It's hard to imagine truckers embracing the wider use of artificial intelligence or "AI" within the freight transportation industry. I'm still quite leery of it myself, having watched The Terminator one too many times. Yet, if a new global survey of nearly 3,000 employees across eight nations conducted by The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated is correct, it seems that more and more of them believe there is "a significant opportunity" for AI to help improve "the workplace experience" and, yes, believe it or not, the logistics/transportation sector is one of the leading industries in this regard. The survey – dubbed Engaging Opportunity: Working Smarter with AI and conducted by Coleman Parkes Research – polled hourly and salaried workers across a variety of industries in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. Not only did the survey discern there may be more "ground level support" regarding the use of AI in the workplace, it also found that company management is being largely close-mouthed regarding AI developments – and that, not AI itself, is what's sparking the most unease about the technology among workers.

Futurist Jack Uldrich warns of technology threats at a conference sponsored by Store Capital. Jack Uldrich flashed a photo showing a homeless man accepting donations through his cellphone. "The world is changing in strange ways," he quipped. It was a lighter moment against a backdrop of some anxiety and uncertainty as Uldrich, an author and futurist, warned a small-business audience in Scottsdale this past week about the accelerating technological changes that already have devastated taxi-cab companies, video-rental stores, some retailers and many other businesses, with more disruption ahead. It was one segment of a conference designed not just to warn businesses about looming threats but to help them identity things they might not be doing well -- tips ranged from honing your marketing message to encouraging a culture of innovation, from acknowledging failures will happen to hiring young adults as "reverse mentors."

In the 1980s and 1990s, the term "artificial intelligence" became synonymous with The Terminator movies. And it was a bleak look at technology, too – capped off by a future where humankind struggled to survive after Skynet went rogue. Today's tech startups are a little more optimistic. They argue that AI technology will make life easier and more efficient in any number of industries – including agriculture. And "the future" may arrive sooner than you might think.

Futurists are accustomed to launching headfirst into some very complex subjects, but even the most high-minded and enthusiastic of prognosticators may take a pass when it comes to dealing with the future of sleep. It's just that we humans -- those in the developed world at least -- maintain such a complicated relationship with sleep. We are taught that we need it, seem to really love it while we're engaged in it and spend our waking hours moaning to each other about how much more of it we desire. But then we do everything in our power to delay its natural onset each night. Psychologists tell us that much of that struggle is classically existential; having to do with the subconscious realization that our time among the living is finite, so we attempt to make the most of the hours we're fully conscious.