World Data Visualization Prize entry

31 Jan 2023 openai generative ai project

World Data Visualization Prize

Timing, as they say, is everything. Just as I dusted off my website (not a moment too soon, I assure you), I stumbled upon theWorld Data Visualization Prize.

Now, considering I had less than two weeks to the deadline, a full-time job, and the monumental task of keeping my offspring alive (kudos to my wife, the real MVP here, for holding down the fort), I wasn't exactly betting on a win. But getting onto the longlist and indulging some of my long-neglected ideas? More than satisfying.

The Big Idea: Predicting the Unpredictable

I maintain a lengthy backlog of ideas, oddball thoughts, and existential scares. Writing these down is essentially my brain’s delete button. One recurring theme? Predicting the future, or more precisely - visualizing it.

In a world teeming with technological revolutions, shifting geopolitical landscapes, and the occasional black-swan event (*cough* covid *cough*), trying to foresee the future might seem, well, ludicrous. But certain things, like demographic trends and CO2 levels, aren’t going to change overnight. And fortunately or not, that AI/Robotics genie isn't going back in the bottle anytime soon.

Experts have been pondering these topics for years. So, while predicting the year 2100 might be a bit of a reach, summarizing the next 20-30 years seems like a fair shot. And let's be real, my real motivation? Understanding just how dicey my son's future might be, and pondering the hard questions he's bound to throw my way when he's a teenager.

And guess what? One of the competition categories was pretty much dedicated to this very topic.

Future of Frontiers

I've posted my visualization on this site. It's not a technological marvel by any stretch (do yourself a favor and avoid peeking at the code — I committed some unspeakable programming sins to meet the deadline), but it did accomplish a few key things:

Satisfied my itch to test OpenAI ChatGPT APIs in a practical setting (a topic worth its own blog post)
Visualized expert predictions contextualized by age, giving me the personalized forecast I wanted
Dabbled in fediverse integration, though, in hindsight, this was more of a distraction than anything else.
Reminded me why I steer clear of front-end work for years — it still doesn’t play nice with Firefox (seriously, I was just trying to make a table!)

Seeing what the experts at WGS think about the future was fun, scary, and deeply interesting. Give it a spin via the link below, or check out the recorded GIFs in this article for a quick overview. (Note: not optimized for mobile and doesn’t work on Firefox)