation AU

Photo by Frank V. via Unsplash

Alexa seems to know what I want to watch and when, Google search seems to know my wishes too when I search for my favorite restaurant online and perhaps even more interesting is that even the success of my 401(k) investments will ultimately be influenced by artificial intelligence (AI) that seemingly is becoming more real by the day.

There are a growing number of hedge fund managers even who rely on AI to outperform the market and to complete trades faster than our human mind can contemplate. They tend to exponentially outperform their non-AI counterparts with super-human ability.

So when one reads about the idea of an AI God that gained steam a couple of years ago, when self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski opened The Way of the Future Church, it seems as though the future has easily slipped into our present day-to-day activities in the blink of an eye.

According to The Way of the Future Churchs website, it is a movement about creating a peaceful and respectful transition of who is in charge of the planet from people to people plus machines. It is about something called the singularity point a point in time that is fast approaching when machine intelligence will surpass that of its human makers. Remember The Matrix trilogy, anyone?

The classic line by the films hero, Neo, comes to mind: Ever have that feeling where youre not sure if youre awake or dreaming? Thats a whole other Silicon Valley philosophy that we are merely in a simulation. But thats another topic, entirely.

The idea of people and machines being in charge, however, seems far from comforting and far removed from a Lutheran ideal of grace in removing God from the equation altogether.

This month Lutheran theologian Ted Peters dives into many of the thorny issues related to artificial intelligence and how some in the transhumanism community view it as a way of advancing our humanity beyond our physical bodies.

Countless movies and T.V. shows have taken on this topic including a popular Netflix series called Altered Carbon, where society simply views physical bodies as sleeves for ones uploaded consciousness that can be slotted over and over again into new bodies. Of course, there are problems and ethical dilemmas that give way to a dramatic story line.

Still, technology always seems to have a way making us feel smarter (thanks Google!) and almost invincible. That in its own right can be problematic, which is some of what Peters writes about this month.

Whether it is a new medical device, an app on your smart phone or even your Wifi connectivity, it is well worth remembering all have a piece of Gods very creation within it as do the technology developers who creatively make the invisible, visible every day.

Considering technology as our ultimate savior and life-giver sans God is what is at issue. Worshipping a powerful algorithmic God is short sighted too as we realize that even within the code itself there is the hand of a human being created in the image of a loving God who in turn supports the human intellect that ultimately wants to surpass itself.

Editor

Susan is an author with a long-time interest in religion and science. She currently edits Covalence, the Lutheran Alliance for Faith, Science and Technologys online magazine. She has written articles in The Lutheran and the Zygon Center for Religion and Science newsletter. Susan is a board member for the Center for Advanced Study of Religion and Science, the supporting organization for the Zygon Center and the Zygon Journal. She also co-wrote Our Bodies Are Selves with Dr. Philip Hefner and Dr. Ann Pederson.

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Living in the real AI world - Covalence

12/12/2019 Just imagine you had a chess computer the auto-sensor kind. Would someone who had no knowledge of the game be able to work it out, just by moving pieces. Or imagine you are a very powerful computer. By looking at millions of images of chess games would you be able to figure out the rules and learn to play the game proficiently? The answer is yes because that has just been done by Google's Deep Mind team. For chess and 76 other games. It is interesting, and slightly disturbing. | Graphic: DeepMind

ChessBase 15 - Mega package

Find the right combination! ChessBase 15 program + new Mega Database 2020 with 8 million games and more than 80,000 master analyses. Plus ChessBase Magazine (DVD + magazine) and CB Premium membership for 1 year!

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In 1980 the first chess computer with an auto response board, the Chafitz ARB Sargon 2.5, was released. It was programmed by Dan and Kathe Spracklen and had a sensory board and magnet pieces. The magnets embedded in the pieces were all the same kind, so that the board could only detect whether there was a piece on the square or not. It would signal its moves with LEDs located on the corner of each square.

