Sri Lanka 2048 honouring Arthur C Clarke: Future of Data by Sriganesh Lokanathan
Channel: Arthur C Clarke Trust
Date: 2018-02-13

‘Sri Lanka 2048’ was a futuristic event held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 15 December 2017 to mark Sir Arthur C Clarke’s Birth Centenary. Organised by the Arthur C Clarke Trust, custodian of the late author’s literary estate, the public forum saw four mid-career Lankan professionals imagining and speculating about future scenarios in four key sectors: data and artificial intelligence; information, news and media; energy; and cities or urban living. 

The forum was meant to inspire the imagination process that can continue online at the official Arthur C Clarke website, at www.ArthurCClarke.org. The forum also marks the beginning of the Arthur C Clarke Future Forum, which the Trust hopes would become a regular event for discussing future prosperity and sustainability of Sri Lanka – where Sir Arthur Clarke lived for more than half a century, from 1956 to 2008.

In this video, Sriganesh Lokanathan explores the future of data and artificial intelligence in the Lankan context. As we move to a more data-rich future that is driven and shaped by digital and web-based technologies, it opens up prospects for more uses and misuses. How can society navigate this through the right regulations, ethics and values? What might be the best case and worst case scenarios in such a setting? 

Sriganesh is Team Leader for Big Data Research at the think tank LIRNEasia, where he co- established and leads a multi-disciplinary research practice on big data for development in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. His works involves the conceptualization and implementation of big data analyses to support global development, understanding its implications on society, and mainstreaming its use for social good. He holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore.      

Filmed and edited by Media Jogger, Colombo: www.mediajogger.com

Key words: Arthur C Clarke, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka’s Future, Future, Sri Lanka 2048, Sriganesh Lokanathan, Arthur C Clarke Future Forum, Arthur C Clarke Trust, ArthurCClarke100, future studies, future of data, artificial intelligence, AI,  Big Data Research, LIRNEasia