DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
  1. DZone
  2. Data Engineering
  3. Big Data
  4. Preparing for a Post-Mobile World [Video]

Preparing for a Post-Mobile World [Video]

In a future where robots and humans work side-by-side, one vision paints a picture of service portals and connected devices slowly replacing the current mobile paradigm.

Christian Sinai user avatar by
Christian Sinai
·
Steve Brown user avatar by
Steve Brown
·
Jan. 12, 17 · Opinion
Like (3)
Save
Tweet
Share
3.23K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

For years now, people have been saying, “It’s only a matter of time before robots are working alongside human beings.” But when the person making such a statement is Steve Brown (aka The Bald Futurist), it’s time to sit up and pay attention. According to Steve—formerly a futurist and chief evangelist at Intel—those robots and the tech behind them will soon change your business and your life.

At our latest FutureTalk in Portland, Ore.—co-hosted by our friends at NewTech—Steve laid out his vision for the fourth era of computing: a post-mobile world dominated by data, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT). In his fascinating talk, he painted a picture of the future that was both enlightening and exciting.

Smarter Than Your Average Bear

As IoT expands, so will the capabilities of the smart objects in our midst, Steve said. Imagine a teddy bear that can read books aloud to a child. Now imagine it translating an English book into Mandarin as it reads, teaching the child a second language in the process.

This smart bear is an example of what Steve calls “service portals”—objects through which multiple services can be sold. According to Steve, in the future, products will become less important than the experiences to which they give customers access.

stevebrownService portals are particularly powerful because of the “control loops” they enable. With smart objects come a near-infinite quantity of sensors, each generating data that businesses can use to their advantage. One chain of Chinese coffee shops, for example, already chooses which style of music to play for its customers based on the number of smartphones it detects over in-store Wi-Fi: loud and fast at peak times to keep people moving, slow and relaxed during quiet periods so customers linger longer.

People as Packages

Hand-in-hand with IoT comes the explosion of artificial intelligence. Whether we realize it or not, Steve said, AI is “already everywhere”—in e-signature recognition, search and text prediction, precision marketing, and so on. In the coming years, it will be even more pervasive and ubiquitous. “Expect it to be transformational,” he stressed.

One example is autonomous vehicles. As we embrace self-driving cars, Steve said, we will also come to regard people as “packages.” That means delivering humans from A to B exactly like a parcel, with tracking numbers, security codes, and so on. He describes a scenario where getting your children to the soccer pitch could be as simple as securing them in a pod and inputting a code shared with the teacher who will be receiving them on the other end—and just as safe as if you were to drive them yourself.

Hope for Humanity

So what about those robots we’ll be working alongside? Steve predicted a more intelligent division of labor, with humans and technological systems each deployed in ways that capitalize on their respective strengths while limiting the impact of their respective weaknesses. Machines, after all, are great for strength, endurance, and speed. They’re unfazed by complexity, unbiased, and incapable of being bored by banal, repetitive tasks. Humans, meanwhile, offer creativity, dexterity, and empathy. Your humanity, in other words, is a trait that will stand you in good stead in the job market of the future.

To discover what Steve means by “data spirals” (and why all businesses should embrace them), learn why social media platforms will soon be more accurately described as “life platforms,” and hear why “going with your gut” will likely be a sign of foolishness rather than courage, watch his full FutureTalk in the video below:


IoT

Published at DZone with permission of Christian Sinai, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • A Complete Guide to AngularJS Testing
  • Spring Cloud: How To Deal With Microservice Configuration (Part 1)
  • Type Variance in Java and Kotlin
  • How to Develop a Portrait Retouching Function

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: