Will Machines Ever Out-Smart Humans? [Insight On Cognitive Computing And Internet Of Things]

Introduction

It is no longer news that the concept of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence has been gaining grounds lately. But before now, we have been made to believe that machines are overtly subject to our own intelligence, but have you ever imagined that these machines can actually evolve with human-like smartness; or even better? Okay before you scream "science fiction!!", just hang on for a while. In this survey, we will be looking at Cognitive Computing, and of course, how it relates to the Internet of Things (IoT)

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Concept of Cognitive Computing

I'll try to break this down for easier understanding. We all know that the human brain can relate with the sense organs in the body in order to acquire knowledge through experiences, which would enable it to make logical decisions and also form ideas in relation to the perceived experiences. For example; if someone gives you a description of a scorpion; even without seeing it; you can form a mental picture of the little creature with a long tail and a nasty sting. In order words; our brain empowers us for cognition, which enables us to relate with our environment, and also to from perceptions of the world around us.

In the same way, cognitive computing is the Machine Learning ability to replicate the same thought process found in humans; but in a computerized framework. It is worthy to note that the cognitive computing is actually a subdiscipline of Artificial Intelligence, though there are obvious differences. In Artificial Intelligence however, the machine focuses majorly on performing some specific functions or tasks. Like the chatbot (which runs on AI) only has some specific functions. And in the same way, the self-driving car cannot function as your personal digital assistant.

But some may ask; aren't there some types of AI that can actually multitask? The answer is "yes there are" - and that is where the technology of cognitive computing comes into play. The idea behind the technology of cognitive computing is to combine the human-level of cognition, emotions (plus some efferent domain) and imagination with some machine-inherent abilities (like computational complexity, identification of patterns, etc) in a single framework or system. In order words, it is more like a personalized interaction between humans and machines.

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Let me use this scenario to buttress a point. According to this survey, for each passing day, there are about 2.5exabytes of data being generated worldwide. And the truth is this; the figure increases exponentially, even with the advances in computational technologies. At this rate, in a couple of years, we could be rolling out zettabytes of data in a single day. To make the above figures clearer:

1exabyte = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000bytes.
1zettabyte = 1,000exabytes.

And no doubt, this is way too much for the human brain; which is estimated to hold about 2.5petabytes of data [ref]. That means, the data generated is more than the amount of people making use of it.That is the reason we need some form of intelligent systems to handle such amount of information for us - and that is why "cognitive computing".

Surpassing the threshold

We've seen that the human abilities obviously have some limitations, and also, Artificial Intelligence has its own limitations - but in a case where the human abilities and Artificial Intelligence combines to form a hybrid system, what do you think would happen? Before now, computers have been thought to be meant for only calculations, data processing, and probably to store data. But in this age of digital transformation, many things have changed with the advent of Machine Learning.

In this age, people are so much concerned about personalized information. For example; the Digital Medical Assistant - which would provide you with medical advices. How would this work? Very simple; it would relate with a huge database of symptoms similar to the one you've provided, and it would relate to some possible causes of the symptoms and infer some solutions logically. Remotely, this would fit into the description of Artificial Intelligence. But in the case of cognitive computing; the system can also relate the information gotten from the database to a remote doctor-on-duty, who would give his own final analysis of the case. In clear terms, cognitive computing aids humans in making smarter and more intelligent decisions; while leveraging on the technology of Artificial Intelligence.

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For efficiency of the overall process, there is a need for the system to connect to other huge databases to lay hold on more information; hence the need for big data. Wassup with big data? This is a very large collection of structured and unstructured data - which includes voice data, images, videos, word document, social network, etc, and this does not necessarily conform to a specific database. According to this source, big data forms about 80% of the world's total data.

But cognitive systems can interact with these unstructured data and apply the acquired knowledge to solve a particular problem. For example: you can ask a very complex question, and the system would relate with the big data; and through a particular technology known as "question and answer technology", it would provide you with suitable answer at the instance of time. Note: This is very different from your normal search engines (like Google search) that use keywords and crawlers to provide answers.

This big data can however be linked together intelligently to form a network of Internet of Things (IoT)

Cognitive Computing and Iot

For a baseline knowledge of IoT, you can check this post. IoT is the Intelligent Interconnections of your devices (smartphones, cars, smart home appliances, smart office, etc) to a single hub. Now, in relation to the cognitive computing being integrated with IoT, an individual can have access; and incorporate cognitive abilities; to his/her digital devices or products.

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Let me use this scenario to make it clearer: Have you ever imagined that a point would come in which technology would even hold more of your personal health info; for example; than your private doctor? For example; you go to an automated soda outlet to grab some bottles of soda; on putting in your Unique Identification Code, it would relate with your details and pop up a voice note like this: "Hello Mr XYZ, your medical record shows you're diabetic and soda is not particularly healthy for you, you may consider changing the order to a bottle of water, because from the data related from your smart refrigerator, you just took the last bottle of water before coming out. Now technology is acting like a snitch right? Maybe that's the reason people have concluded that our devices could be spying on us, but in the real sense of it, these personalized information can be used for other purposes, like law-enforcement, emergency rescue mission, and all whatnot.

In the case of law enforcement; for example; if someone perpetuates a crime and he/she is on the run - the only thing needed to be done is to upload his/her details on the IoT watchlist, and every of his/her paths would be trailed for apprehension (from the smart CCTV camera, to the local train station ticketing platform, to cell phone signal triangulation). So you see, if you know you'll be nuked when you perpetuate a crime, you may think and retrace your steps (and we could have crime-freer cities). As a matter of precision, the potential applications of this are almost limitless. That's what the technology of cognitive computing can offer.

Conclusion

Advances in the field of Machine Learning have seen to the creation of super smart systems that can equate (or overtly out-perform) the human cognitive abilities. We have seen the technology of cognitive computing and how they are applied. The only thing left for us is to align ourselves to these technologies.

Thanks for reading

References for further reading:

• Techtarget.com/cognitive-computing
• Futurism/smarter_than_human_computers
• Framework of Big Data
• Techtarget.com/IoT

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