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SRQ DAILY Jan 26, 2019

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"What is important is the human innovation, imagination, and creativity in using a tool to solve a problem, approach a challenge, or make beauty. "

- Larry Thompson, Ringling College of Art and Design
 

[Under The Hood]  Beyond Party Battles
Jacob Ogles, jacob.ogles@srqme.com

Party lines will matter less than county boundaries on Monday when Sarasota’s legislation delegation convenes. Made up of the six lawmakers representing the county in Tallahassee, the local meeting offers one of the top moments each year for the region’s political leaders to gather near their constituents.

It’s also a reminder that for all the partisan posturing we see out of Washington on a seeming 24-hour loop, most of the work done by government leaders has less to do with party ideology and more to do with responsible advocacy. This event comes the same week state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, and state Rep. Margaret Good, D-Sarasota, announced they will champion similar legislation easing requirements for retired teachers to sub in classrooms.

And the greatest issue facing the region in fact transcends parties. While denying climate change became all the rage in Washington over the past couple decades, the majority Republican delegation here arrives having universally promised to do something about red tide. Gruters and state Rep. Will Robinson, R-Bradenton, both included environmental measures among the first bills they filed in their respective chambers.

You can also expect matters of local need to dominate the list of requests the delegation hears on Monday. The City of Sarasota’s legislative priorities list includes a push for mental health funding and sober homes licenses. Sarasota County plans to ask for more business incentive funding and the right to collect taxes on online travel purchases. All the area’s cities and local governments have some list of needs, as do dozens of citizen groups slated to present at the meeting.

Even controversial battles, like the constant struggle between the state and local officials about home rule and unfunded mandates, spur divides about geography and constituency more than ideology.

Sure, there’s plenty of left-versus-right battles to be had in Tallahassee this year. Good has a bill filed to close gun show loopholes in Florida and an assault weapons ban will get discussed in the state capital even if it never reaches a vote.

But the bulk of work for lawmakers will be on securing funding for transportation needs like River Road and about enacting better water quality policies.

It’s an important reminder after an election season where all sides report the voters top question had nothing to do with Florida politics at all. Rather, most voters wanted to know if pols sided with President Donald Trump or against him.

To some degree it makes sense. National news focuses nearly exclusively on the federal government for obvious reasons, and only checks in on localities when there’s a disaster or a huge screw-up. And with a record-length federal government shutdown that only ended yesterday, it’s been hard to focus on the work of state government, which has merrily chugged along with Washington became paralyzed by dangerous brinkmanship and insulting rhetorical battles.

Amid all the attention on D.C. foibles, it’s important for the public to know this rare opportunity exists to meet with the region’s state leaders as well. The delegation likely will gather again, but in the halls of Tallahassee. The annual event held in Sarasota marks a chance to address the area’s representatives and senator collectively with the same intimacy of a city commission meeting.

The event begins at 9 a.m. at the Sarasota County Administration Building downtown. There will be less sparks than an election season debate, but the event will bring the top government leaders into one room to discuss the nuts and bolts issues impacting the region. I wouldn’t miss it. 

Photo: Joe Gruters and Margaret Good last fall hosted a joint town hall on red tide.

[Higher Education]  Art + Tech = The Future
Dr. Larry Thompson, lthompso@ringling.edu

The demand for right-brain thinking (holistic, intuitive, creative) will skyrocket as our technologies and tools become more proficient at logical left-brained thinking than we humans are. As a result, technology will replace humans more readily in the execution of those routine, logic-based, repeatable functions in the workforce. While many skills can be automated, creativity cannot.

That was the first in this reasons why Ringling College matters. Automation will displace more jobs than you might think, perhaps even those you think safe from impact, like lawyers, accountants and engineers. Don’t buy it? A few days following the publication of my last column, the Associated Press reported the American auto industry announced layoffs of thousands of workers, blue- and white-collar alike, as their jobs were replaced by automation. “The cutbacks reflect a transformation underway in both the auto industry and the broader U.S. economy, with nearly every type of business becoming oriented toward computers, software and automation… In GM’s case, the jobs that will be shed … are held largely by people who are experts in the internal combustion engine—mechanical engineers and others who spent their careers working on fuel injectors, transmissions, exhaust systems and other components that won’t be needed for the electric cars that eventually will drive themselves.”

Here we are, a major company laying off engineers, because of technological advancements in automation. The technology and tools we are building, thanks to the last century of left-brained thinking, are now more efficient than we are. And they don’t need vacations, coffee breaks or lunches. According to Artificial Intelligence guru Kai-Fu Lee, within 15-25 years, 40 percent of routine, repeatable jobs will be displaced by AI, ranging from cook to driver to accountant. Soon, humans may no longer be needed at all to accomplish repeatable, logic-based tasks, grounded in left-brain thinking. We must evolve.

That brings us to the second reason why what we teach matters: Art and Tech is the future.

We are all familiar with the idea of technology as devices: computers; smartphones; smart home devices. Really, technology is any tool or resource used to accomplish the task at hand. It can range from the basic and simple—like a pencil or hammer—to the wildly complex—like the Google Tilt Brush Virtual Reality technology Ringling College students use. What is revolutionary to realize is that IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER.

Shaking your heads? Let me explain.

Technology is just a tool, regardless how shiny and impressive it may be. What is important is the human innovation, imagination, and creativity in using a tool to solve a problem, approach a challenge, or make beauty. Ringing College teaches those skills to the creative thinkers, artists and designers who are our students, who then discover new ways to utilize tools to meet existing and future needs.

The projection 40 percent of jobs may be displaced by AI in a mere 15-25 years is an understandable concern. Two things to remember: 

First, this large-scale job replacement has happened before. The advent of electricity and automobiles drastically changed the American workforce. How many buggy or manufacturers went out of business with the advent of the car? Yet, through that change, new jobs were created. We overcame and evolved to a new normal.