Chafitz ARB Sargon 2.5 | Photo:My Chess Computers

Some years after the release of this computer I visited the Spracklens in their home in San Diego, and one evening had an interesting discussion, especially with Kathy. What would happen, we wondered, if we set up a Sargon 2.5 in a jungle village where nobody knew chess. If we left the people alone with the permanently switched-on board and pieces, would they be able to figure out the game? If they lifted a piece, the LED on that square would light up; if they put it on another square that LED would light up briefly. If the move was legal, there would be a reassuring beep; the square of a piece of the opposite colour would light up, and if they picked up that piece another LED would light up. If the original move wasnt legal, the board would make an unpleasant sound.

Our question was: could they figure out, by trial and error, how chess was played? Kathy and I discussed it at length, over the Sargon board, and in the end came to the conclusion that it was impossible they could never figure out the game without human instructions. Chess is far too complex.

Now, three decades later, I have to modify our conclusion somewhat: maybe humans indeed cannot learn chess by pure trial and error, but computers can...

You remember how AlphaGo and AlphaZero were created, by Google's DeepMind division. The programs Leela and Fat Fritz were generated using the same principle: tell an AI program the rules of the game, how the pieces move, and then let it play millions of games against itself. The program draws its own conclusions about the game and starts to play master-level chess. In fact, it can be argued that these programs are the strongest entities to have ever played chess human or computer.

Now DeepMind has come up with a fairly atrocious (but scientifically fascinating) idea: instead of telling the AI software the rules of the game, just let it play, using trial and error. Let it teach itself the rules of the game, and in the process learn to play it professionally. DeepMind combined a tree-based search (where a tree is a data structure used for locating information from within a set) with a learning model. They called the project MuZero. The program must predict the quantities most relevant to game planning not just for chess, but for 57 different Atari games. The result: MuZero, we are told, matches the performance of AlphaZero in Go, chess, and shogi.

And this is how MuZero works (description from VenturBeat):

Fundamentally MuZero receives observations images of a Go board or Atari screen and transforms them into a hidden state. This hidden state is updated iteratively by a process that receives the previous state and a hypothetical next action, and at every step the model predicts the policy (e.g., the move to play), value function (e.g., the predicted winner), and immediate reward (e.g., the points scored by playing a move)."

Evaluation of MuZero throughout training in chess, shogi, Go, and Atari the y-axis shows Elo rating| Image: DeepMind

As the DeepMind researchers explain, one form of reinforcement learning the technique in which rewards drive an AI agent toward goals involves models. This form models a given environment as an intermediate step, using a state transition model that predicts the next step and a reward model that anticipates the reward. If you are interested in this subject you can read thearticle on VenturBeat,or visit the Deep Mind site. There you can read this paper on the general reinforcement learning algorithm that masters chess, shogi and Go through self-play. Here's an abstract:

The game of chess is the longest-studied domain in the history of artificial intelligence. The strongest programs are based on a combination of sophisticated search techniques, domain-specific adaptations, and handcrafted evaluation functions that have been refined by human experts over several decades. By contrast, the AlphaGo Zero program recently achieved superhuman performance in the game of Go by reinforcement learning from self-play. In this paper, we generalize this approach into a single AlphaZero algorithm that can achieve superhuman performance in many challenging games. Starting from random play and given no domain knowledge except the game rules, AlphaZero convincingly defeated a world champion program in the games of chess and shogi (Japanese chess), as well as Go.

That refers to the original AlphaGo development, which has now been extended to MuZero. Turns out it is possible not just to become highly proficient at a game by playing it a million times against yourself, but in fact it is possible to work out the rules of the game by trial and error.

I have just now learned about this development and need to think about the consequences discuss it with experts. My first somewhat flippant reaction to a member of the Deep Mind team: "What next? Show it a single chess piece and it figures out the whole game?"

See more here:

MuZero figures out chess, rules and all - Chessbase News

The entire written works of mankind in all languages from the beginning of recorded history is around 50 petabytes. One petabyte is about 20 million four drawer filing cabinets filled with text. Google processes about 20 petabytes per day so in three days they would have processed everything we have written ever. Meanwhile, data centres now annually consume as much energy as Sweden. By 2025 theyll consume a fifth of all of Earths power.

