The World Wide Web, The Internet and The Cloud
The World Wide Web, The Internet and The Cloud
In 1983 ARPANET adopted the TCP/IP protocol for what was then called the ‘network of networks.’ Seven years later, computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, or what we would later refer to as the Internet.
As a backbone for connectivity, the Internet initially allowed stand-alone PC’s to share data. This sharing required users to define themselves and on-line security protocols to be developed. With this base of identity, control and access, what came next was a equivalent to an digital terraform, where entire societies of virtual personalities began to interact without geographical or societal constraints. The Internet provided the third component of the Intelligence Age: Collaboration.
Commercial use of the Internet quickly took hold in the early 1990’s, initially with static promotion sites that evolved into today’s on-line marketing, underground and non-traditional communication that later became on-line media and basic transactioning that became grew into what we call today’s eCommerce. Corporations later adopted Intranets, secured web sites with limited access for internal communications while individual users found new ways to interact via social networking.
In August 2006, internal and external usage collided into the current version of the Internet. During an Internet industry conference, Google CEO Eric Schmidt dusted off a 1960’s telephony term to describe a vision of unexpurgated access to information, processing and collaboration by both consumers and business on any mobile device of their choosing. Thus “the Cloud” was born as both a web-based architecture and a global Internet marketing term.
Now…The Intelligence Age
Now…The Intelligence Age
While the Information Age matured over the past three decades, futurists, scientists and engineers have envisioned a time where computing technology could work predictively. True, much literature and cinema put this capability in the hands of androids. And, as cool as that will be someday, the nearer future is where computing technologies ranging from our PC’s, tablets, smartphones, automobiles, appliances, etc. begin to act in concert with each other to pre-automate processes on our behalf. Today’s Internet of Things (IoT) is a great example of this approach. Smart, yes but intelligent, no.
IoT represents a conglomeration of static processes into a unified outcome. The next iteration of this is the conglomeration of dynamic processes into a unified outcome, based on the formulaic weighting of the fourth component of the Intelligence Age: Fluidity.
Today’s tools do not require any contextual consideration to make an optimized decision. AI, by definition, should include a decision-making process, otherwise it would just be another “smart” device strung in with other static processes. To make that decision, the computation needs to evaluate inputs, weigh a set of variables and then decide on and orchestrate an event based on the optimal solution of the context, which may change of the time.
Camera’s are an example of IoT. Many people have security cameras in their home, or outside. Today’s cameras are “static”, they might alert you when there’s movement, might start recording at certain times of the day, but by no means are they smart yet along intelligent. Some consumer camera technologies are becoming “smart”, by being able to identify who is in view of the camera – for example you really don’t want to be alerted when you come home, but you do want to know when a stranger approaches the house. This is currently available in expensive business systems, and will make its way into consumer technology. However, the next level is having the camera system integrate into the house system and when it detects you car coming home will open the garage door, unlock the door and disable the alarm system. It’s a combination of the integration between the IoT devices (car, camera, home etc) and the computation ability and their associated algorithms that leads to the fluidity.
The Industrial Age
The Industrial Age
The evolution of commercial and consumer technology has been on an accelerated trajectory. From the 1860’s to the 1960’s, a mere century in the span of humanity, we went from horse-drawn carriages to steam locomotion to flight to landing on the moon. The activities that define the Industrial Age were investments and advancements lent to the mass production and distribution of common items, initially crude elements like coal, oil and lumber and later packaged goods and prefabricated products, including automobiles.
But alongside these manufacturing improvements came process improvements, communications capabilities and many of the other attributes that we now take for granted in our personal and work lives. The single-most impactful of these inventions was the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell’s invention created the first component of the Intelligence Age: Communication.
Prior to the telephone, social communication was conducted through formal correspondence – letters, memorandum and telegraphs – that conveyed specific intents, actions and consequences. That formality even drove our personal interactions, which even the most spontaneous of included the etiquette of the day.
The telephone changed all that, providing a channel for individuals to connect with each other to interact, inform and communicate on a whim. In the early 1900’s, the telephone evolved from a business device to a household device. Today it’s almost a fashion accessory where nearly every individual in modern societies has one for all types of fluid communications.
How we got here
How we got here
Without a doubt, the two most important inventions in modern time are the telephone and the personal computer. Each tool helped usher in a new age of technology and change the face of business and our personal lives. As we migrate to the Intelligence Age, it makes sense to take a moment to evaluate how we got here.
The Bait and Switch
The Bait and Switch
This may book may not be what you thought it would be. There are plenty of publications that address AI from a development angle, a commercial angle and even from a philosophical angle. This book addresses AI from a governance perspective (If a tree hears the word governance in a forest, does it still make a yawn?) Yeah, don’t put this down yet. Governance in AI involves those algorithms we mentioned earlier, those calculations that culminate in decision the drive actions that work in our favor.
These calculations are incredibly intriguing. Let me give you an example: Say for instance, the biomonitors I your clothing do, in fact, detect a pending stroke. What’s to keep your shirt from letting you die? Maybe the governing algorithms calculate your weight, alcohol consumption and genetic history and conclude that the best decision is to let the stroke occur so that your heart can be given to another person with higher probability of happiness? Just as my Nest thermostat can sense when I’m coming home and adjust take action, what keeps my bio-monitor from sensing a heart attack or stroke and not taking action? The answer is AI governance. Still want to put this book down?