Humans of the Machine era
So the fourth industrial revolution is here! Everyone everywhere is talking about advancements in automation, AI, robotics, Blockchain, Data Analytics , Machine Learning etc.
- Government and world leaders are making policies to encourage this fast growth and also, to control the risk of its unseen consequences.
- Conventional industries like banking and insurance are managing risks and predicting frauds more efficiently.
- Medical diagnosis and prognostic estimates have become much more accurate.
- VR and AR is helping innovate marketing of brands, and driving better conversion of deals.
- Humans and their devices have become more smarter. Well, overall, times have become much more comfortable.
The challenge is,
- how to leverage these technologies to bring value to all communities,
- limit its inclusion appropriately,
- safeguard human values and,
- build and sustain a peaceful world.
Btw, what is the 4th industrial revolution?
As compared to the previous three, the 4th industrial revolution is far more disruptive and inter-connected. It affects all industries and sectors, is uncontrollable, focuses on bridging the gap between our physical and digital realms and change the way humans live in society. Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, in his book The Fourth Industrial Revolution, argues that this new age will challenge the way humans behave as humans.
For the people (all of ’em)
I recently watched a Netflix series called ‘Altered Carbon’, which, though fictionally, somewhat shows how our ‘near’ future looks like. We are talking about AI & Robots taking over the entire service industry, immortality at its peak with technology to clone memory, quick healing and the likes of it, levitating (rather flying) cars etc. It sounds like an ideal world, where there is order, peace and happiness everywhere. However, and apologies for the spoiler alert, its just the opposite. Though these technologies and facilities exist, they are available only to the richest. There is an obvious imbalance in the distribution of resources. The upper-class have built their manors above the clouds, whereas the rest live in ghettos among chaos and crime. The point here is, even though (hypothetically) we solve most of our problems with fancier gadgets, and groundbreaking knowledge, fundamental issues like inequality, discrimination and general disrespect towards other humans will always hold us back. We would be handing over the same age-old problems from our past to our children, just with a technology upgrade.
Integrity
I work with Data Scientists everyday; honest & hardworking individuals collecting, scoring and analyzing big data to identify money laundering, fraudulent transactions, anti-social elements etc. as a part of their job. While on one hand, data analytics and machine learning is used in applications to make this world a safer place, we have companies selling sensitive social data to influence political campaigns. Data is wealth, and that is why we must talk more about trust and integrity around it. Man is a ‘social-media’ animal! I believe, the young generation needs to be taught about how to protect their data, on their smart devices, social media channels etc. However pedantic and excessive it may sound, lets start by learning & teaching data protection 101 now more than anything.
Hybridize Jobs
With machines performing human tasks much more efficiently and faster, a lot of jobs are on a brink of extinction. Saadia Zahidi, the Head of Education, Gender and Work at the World Economic Forum, predicts that in the future up to 47% of jobs may be automated away. Having said that, however robust our technologies get, certain values like team work, leadership and moral judgement can never be coded, and human intervention will always be required in such instances. Secondly, as our basic requirements get outsourced to non-humans, we must work towards:
- sustaining our environment,
- enhancing our culture, languages & art
- improving our EQ, through spirituality, travel and history
- revising academic curriculum and teaching the right skills
Additionally, its the right time to hybridize our job functions and integrate machines optimally. As Erik Brynjolfsson, director at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, has rightly pointed out that we (humans) want to be working with the machines and not competing with them!