For some, this is a revolution being able to store and recall information at the touch of a button. For others, it is 1984 with Big Brother being able to record and recall your every move. But just what can we expect from technology in the future be it within our working life or leisure time?

We are now in the fourth industrial revolution.Technologies will revolutionise, empower, turbo-charge life as we know it. From changing economies to helping cure illnesses, technology can already allow us to translate in real time while on business calls to turn on our heating remotely on our way home from work.

A new race of superhumans is coming with Alphabet owned, DeepMind having already shown us how these superhumans can outwit not only humans, but other lesser tech with AlphaZero, an Artificial Intelligence project set against Stockfish, a Japanese chess program. Not only did it beat the program, it showed an unnerving amount of human intuition about how it played. As the New York Times commented: intuitively and beautifully, with a romantic, attacking style. It played gambits.

Closer to home, organisations across the globe are using VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality), MR (mixed reality), XR (mixed reality environment) and VR/360 to create experiential customer/user experiences.

The value of the AR industry for video games is $11.6bn. However, it is also valued at $5.1bn in healthcare, $4.7bn in engineering and $7m in education far from the entertainment tech it once was it is now a power being utilised for the greater good. 5G has the potential to revolutionise allowing super high definition content to be delivered to mobile devices while super realistic AR and VR immersive experiences will transform our experience of education, news and entertainment.

So, if robots are now able to think quicker and sharper than us and predict our nuances, whats next and how can it be used from an organisational point of view? Artificial intelligence can already predict your personality simply by tracking your eyes. Findings show that peoples eye movements reveal whether they are sociable, conscientious or curious, with the algorithm software reliably recognising four of the big five personality traits neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness.

As Yuval Noah Harrari in Homo Deus comments, Soon, books will be able to read you while you read them. If Kindle is upgraded with face recognition and biometric sensors, it can know what made you laugh, what made you sad and what made you angry.

This means that job interviews can be undertaken with the blink of an eye (literally) as one scan of a computer could tell potential employers if the interviewee has the relevant traits for the job. Criminal psychologists can read those under scrutiny faster and help solve crimes quicker with biometric sensors pointing towards dishonesty and those lacking in empathy.

Knowledge is power. And technology can create this knowledge. From using biometrics and health statistics from your Fitbit and phone it can show your health predispositions, levels of fitness and wellbeing and personality traits and tendencies from sleep patterns and exercise and nutritional information.

However, it can also go one step further, your DNA and biometrics such as the speed of your heartbeat can indicate whether you have just had an increase in activity so that could mean physical, sexual or other types of excitement, your sugar levels can indicate lifestyle choices and harmful habits.

This could mean office politics are a thing of the past as HR managers could build teams based on DNA proven personalities as well as skill sets. And promotions could be scientific allowing those with more leadership personalities to be placed in leadership positions quicker and those with more subservient traits being part of a team.

With the development of neural lace, an ultra-thin mesh that can be implanted in the skull to monitor brain function, and eventually nano-technology we will be able to plug our own brains directly into the cloud allowing software to manage mundane high volume data processing and freeing our brains to think more creatively with significantly more power perhaps to the 1000x. Which as Singularity Hubs Raya Bidshahri points out raises the question, with all this enhancement, what does I feel like anymore?

From an organisational point of view, it could mean information and data we store such as recall and memory from meetings and research could automatically be downloaded freeing up more of our brain power to problem solve and allow us to think more creatively and smarter than our human form has ever allowed before.

So, what does this advancement of tech mean for the business of the future? Who really knows? However, what is sure is that whatever your business sector, size or region you should ensure you are at the very least aware of the latest advancements and always be ready to embrace them into your business, work with agencies that have an eye on the insights to the future, because sooner, exponentially sooner, the future will be now.

Whether you believe technology is the creator or all things good or all things evil, there is no doubt it will change our landscape forever. From our formative steps into the digital world to the leaps and bounds of the future, the force will be with you.

Interested in hearing leading global brands discuss subjects like this in person?

Find out more aboutDigital Marketing World Forum (#DMWF) Europe, London, North America, and Singapore.

