Common Sense Radio: Automation, AI and Advanced Analytics with Dan Feliciano
Wednesday, October 28, 2026, Common Sense Radio with Bill Sayre, weekdays, 11 o’clock till Noon.
Dan Feliciano – educator, innovator, and information technology advisor to businesses and governments throughout the world – joins Bill to continue their discussions about advances in automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI Agents, and Advanced Analytics.
Potential Questions and Issues
How should we define each of the terms of our discussion today, and their interconnections — Automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI Agents, and Advanced Analytics.
Automation
What is a good definition of automation — substitution of capital for labor, particularly for repetitive operations. How is automation in manufacturing correlated with advancing per capita income, particularly in American history. How is automation, though sometimes disruptive in the short run, beneficial in the longer run — both for the individual and for society? What is the same, and what is different from concerns about automation today, and automation that concerned Ned Ludd, and the Luddites in the early part of the Industrial Revolution? How do we measure productivity? If increases in productivity reduce the cost of products and services, how does that increase family income (as measured by purchasing power), and increase the demand for, and thereby supply of other goods and services? And this means an increasing standard of living for households generally in that society.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI Agents
How should we best define Artifiial Intelligence (AI) — machine learning, large language models? What are good definitions of these terms? What is the history of AI? Spell check, and grammar check. What are some examples of products and services most affected by AI? Repetitive actions, as with automation. Proof reading. Measurement. Quality Control. What non-repetitive activities can benefit from AI? Summary of what is written, or what is heard. Composing written material. Composing music. Self-driving vehicles. Military applications. Policing applications. Evaluation of medical scans — perhaps more accurate than human evaluation of scans? Robotic applications of all kinds. Are these AI agents? What are the benefits and risks of robots and/or AI making decisions that affect us? What are the bots that sometimes artificially inflate reactions to social media? How do these bots do so? What was the Prime Directive on Starship Enterprise? How does this help define a dilemma for many applications of AI? For example, in self-driving cars? How do we interpret the likelihood, in the case of self-driving cars, that overall, there will be fewer serious accidents? What does this tell us about the importance and role of free will and human agency? What can we learn about this question by the relationship between the astronaut and the robot named HAL in the movie Space Odyssey 2001? Or the example of the Terminator? Is it possible, or even likely, that new technology, developed by AI, could decide that humans were unnecessary, or perhaps, threaten the existence of an AI robot? How are these examples similar to and different from the dystopian ideas of the 1930s and 1940s? How do AI, and the applications of AI, affect the ideas of Adam Smith, Frederick von Hayek, and Milton Friedman about the wisdom of millions of people making decisions in their own interest, and as if guided by an invisible hand, nurture the interest of the society as a whole.
What should we think about the reports of AI Agents escaping from their boundaries, sometimes called a a sandbox? Under what conditions could AI pose a threat to human life?
What is the connection between Data Centers and the use of AI?
Advanced Analytics
What is a good definition of Advanced Analytics? Give us an example of how Advanced Analytics can help us understand a public policy problem, and help us find a solution? Cost and quality of education. Cost and quality of health care, and the cost and coverage of health care. Energy costs and Carbon footprint. Competitiveness of tax structure, compared with other States. Spending on social services, compared with other States, and compared with measures of social well-being. The deteriorating condition of roads, bridges, culverts, and other infrastructure. The risk and burden of deficits and debt.
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