Digital Transformation - The Humanity of It

At the 2017 Honeywell Users Group, I had the opportunity to listen to Scott Klososky with Future Point of View, who spoke on Digital Transformation. However, he addressed it from the point of view of humanity. He opened with the question: “How does technology affect humanity?”  Then he asked, “Are we happier?” Unfortunately, no.

To level set, he provided a definition of Digital Transformation as being “all about connecting things that have never been connected before.”  Mr. Klososky then recounted the advancement of connection in the modern age.  He indicated that the first iteration was Web 1.0 (~1995) where we witnessed the connected organization.  Suddenly, organizations became global.  The next iteration was Web 2.0 (~2005) where people became connected people. Now people are connected globally cheaply through things like email, Facebook, Skype, etc. In Web3.0 (~2014), we moved to connected devices. This connectivity helps us live better.  Soon, the speaker indicated we would enter Web 4.0 (~2022) which would be era of connected cognitive platforms or ambient intelligence. This will change how information is delivered.

Mr. Klososky posits that Web 5.0 will connected people and technology.  At this point, he predicts the “transhuman,” where humans become an augmented species.  Imagine, if you will, conversations like “Little Johnny needs an implant.  All the kids are getting them. He won’t be able to compete in school.” He noted that there will be a movement from mobiles to wearables and eventually “implantables.” As a society, we have an addiction to connection.

Society is becoming immersed in data and information. Data is everywhere. Communication with other humans has become frictionless (except for the psychology behind communication).  Mr. Klososky noted the rise of citizen journalists which he attributed to cheap global communication.

Moving to the topic of robotics and software automation, he predicts that 35 percent of jobs will disappear over the next 20 years.  He then introduced the term “Humology” which he defined as the balance between humans and technology.  Currently, we are moving away from humans to technology.  This is what he called the Age of Entanglement. As an example, he played a video advertising a product called Spün (pronounced ‘spoon’) and acknowledge that it seems strange to the older audience, but will be normal to younger generations.

Changing topics, Mr. Klososky stated that the audience must be able to see 3-5 years out. He called this preemptive vision or high-beam vision. This is important because it's about reaction time, when you act. (BTW: there’s this great company called ARC Advisory Group that helps companies with this very thing, but you already know that.) As an example, he noted that now we have an audio connection to a shared AI (artificial intelligence). Soon we will have visual AI. Then, we will have personal AI; an AI that learns about you and who you are.  Other “high beam” items he listed were hyper-personalization, cognitive & collective computing, CyberMafia 2.0: extortion by organized crime that attacks by social engineering (people are the greatest cybersecurity weak point), conversational AI assistance, and an expansion of self-serve capabilities (people won’t want people in the middle.)

He noted that automation started with mechanical technology replacing physical work. Digital automation is replacing white collar jobs. In this situation, what becomes the role of the human? He stated that most movies on the subject are extremely bleak concerning such a future. Mr. Klososky asked, “Why can't we see a positive future?” Machines free people from mundane.

He expects that self-learning systems which are cognitive will adapt, predict, and learn on its own. This technology will explode automation. There is currently work to code curiosity into AI. This will lead to unpredictable improvement. There will be questions around ethics that will need to be addressed by the technology, and it will solve issue that humans can't. A question for though, when technology is making decisions, who is ultimately responsible?

Mr. Klososky gave a charge to the audience stating that engineers & technologists are change agents, but they have problems getting buy-in from management.  He recommended that the audience learn to articulate the ROI (return on investment) clearly. Document the details and help management visualize the benefits. When a project is approved, deliver on time and budget.

He closed with this question, “What legacy will you leave?”