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From AR to AI: The emerging technologies marketers can explore to enable and disrupt - Marketing Tech

Residents of Hunterdon County no longer have to sacrifice the comfort of their bedrooms to enter a room carrying books that number in the thousands.

The Hunterdon County Library has digitized the concept of a physical reading room through the creation of specialized eReading Rooms, through which library card holders can browse and borrow over 5,000 Romance, Kids, Mystery or Teen ebooks or audiobooks from any major computer, tablet or mobile device.

Courtesy

Libby Explore page

Within the eReading rooms, each of these genres are broken down into a sub-genre to better direct readers to the source material for which they are searching.

For example, the Romance eReading Room includes titles categorized under New Romance, Highlander Romance and Paranormal Romance.

Courtesy

Paranormal Romance titles

All Hunterdon County residents with library cards can access these rooms from their own technological devices.

They can also access them via desktops available at any one of the three county libraries located in Clinton, Ringoes and Flemington or its seven affiliate libraries located in Bunnvale, Frenchtown, High Bridge, Holland, Readington, Tewksbury and Three Bridges.

The eReading Rooms are accessed through Libby, the one-tap reading application developed from OverDrive.

Courtesy

Libby landing page

According to Cortney Frank, emerging technologies librarian for the Adult Service Department at the county library headquarters in Flemington, eReading Rooms add more of a personal touch to the digital borrowing experience.

(It) mimics a physical space for you to be able to walk through and browse," Frank said. The digital checkouts are the same as the physical checkouts would be. (The eReading Rooms) treat the books like a physical item thats in your possession.

This personal touch is dually apparent in the weeks that Frank, who began working as a librarian for the county headquarters location in September, committed to creating the eReading Rooms.

Prior to launching the eReading Rooms in mid-October, Frank ran reports compiling lists of available ebooks and audiobooks and altered their organization to manually categorize them into the appropriate genres and sub-genres.

I took a look at what we have and tried to figure out a way to divvy it up and to service it to our patrons in a way that made sense and thats easy to digest," Frank said. It takes a little bit of extra legwork to place things in their categories, but I feel that its effective on the user-end, because you could just see everything that appeals to you, and browse, and find what youre looking for.

Frank added that she would also make adjustments if the reports seemed incomplete, or if they lacked various notable titles.

If I take a look at that list and I say, 'I think were missing some heavy hitters here, I can go back and manually add things (to the eReading Room)," Frank said.

The creation of the eReading Rooms mirrors the increasing number of Hunterdon County residents taking advantage of the libraries resources. The number of yearly checkouts from the county libraries and their affiliates has increased from 24,678 in 2014 to 76,671 in 2019, and, in the same timeframe, users borrowing books digitally from 4,539 to 18,596.

These numbers illustrate Franks description of digital lending as a growing trend that continues to gather momentum.

The day I rolled out the eReading Rooms, people were borrowing from it, Frank said. And as were promoting it more and spending a little bit more time on it, people are noticing, and theyre checking out more stuff. So its really gratifying to me to see how instant the response is."

Assistant Director for the Hunterdon County Library headquarters location Jennifer Winberry partially credited the success of the eReading Rooms to county residents increasing reluctance to physically check out books.

The big piece is you have to return (the book). You have to bring it back here, Winberry said.

Echoing Winberry, Frank described the digital borrowing experience as frictionless.

You can do it from home, you can do it without talking to anyone, and then, at the end of the lending period, this item just disappears from your device. We pull it back," Frank said.

Courtesy

Libby notifications page

According to Frank, the universal accessibility of eReading Rooms is especially enticing to homebound individuals.

Ive talked on the phone with people who physically arent able to come in anymore, but who are still avid readers," Winberry said. So I always ask, What is it that you like reading? Do I have your authors? Do I have what youre interested in? And if I dont, then I try to place orders that will satisfy their needs, and Ill go over the steps with them.

Winberry added that the eReading Rooms have the additional benefit of being available to users 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

(The eReading Rooms) are always open," Winberry said. "When we close early for snow, or on a day were not open, or midnight when youre up with the baby, theyre available.

