The digital human
How are objects able to predict the wishes and needs of humans? Is the telemetric data enough to make precise forecasts of upcoming desires?
In order to get a working internet of things we need a working data interface. To really make life easier for humans, the smart devices in our environment need to get the real data and not calculations and averages of other similar people.
If you look around and ask people what they really want to happen with all the data they produce the answer will almost certainly be that they want the benefits but they don’t want companies to own their personal data. So how do we handle this tightrope? If we want the benefits and we don’t want to give our personal data to big companies and their data centers the solution should be easy:
Personal data needs to be stored locally.
This data could be stored on our smartphones, our smartwatches or in the future on our neural implants and can be transmitted to every smart object nearby. Imagine Siri or Cortana with all you data stored locally jumping between the smart objects around you. They are the operating system. Your smartphone runs Cortana, your smartwatch runs Cortana, your fridge runs Cortana and of course the bus stop runs Cortana. She is there when you are there.
There is only one problem: How does your personal assistant know what you really want?
The assistant needs to know everything about you and because it is stored locally at your body no company has the right to own it and use it for their interest. Only the stuff you want them to know is available for them.
In conclusion that your digital assistant knows everything about you and of course for a deep connection it needs a character, it becomes you. It is the digital manifestation of the real you. This is the only way that everything around you which is connected to you knows exactly what you are going to do. Without the need of big data and the analysis of the behavior of thousands, which ultimately will never be you.
Let’s call the digital personification “digital you”.
Your “digital you” needs to stay always on par with the “real you”. Therefor it is living and evolving like the “real you”. It’s a virtual mirror of your mind.
In the future the “digital you” could be swapping devices everywhere you go. The data is just flying from one device to the next and is connected to a neural implant in your brain which is the interface.
When we imagine living a life with this type of “digital you” it will be easily clear why it is the most accurate IoT-future we can envision. When you feel the need for something, let’s say hunger, your kitchen knows this and the meal is prepared and ready when you really want it. Or your hi-fi system knows the kind of music you really love, no skipping and no turning down the volume. It is exactly what you want. If you don’t want it, it won’t happen.
Subconsciously interconnected with everything digital around you. Every wish which can be fulfilled would be, if the smart objects are there to control it. The “digital you” would age with you and be your digital manifestation. The part missing right now is the neural interface and the local processing power, but technology is evolving fast and we could be only a few years away from it.
The most accurate data is created by us. We ourselves usually know best what we need. Therefor a digital copy of our person is the best interface to make a working internet of things with added value. The outcome maybe even the future of our species.
