--- title: Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 31 description: Innovating against ISIS, design research in informal economies, diversifying MFA programs, how dental health maps to class, and fearing AI. canonical: https://time.com/3550984/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-31/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-31T16:01:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-09T08:20:06.516Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas og:description: Learn about: Innovating against ISIS, design research in informal economies, diversifying MFA programs, how dental health maps to class, and fearing AI. og:url: https://time.com/3550984/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-31/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas twitter:description: Learn about: Innovating against ISIS, design research in informal economies, diversifying MFA programs, how dental health maps to class, and fearing AI. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 31 > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Oct 31, 2014 4:01 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Oct 31, 2014 4:01 PM UTC **1\.** [**“Informal economies are the world’s biggest opportunity for design research, and yet we walk right by them every day.”**](https://medium.com/@steveddaniels/societys-sandbox-bb4d3ba777f) By Steve Daniels in Medium **2\.** [**Surprisingly, some of the nation’s leading technology enthusiasts are worried that artificial intelligence could be more dangerous than we realize.**](http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/the-future-of-artificial-intelligence-102814) By Michael Howard in Esquire **3\.** [**If we want diverse stories in our literature, we must commit to enhancing diversity in our education programs.**](http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/why%5Fwe%5Fneed%5Fdiverse%5Fmfa%5Fprograms.2.html) By Hope Wabuke in the Root **4\.** [**Poor dental care — from lack of health coverage or lack of dentists — is a serious health risk. But bad teeth also lock in class inequality.**](http://aeon.co/magazine/health/the-shame-of-poor-teeth-in-a-rich-world/) By Sarah Smarsh in Aeon **5\.** [**Let’s innovate against ISIS: Investing in entrepreneurs as well as airstrikes can build a culture stronger than terrorism.**](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/toni-verstandig/lets-innovate-against-isi%5Fb%5F6071066.html) By Toni Verstandig in the Huffington Post  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3550984/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-31/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3550984/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-31/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 31","datePublished":"2014-10-31T16:01:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-09T08:20:06.516Z","description":"Innovating against ISIS, design research in informal economies, diversifying MFA programs, how dental health maps to class, and fearing AI.","url":"https://time.com/3550984/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-31/","keywords":["Innovation","ISIS","Diversity","Elon Musk","Literature","AI"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3550984/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-october-31/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: October 31"}}]}] ```