While expressing an interest in increasing the number of books available in the eReading Rooms, Frank emphasized that their expansion is strictly dependent on whether or not there is an increasing demand for it from readers.

Demand is illustrated by the librarys holds list, or a list monitoring physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks requested by county residents that are either not available or accessible through the library or are currently checked out by other individuals.

So as (the eReading Rooms) gain popularity and we see more holds numbers that are really through the roof, then well have to figure out how to accommodate that in our budget and how to add more titles to the service, Frank explained.

Frank urged Hunterdon County residents interested in improving library resources including and beyond the eReading Rooms to complete the librarys online survey.

(The survey) is a big deal. I want to know, Am I picking titles that youre interested in? Is there something more that I could do to meet your needs? Frank said. I really can only cater to people who tell me what they want.

Despite her eagerness to better serve the public, Frank expressed her belief that the addition of digital content resources like eReading Rooms demonstrate a big piece of that.

Theres no late fees, theres no risk. So it really is just easy. The whole thing is intended to just be completely seamless and simple, Frank said.

Caroline Fassett can be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com.

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Hunterdon County Library welcomes digital borrowers to its new online reading rooms - NJ.com

A prisoner re-entry program in place for a decade at the Long Branch public library is going statewide due to a nearly $630,000 federal grant received by the New Jersey State Library.

The Fresh Start @ Your Library program is designed to assist people who are released from prison transition back into society by having social workers available to help them find jobs, line up housing and complete other tasks such as getting a drivers license.

Re-entry centers are being added at the Atlantic City, Newark, Paterson and Trenton public libraries and the Cumberland County Library in Bridgeton. In the programs second year, it is expected to expand into Philadelphia.

J. Johndi Harrell, the program manager, said the program is a partnership between the State Library, Parole Board and Department of Labor and Workforce Development and works because the assessments of each persons needs are highly individualized.

Long Branch has been a model for that, Harrell said. We really believe that it cannot only be the model for the local libraries of New Jersey but across the country. This is a very dynamic concept.

Peggy Cadigan, deputy state librarian for innovation and strategic partnerships, said libraries are the perfect place to do this because they serve as a community anchor.

Libraries are providing this kind of service already. Weve been providing employment help and other social service help for people who need that assistance, Cadigan said.

Were a nonthreatening place. We welcome everyone, she said. And I think that theres no stigma attached with going into a local public library. So we think were the perfect place because were serving everybody from all walks of life.

Part of the grant funding will be used to pay for 50 people to complete GED programs, an alternative to a high school diploma.

Also, two social workers are being hired through the grant funding to offer one-on-one counseling sessions. One is Nicole Warren, who will work at the Newark and Paterson libraries.

Get to know them and what some of their goals are and their strengths are, and then from there were able to connect them with educational opportunities, job opportunities, help them with job readiness, Warren said. Anything they need to try to get that fresh start and to be able to contribute to their community.

Warren said former inmates returning citizens, in the parlance of the program already visit the public libraries to seek the type of help the program will offer, from librarians and library staff who are helpful though not really trained in that kind of work.

Its important for the social workers to be in the libraries because they have the training and experience to work with people who may have experienced trauma or some other difficulties in their life, Warren said.

Harrell, who served 25 years in federal prison, said a library is a good location for re-entry services.

Many folks who are coming home from prison are used to going to the library, Harrell said. In a prison setting, the library is the intellectual center of the prison, and folks are used to going there for whatever they need. So for them to come home and then go to the library and receive re-entry services is a natural extension of theyve already been doing.

The $628,774 grant supporting the program comes from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency. The state is contributing $671,449 toward the program, primarily through in-kind contributions of staffers' time at the State Library and Parole Board and training offered by the labor department.

New Jersey: Decoded cuts through the cruft and gets to what matters in New Jersey news and politics. Follow on Facebook and Twitter.

Michael Symons is State House bureau chief for New Jersey 101.5 and the editor of New Jersey: Decoded. Follow @NJDecoded on Twitter and Facebook. Contact him at michael.symons@townsquaremedia.com

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Books, online access ... and prisoner re-entry at the library - New Jersey 101.5 FM Radio

Among the many smart writers I follow on Instagram is journalist Connie Schultzso Ive known for a while that her husband, Ohio senator Sherrod Brown, recently published a book, Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America. As a former Ohioan, and a supporter of Brown, I am eager to read it. But the book is published by Macmillan and, much to my disappointment, is presumably subject to the companys e-book embargo.

