Great disruptions both in technology and in the lives of people, have taken place in the past, be it the industrial or IT revolutions. People during the early times, when a steam engine or a printing press was invented, were both thrilled and dismayed. Thrilled because there was new hope and meaning to life. Dismayed for they had believed the developments could disrupt their serene lives. IT revolution also did the same to people. The typewriter was discarded for a computer keyboard. People were in awe of a mainframe computer occupying the space of a living room, that could do millions of calculations in a matter of minutes. That a small smartphone that sits in a shirt pocket has replaced ten such mainframes in computing power today, is certainly great innovation and enterprise of human mind and calibre. However, it is an irony of the times we live in, that the makers of such smartphones constantly flood the markets with more and more computing power and even more technologically challenging applications every six months.
Marketing and customer behaviour is a smart topic these days. New markets are being created for pushing devices that people are better off without, technology driving such initiatives. Digital marketing using internet and online digital technologies, products and services is being pursued with great zeal. A thought to ponder. Would our lives stop if Twitter, Facebook Instagram or LinkedIn were to go off air suddenly? There are huge research teams who spend millions of man hours, effort and time on human psychological analysis and pry into human minds. They are supported by these social media platforms driven companies who retrofit the outcomes into smart applications whose only purpose is create an immersive experience or hold the people in a trance. Agenda for such characterisation could vary from pure entertainment to more sinister like engineering strife and discord. Product placements happen in this milieu with advertisers and the platforms raking in the spoils. Mass hypnotisation would probably a better euphemism. Have we not hypothecated our creativity and mental abilities to these so-called smart devices and applications?
There is nothing happening otherwise due to Covid, with job markets looking bearish and people looking for a vent to release their frustrations. Is it any surprise that the people are constantly glued to those smart devices as if their whole life depended on them? Where then are we heading? Were our lives any less entertaining and interesting when we had our families to spend time with? Human relationships and bonds cannot be junked away for some electronically created fantasies.
The truth However, is more damning. We are being drawn into the quagmire even more. At least six super technologies are holding sway over us and will have a profound stamp on the human psyche. Let’s see what these are.
The first is the Internet of things that describes a network of physical objects or “things” embedded with sensors, software, and multiple other technologies, so they connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet. A smart city, smart hospital, smart highway, smart factory are all its manifestations. Connected ambulances, intelligent medical devices, connected traffic cameras and smart grids are all its proteges.
3D printing is another that has several avatars. Additive manufacturing, Rapid prototyping, subtractive machining and stereolithography are its children, each born with an extremely intuitive mindset. What do they do for us? They can create virtually any shape under the sun. if a damaged skull or a damaged face is to be replaced, if made to order implants instead of the traditional surgical steel implants are called for, if an intricate jewellery design is needed to embellish the neck of a heroine in a masala film or if an AK 47 is needed for a sinister plot, think of 3D printing.
Third in the storyline of technology-based disruptions, is the Robotic process automation. It uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning capabilities to handle high volume repeatable tasks that include queries, calculations, maintenance of records and transactions. It is ubiquitous today. We see its use in workflow, business, infrastructure, and back-office transaction process applications. Whether it is customer service, credit card processing, fraud detection or general ledger, it is all RPA. In fact, any process that is repetitive and error prone is a candidate for RPA. Ever wondered how KYC is done? RPA is the wonder kid.
After the soft version, the hard version. Robot technology is the new overlord in our lives. Robots are programmable machines to carry out a complex series of actions automatically. ‘Robot’ in Czech-language means ‘forced labour’ and was first used by Karl Capek a fiction writer. ‘Robotics’, its study was coined by the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. From robotic surgeries, drones, autonomous vehicles, instrumentation, manufacturing, agriculture, entertainment, law enforcement and warfare, they have invaded the world in a way that we may not yet realise.
Blockchain, that oft repeated word, these days is yet another technology that will define and redefine our lives for many eons to come. It is a distributed private open/closed database where records are kept tamper proof by virtue of its technical implementation alone. That it enables decentralised authority with a 3rd party intermediary no longer required is as much a boon even as it seeks a change in mindset. We are already seeing its use in sharing medical data, NFT marketplaces, Cross-border payments, Real-time IoT operating systems, Personal identity security, Anti-money laundering tracking systems, Supply chain and logistics monitoring. Before long, it will be all over the place.
Finally, we will be swamped with AR/VR technology soon, what with having to reach out to asynchronous learners over the internet. Online education does not have an emotional connect. Can Augmented or Virtual reality help us in this space? Augmented technology superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world providing a composite view, whereas virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of a 3D image or an environment.
Lyndon Johnson former US president once said, “If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.” Is the technology pulling away people from each other?