Thoughts on Technology, Automation & AI - Where we are Now & Where we are Heading

An Era of Digital Glass Screens, Social Media, Data, Big Tech Firms & Digital Reality

I strongly believe that we are entering unprecedented territory with regards to technological capabilities. Technology has an inherent role in almost all aspects of our lives in today’s world. We wake up in the morning and we turn on our TV to watch the news on a digital glass screen. When we go to work and school we probably work on a laptop or another digital glass screen. While on our breaks from work and classes OR probably during office and lecture time we look at more digital glass screens (our smartphones) and tune in to our social media feeds to see what is abuzz. At the crack of our fingertips, we can see what the president is tweeting, where our friends are, what they are doing and what they are thinking or at least projecting to us based on their Snapchat, Facebook & Instagram feeds. We browse global current events in politics, the economy, or memeland. We come home by ordering an Uber ride and we tune in to our headphones and stream music from Spotify. When we get back home we watch our favorite TV shows from Netflix, browse our favorite items and purchase them with one click on Amazon without stepping foot into a local retail shop and Google whatever questions of the universe we have. We may also browse through our favorite Reddit communities and see what strangers who think similarly and about similar obscure topics have to say on said obscure topics unfiltered and raw to their deepest thoughts that they would reveal online but never offline.

I think the past decade has been an era of digital glass screens, growing cloud and data usage & consumption as well as the rise of Big Tech Companies. Notice all the companies I said or referenced in the previous paragraph are Big Tech Companies & Startups (Amazon, Google, Apple, Samsung, Spotify, Netflix, Snapchat, Facebook, Reddit, Uber) that have disrupted our own lives in major ways. These tech companies have a bad habit of selling our data, violating our privacy and reaping billions of dollars through targeted advertising without paying us a penny (without end users realizing the monetization occurring in the back end - every time you click through media or a website, you reveal your preferences to these companies, which sell your data). [However, now we have upcoming decentralized platforms and blockchain companies that are working on remedying this and rewarding you for your data (I am highly bullish on platforms such as these - Datum, Dtube, Steemit, and with cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech which seek to reward end users for their data or content).]

The amount of time we spend throughout the day looking at various digital glass screens probably damages the hell out of our retinas but we can’t stop. We need another hit of information and we are living in an era of information overload. We are living in an era of increasing connectedness with the cloud, internet and we communicate much better or more often with people online or virtually then we do in reality or in person which is ironically making us more disconnected. Are social networks really that "social"? We are living in two worlds now - the real world & a digital reality.

I believe that this is just the beginning of the rise of Big Tech Firms, and we have far more exciting and, quite frankly, scary innovations to come in the next decade. Basically, most of what you have seen in Sci-Fi films have either come true or will come true. Flying Cars, High-Rise Buildings that go above the Clouds and whatever else you have seen will probably be a reality within this century itself. And that is almost crazy to write but completely imaginable and possible when you start to unravel the pace at which we are moving with automation and AI.

Everything is Tech

Everything is tech today - Fintech, Biotech, Nanotech. Finance is converging with tech, hence Fintech and the blockchain and Cryptocurrency revolution that is set to disrupt the financial services industry as well as many others. We have Medicine converging with tech, hence Biotech, where doctors and scientists are working on stem cell treatments and life enhancing medicine. We are working on Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality to enhance User Experience of Entertainment be it video games or Porn. Even cigarette companies are trying to adopt smokeless technologies and Vape or E-cig devices for millenials who are worried about tobacco risks.

A race to the top – How Automation & AI will Disrupt Employment by 2030

We are undergoing a massive revolution and with this revolution will come heavy disruption, change, pain as well as wonder. We have fear and agony that we might lose our jobs and that almost no career is shielded from breakthroughs in AI, automation or robotisation. In fact, McKinsey Consulting published a 2017 report, that by 2030, 15-30% of jobs would be disrupted due to preexisting technological capabilities in 2017. Who knows what capabilities tech will have in 5, 10 or 15 years from now. We are going to have self-programmable AI software and robots that can teach themselves due to machine learning and neural network research being heavily researched and invested in. This self-learning mechanism means that robots and AI will be able to do what humans can do better and more efficiently, without mistakes and without pay. Since executives in all industries are always looking at cost-savings and efficiency as a metric, they are hungry for this type of technology and are already making massive investments so they can achieve a higher ROI and cut payroll down the line. Of course this revolution is starting at the bottom so people on higher rungs of the socioeconomic ladder think they are untouchable but are they really? Yes, the retail cashier-clerks, the Uber, Lyft & truck drivers will be the first to go because of self-service checkout and autonomous vehicles. UPS & FedEx workers might not be delivering packages to your doorstep because drones will be doing it for you.

But where does this hunger for cost-savings stop? And how far will AI go before it takes away jobs on higher rungs. After all higher rungs of the ladder mean higher payroll costs, which executives want to cut. Sure in 5-10 years it may start with the jobs that may be easily automated. But in 5-10 years’ time from now AI will be advanced up until the point it can knock out white collar jobs such as Lawyers, Accountants & Surgeons. I foresee a race to the top where corporate executives will use AI & automation to knock out the bottom rungs of the ladder and move up higher to cut payroll costs and salaries and attain a higher ROI and bottom line. Even if there are managers who don't want to resort to these tactics, there will be competitors that will, and these managers can be forced to do so to stay in business and stay at the same productivity rates. I foresee growing income inequality and increasing unemployment rates. And my biggest fear is that none of us are really prepared for the disruptions set to come. We have seen disruptions from Robotisation and from Automation already taking place but when you add AI in the mix, what job isn’t replaceable? There is an argument that government will need to regulate, but what Politicians are talking about these topics today? There is even the argument, that apart from taking away jobs, AI and automation will also create jobs. And that is true, but at what pace will we adapt and keep adapting as the pace keeps getting faster? The problem here is that technology is growing at a faster rate (exponential - See Moore's Law) than humans will be able to adapt.

[The Rise of the Machines - Why Automation is Different this Time](

McKinsey Global Institute - 2017 Report on Workforce Disruptions due to Automation
Ray Kurzweil Ted Talk - How Technology will Transform us

Comments - I did take a more pessimistic view and tone of technology and automation in my article to showcase the pitfalls of rapidfire technological innovation because I believe that while there are aspects of technology that are great and have certainly improved aspects of our lives, I think they have cost us in regards of other aspects, and I also believe that the innovation of the upcoming decades will be unprecedented and redefine our economy in challenging ways. I also think that most people (millenials especially) use technology in high doses and can relate to certain topics of my article but am not sure if people are taking a step back from it all and wondering where we are ultimately heading, especially with the onset of new advances in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. While I believe that these may be beneficial in the Long (looooong) -run and help us solve some of our biggest challenges such as Global Warming, Clean Energy, Space Exploration & perhaps Poverty, I do not think that we will be r eady for the transition that will take place in the coming decade or two, nor do I know how we could be ready.

I'd love to hear your comments and what your thoughts are on what I got right or what I may have missed as well as any of the topics I mentioned - technology, social media, automation, AI and the economy & where we are now vs. where we are heading. Thanks for reading!