Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our October featured reviewer, Agusti Solanas.
Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A) If we look at it from a short-term perspective, I would say that the advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are the most important thing. However, I believe quantum computation will be the real game changer in the long term.
Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A) When I finished high school, I chose computer engineering as my first option for university. My second option was medicine. So if I weren't a computer scientist, I would probably be a physician, focusing on neurology. Now I am applying computer science (CS) to medicine and well-being, so the two paths have met after all.
Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A) I believe that humans and intelligent artificial beings will coexist in harmony at that time. Thanks to AI, cyberethics, and advances in robotics, CS will make this coexistence possible. I am currently working on defining and understanding cognitive environments (these are contextual environments augmented with reasoning and learning capabilities). Cognitive environments will ease the transition toward coexistence.
Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A) I find figures such as Pythagoras, Plato, Seneca, Nikola Tesla, Guglielmo Marconi, Marie Curie, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and Alan Turing very inspiring. Still, overall, I would say that my favorite historical figure is Isaac Newton.
Q) What is your favorite type of music?
A) I listen to a wide variety of genres, but I tend to prefer peaceful contemporary classical music. Ludovico Einaudi is always on my playlist.
--
Click here to read one of Agusti’s reviews.