With a few exceptions, elected officials dont write books to make money; they write to share their message with voters. So I find it troubling that Browna strong supporter of workers and public librariesis now associated with a publisher that is flouting a core public library value: equitable access.

I suspect that the good senator and othersincluding senators Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, all of whom have also penned works published by Macmillanlikely dont know about the new restrictions their publisher is placing on digital readers at Americas public libraries. But I am now putting them and anyone else elected to or running for political office on notice: when you publish with Macmillan, youre disadvantaging those constituents who depend on the public library. Or, if you sign an exclusive audio deal with Amazons Audible division (fortunately, Brown has not), you are limiting access only to those with the means to purchase content. And the notion that any elected official would want their ideas available only to those Americans who can pay to read or listen to them flies in the face of our democratic ideals.

I recognize that I am beginning to sound very cranky about Macmillans embargo. But as I prepare for the 2020 ALA Midwinter Meeting, the future of digital content in libraries is very much in question. And I have come to the table again and again believing that Macmillan executives might sincerely listen to the library communitys concerns and join us in seeking viable solutions to whatever issues they believe justify such an extreme measure as an embargo. But at this point, I question whether Macmillan executives are acting in good faith. After numerous meetings with Macmillan CEO John Sargent over the years on behalf of ALA, I think Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillos 2004 bestseller best sums up Sargents position on the public library: Hes Just Not That into You.

I for one will not attend another meeting with the Macmillan team while the embargo is in place, even if it means I must resign my position as senior policy fellow for the ALAs Washington office. I feel demoralized by the idea of asking once more that this embargo be reversed. And I dont believe we can have a meaningful conversation about the future of libraries and e-books with Macmillan executives until they abandon their embargo. Unfortunately, I dont think that announcement is coming in Philadelphia.

I am not giving up the fight, however, and I urge all librarians to stay engaged and to continue to advocate for libraries as well. To lift my lagging spirits, Ive been envisioning thousands of librarians lining up at the Macmillan booth (1240) at this years Midwinter Meeting in a respectful act of solidarity so strong that it clogs the exhibit aisles. Now that would be advocacy to action!

I also have great respect for the members of the newly configured Joint Working Group on Digital Content, which will convene for the first time in its new iteration at this years Midwinter Meeting, and other groups who continue to work on this issue.

This is important work. I encourage every librarian who is passionate about equitable access to digital content to join any and all conversationsand to remain patient in knowing that our good work will eventually translate to impactful change.

E-book Program Highlights

ASGCLA Consortial eBooks Interest Group Meeting (Friday, 2:304 p.m., Marriott Hotel, Franklin rooms 5 & 6).

Ask Me Anything with Macmillan CEO John Sargent (Saturday, 8:3010 a.m., PCC room 108B).

Digital Content Working Group Meeting (Sunday, 8:3010 a.m., PCC room 103B).

#eBooksForAll Campaign Update (Sunday, 45 p.m., PCC room 122B).

PW columnist Sari Feldman is the former executive director of the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Cleveland and a past president of both the Public Library Association (20092010) and the American Library Association (20152016).

A version of this article appeared in the 12/16/2019 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: E-books at ALA

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ALA Midwinter 2020: On E-books, Librarians Must Hold the Line - Publishers Weekly

The Cochrane Public Library has launched their winter equipment library just in time for Cochrane's recent snowfall.

A variety of snow shoe sizes and hiking poles are all set to check out. The library installed a sizing chart for anyone curious about fit. All of the equipment is brand new and was purchased with the support of Cochrane Sport Chek and Bow RiversEdge Campground. The library will be adding avalanche kits and other items as they become available.

Program librarian Andrea Johnston said the library has been running several successful lending libraries. The library also loans out power tools, telescopes, gardening tools, life jackets, board games, puzzles and other items.

