The Data Flow Economy
I like it when the future catches up with you.
In 2000 I read a science fiction novel by Greg Bear called Slant, and my jaw hit the floor. Why? Because it was a story that was spookily aligned to a new venture that I and others had instigated just six months before—and Slant was first published in 1997.
The wow moment came about because I could suddenly see where it could all go – Greg Bear was already painting the end game of what I took to be the start of something new. Continue reading
I Am Me
Once established a conscience entity cannot cease to be – because its own existence is a self fulfilling prophecy that if ended would result in a paradox.
It is because it is and to cease would require it to be aware of it no longer being.
This being the case on a purely metaphysical level alone and without needing to muddy the waters with concepts such as the Afterlife or the Divine.
Your Toilet Is Next
With the release of the Apple Watch came the announcement that the data it gathers will be handed over to IBM for analysis by its Watson supercomputer, the anonymized data seemingly to be crunched to generate a clinical output useful to the medical professions and insurers.
That such data, from such devices, be gathered and used in some manner such as this is in itself not surprising—indeed it was predictable. But where is it all going?
Well, your wrist isn’t going to be enough, that’s for sure. It offers a fair amount—heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure and location all being straightforward—but it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the real prize on offer.
RI not AI
There has been much discussion recently regarding fears around the development of Artificial Intelligence and the consequential extinction of the Human Race, the central tenet being that intelligent machines will rapidly exceed the abilities of humans and either turn on them or make them redundant.
I’m not so sure that this a likely outcome, though concede it is a possible outcome.