Second, machines only replace the repeatable, routine, logic-based functions humans perform. Technology can improve a system, but it cannot create one; it cannot invent. It cannot formulate unique and creative ways to use tools to execute a vision, whether it be a piece of art or the solution to a social problem. At Ringling College, we teach our students the concept, the vision and the desired outcome drive the tool selection—and it may not always the most advanced tool that is needed. Even though Ringling College is the most technologically advanced art college in the world, the pencil sometimes is the best tool for the job.

We teach emerging creative leaders to imagine the end product first, then select the tool needed to make it. That can’t be replaced by AI or any other technology, and is, therefore, the key to success in the coming Creative Age.

This is where the future lies: combining innate human ability to think creatively with the understanding of available technological capabilities to come up with inventive ways to meet myriad needs. We at Ringling College excel at this way of thinking, and fully understand and embrace it. We give emerging artists and designers the opportunity to work with technologies of every kind, from basic to the cutting-edge, to foster an environment where creativity can thrive. Though we fully support the advanced technologies needed for our students to find success in their academic programs and to be prepared for the industries they will enter, we have them spend their first year learning the fundamentals of being creative, imaginative and holistic. By developing this foundation, they gain the ability to truly understand the ways in which various technologies—be it pencil or computer—can be innovatively applied to bring creative visions to life.

Technology on its own is not enough. It must be combined with creativity in the ways it is applied for us to advance.

Dr. Larry R. Thompson is the president of Ringling College of Art and Design. 



[SOON]  The Circus Angel Scavenger Hunt
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Don't miss the Greatest Circus Scavenger Hunt in Sarasota! Fun for all ages, The Circus Angel Scavenger Hunt is a benefit for the Showpeople's Winter Quarters, established in 2015 by The Circus and Traveling Shows Retirement Project, Inc.a 501 (c) (3) organization which helps provide affordable housing assistance for elderly or infirm circus performers in the Southwest Florida area. The Gather your team of between 2-6 people and have a great time as you drive in and around 5 miles of downtown Sarasota looking for clues. The scavenger hunt includes 6 circus-themed stops, live entertainment, giveaways and gift bags followed by a grand finale at St. Martha's Church on Orange Avenue in Sarasota. The winning team will receive the “All Aboard” Grand Prize package, a gourmet dinner served in the private "Silver Car' on an original circus train. Tickets are available for purchase at the eventbrite link below at $25 per person.  For more information call  941-302-0054
 

The Circus Angel Scavenger Hunt

[SCOOP]  Areas First Dedicated Education Unit Opens for Nursing Students

Manatee Memorial Hospital is pleased to announce that the first Dedicated Education Unit for nursing students in our area has opened on the Medical/Surgical floor of our hospital. State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota is collaborating with the hospital on the first group of nursing students. The nursing students will be assigned to the DEU for the entirety of their clinical experience. Those that successfully complete the DEU clinical pathway will have an opportunity to be employed at Manatee Memorial Hospital. They will also become clinical mentors for the next group.  

Manatee Memorial Hospital

[SOON]  SMH Breaks New Ground in Fight Against Cancer

Radiation Oncology Center is the groundbreaking first phase of evolving cancer institute. The Sarasota County Public Hospital Board approved $220 million last year to develop a comprehensive cancer program to care for a growing number of cancer patients in southwest Florida. The new radiation oncology center at University Parkway/Honor is part of Sarasota Memorial’s comprehensive Cancer Institute, which is slated to begin construction soon on the main hospital campus. When complete, the Institute will be a center of excellence that concentrates a widening range of fellowship-trained oncology specialists and subspecialists in the Suncoast region and offers individual patients a collaborative multi-disciplinary approach to diagnose and treat their unique cancer.  Sarasota Memorial’s 17,000-square-foot Radiation Oncology Center will include state-of-the-art equipment. It will also include integrative care services to support a holistic approach to patient care and a Serenity Patio to promote healing and enhance the patient experience. 

Sarasota Memorial Health Care

[SCOOP]  Meet the Newest PAWS pup, Cracker!

P.A.W.S. (Pet Advocates Working in Sarasota) pups support our clients throughout the healing process. Whether during a therapy session, a supervised visit or while testifying in court, P.A.W.S. pups and their handlers provide comfort to children affected by abuse & neglect. Cracker is a 3 year old Golden Retriever who is AKC Canine Good Citizen certified.  In addition to helping our clients, he volunteers with Tidewell Hospice, Brookdale Memory Care Center, 12th Judicial Court and Sarasota Libraries. 

P.A.W.S.

[SCOOP]  SCF, Manatee-Sarasota Offers Florida Home Inspection Training

State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (SCF) will offer a Florida applied home inspection course. American Home Inspectors Training (AHIT), in partnership with SCF, works with home inspection trainers to present the courses. The course provides hands-on experience, including two field inspections. It also provides information about the software used in the business, professional report forms and the tools needed. It is a first step in becoming a licensed home inspector in Florida. Classes will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 1-3. 

SCF, Manatee-Sarasota

SRQ Media Group

SRQ DAILY is produced by SRQ | The Magazine. Note: The views and opinions expressed in the Saturday Perspectives Edition and in the Letters department of SRQ DAILY are those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement by SRQ Media. Senior Editor Jacob Ogles edits the Saturday Perspective Edition, Letters and Guest Contributor columns.In the CocoTele department, SRQ DAILY is providing excerpts from news releases as a public service. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by SRQ DAILY. The views expressed by individuals are their own and their appearance in this section does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. For rates on SRQ DAILY banner advertising and sponsored content opportunities, please contact Ashley Ryan Cannon at 941-365-7702 x211 or via email

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