Presenter
Dean Woodley Ball
Dean Woodley Ball is a Research Fellow in the Artificial Intelligence & Progress Project at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and author of "Hyperdimensional." His work focuses on emerging technologies and the future of governance. He has written on topics including artificial intelligence, neural technology, bioengineering, technology policy, political theory, public finance, urban infrastructure, and prisoner re-entry. His work has been published by National Affairs, The Dispatch, The Hill, the Washington Post, the Orange County Register, Investor’s Business Daily, the Coolidge Quarterly, National Review, the Manhattan Institute, and the Hoover Institution. His paper “Neither Harbour nor Floor: Contemplating the Singularity with Michael Oakeshott” will be part of a forthcoming volume titled Liberalism Revisited, to be published by Palgrave. He is also the author of “Ideas of Another Order: Michael Oakeshott and Confucius in Conversation,” an essay in comparative political theory that was published in Collingwood and British Idealism Studies.
Summary:
Based on engagement with the neuroscience and machine learning literatures, this talk will focus on how technologies such as virtual reality, large language models, AI agents, neurostimulation, and neuromonitoring may converge in the coming decade into the first widespread consumer neural technology. The talk will focus on technical feasibility, public policy, and broader societal implications.
In terms of the challenge, I think the big one for me is probably building the datasets we’ll need for the foundational AI models undergirding all of this.
