Over the course of the next 20 years, more will change around the way we do our work than has happened in the last 2000.
There have been four major historical eras defined by the way we work. The Hunter-Gather Age lasted several million years, the Agricultural Age lasted several thousand years, the Industrial Age lasted a couple of centuries, and now the Information Age has lasted just a few decades. And today, we’re on the cusp of our next significant era as a species.
In this new era, your natural human capabilities are going to be augmented by computational systems that help you think, robotic systems that help you make, and a digital nervous system that connects you to the world far beyond your natural senses.
If I asked you, are you an augmented cyborg? you’d probably laugh. I would argue that we’re already augmented. Well, when you have a question, surely the first thing you do is take out your cell phone and search the internet for the answer, and surprisingly you will find a good source of information with just a few clicks. And this applies to all types of knowledge, from the most technical to general knowledge.
Undoubtedly, the four major historical eras, are considered major thanks to the tools that we used in that particular time. However, for the last three and a half million years, the tools that we’ve had have been completely passive, they do exactly what we tell them and nothing more. Our very first tool only cut where we struck it, and even our most advanced tools do nothing without our explicit directions.
“We have been limited by this need to manually push our wills into our tools”…
Maurice Conti
The tools are changing
So far we have talked about how tools have marked the course of human history, and these tools have been passive. But things are changing, we are getting closer to a future where we can have conversations with computers and ask them to perform tasks for us.
In the Information Age, we have focused on connecting people, the internet (of people) has changed the world, and we have created a great network, where nodes can exchange any type of information, from photos, videos, and comments, to scientific research and literary novels. But as we said, things are changing, there’s a new internet, and it’s changing the world again.
This new internet is not just about connecting people, it’s about connecting things. It’s called the Internet of Things (IoT).
Why connect things to the Internet?
So connecting things to the Internet big deal, right? Well, it kind of is, and here’s why, because “things” can start to share their experiences with other things (like people interact on the “Internet of people”). At this point, you are probably wondering how’s that work.
In a nutshell, you take things and then you add the ability to sense, communicate, touch and control, and there you get the opportunity for things to interact and collaborate with other things. As human beings, we interact and contribute, and collaborate with other people in our own environment through our five senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch). Imagine things with the ability to sense and touch, and then add the ability to communicate, and that’s where the Internet of people and the Internet of things intersect.
Real-world examples
Say you are asleep wearing a smartwatch, that it’s sensing your sleep cycles and it knows the most opportune moment to gracefully wake you up. When that happens, the smartwatch sends a message to other things in your home, and pretty soon a chain of events starts to occur, where your things are talking to other things. Your thermostat goes up to 80 as your house fans start up and draw all the cool morning air into your home. Your coffeemaker starts up and your bedside lamp fades too bright, and your smart speaker plays your favorite music to start the day.
After a long day at work, when you return home at night the lights in your house dim, and soft instrumental music begins to play to give a cozy feel. The curtains close and the lights go out, and you’re ready to sleep.
Then, you’re again asleep, or it seems. Turns out the sensors in your smartwatch detect something very wrong, your heart rate is going up, your breathing has become erratic, and instead of gently waking you, it vibrates aggressively to get your attention, and you roll over to reach your phone. There is a message that says you’re having high blood pressure, your breathing is erratic, and it suggests taking two aspirins. All your signs have been recorded and electronically transmitted to your medical provider.
Back at the hospital, a doctor is already evaluating your data, and in his professional opinion, you need to get to the hospital, so he electronically dispatches EMT directly to your home including pertinent data about your current medical situation. All of a sudden, you’re at the hospital and you’re put under observation. You suffered a heart attack and thanks to the timely reaction the problem did not get worse.
Another good example is the detection of strong shocks that the apple watch has. If you suffer a fall or have a car accident, and you do not answer the signal of the apple watch, it will call 911 and ask for help, all this on your own, you could be unconscious and the apple watch could save your life, if you would like to see it in action click the following link:
In addition to this example, the IoT can be found everywhere, in recent years it has had a great impact on retail, education, construction, production, and supply chain, among many others.
There is a lot of information about how IoT impacts each of these sectors and how it is revolutionizing the way we live and work. but one thing is common in all these industries, is that the tools that are used are going from being passive to being generative and increasingly have more power of decision and can do great things without our direction.
Although not everything is perfect, many companies do not care about computer security and protecting the privacy of their users, and even many companies take advantage of the ignorance of their users to collect large amounts of data and sell it and thus increasing their profits. The line between online privacy and computer security is blurred.
All changes bring with them great challenges and this is one of the most important that we face. So it is everyone’s task to worry about understanding what our devices do and to demand clear game rules from companies, online privacy must be considered a right.
Privacy and security are very relevant issues, so much so that I prefer to leave it for a future post…