Since the snow gear launched Johnston says she's already had residents put equipment on hold leading up to the Christmas holidays.

For details on what winter equipment is available visit the Cochrane Public Library online: http://www.cochranepubliclibrary.ca/Special-Equipment/Winter-Equipment

Read more from the original source:
Library of things just got better - Cochrane Today

Public libraries embody the values of democracy by offering free access to knowledge. But the role of contemporary public libraries extends far beyond access to books. Libraries are places for learning and discovery, forums for debate, galleries for exhibitions and events, and spaces for work and pleasure. As cultural centres and community hubs, libraries bring people together.

With the rise of digital information early this century, the death of the library was predicted. Yet far from causing the demise of libraries, the digital revolution has led to libraries being reinvented and reinvigorated.

Library staff are experts in knowledge systems and adept at seizing the possibilities presented by these changes. This ability to innovate ensures public libraries remain relevant and vital.

Such innovation is evident throughout Melbournes State Library Victoria which reopened this week to reveal the final phase of its Vision 2020 transformation. The transformation of Australias oldest and now newest library is cultural, social, economic and architectural.

State Library Victoria already holds a prominent place in Melbournes cultural and urban fabric. It is now ready for the future.

Good civic architecture embodies the needs of the community it serves, amplifying and adapting to the activities and lived experiences in it. Australias first free public library, when it opened in 1856, State Library Victoria offered everyone access to knowledge for self-advancement.

Today, the revitalised heritage reading rooms remain majestic symbols with their large lofty ceiling and voluminous spaces with natural light . People may wish to linger in these hushed traditional spaces and return.

This major redevelopment was entrusted to Australian design studio Architectus in partnership with Danish firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects. Their work demonstrates great restraint and respect for the original building, coupled with the creation of new spaces, connections and opportunities relevant to libraries of now and the future with a thoughtful approach of less is more.

Fine design details skilfully juxtapose the old and the new. New stone covers the historic and slippery marble stairs that head up from the Swanston Street foyer, the original treads visible at each edge. Long admired murals above the stairs are conserved.

Entering from Swanston Street, The Quad is the contemporary centrepiece, beyond the foyer of the library. It provides a welcome zone that invites people of all ages, interests and backgrounds to enjoy the wonder of learning. This invitation can be simple: a place to charge your phone, to talk with friends, to escape the weather. Simple activities that make you stop and pause, and want to venture further and find out more.

Ideas Quarter offers shared work space for budding entrepreneurs. Conversation Quarter is a tech-rich destination for sharing, connecting and broadcasting ideas. Create Quarter includes recording, mixing and editing facilities. Childrens Quarter is a playful multi-level realm for family exploration with age-specific areas and programs.

In this sequence of spaces, knowledge is everywhere, yet books are few.

The Quad is not the hushed or book-filled library experience you might expect. But those calmer spaces are still there, undisturbed by all this new activity thanks to careful acoustic design: a balance between the traditional and the new.

In the beautiful Ian Potter Queens Hall, the visitor catches glimpses of decorative paintwork in the Classical Greek style, discovered under layers of paint during the restoration.

Curiosity thrives in libraries, and the curious will uncover more.

In an increasingly digital age, what can public libraries offer that our smartphones and computers cannot?

They offer community.

Many Victorian voices informed the Vision 2020 project: community groups, library users, local residents, business, school students, parents. These voices inspired the enriched diversity of services and experiences. The Library Board, state government, benefactors, and community fundraising made the vision possible.

The process was democracy in action.

Public, school and university libraries have all evolved to embrace a broader understanding of lifelong learning including and beyond what can be learnt from books. Libraries bring people together.

These institutions contribute to social capital by fostering new relationships, sustaining and advancing informed communities and offering equity to close the digital divide. New library spaces can elevate the human experience, and State Library Victoria proves public libraries have an exciting future.

Sarah Backhouse is a research fellow with the Learning Environments Applied Research Network at the University of Melbourne. Clare Newton is an associate professor in Learning Environments at the University of Melbourne.

This article first appeared on The Conversation.

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This library is showing the way for reading spaces in the digital age - Scroll.in