Taking the Human out of the Loop, or Give My Regards to Captain Dunsail (by gins, 23 Apr 14)
Almost every week we read of another disaster,
and all too often, the cause is not mechanical, but human - a cruise ship off
Italy, a jet over the Indian Ocean, and more recently, a ferry off the coast of
Korea. Closer to home, and covered only by the local papers, are the
ones that impact our local communities - a highway fatality, or an amber alert.
As a society, we run a fine balance between autonomy and control, between
the value of a human life and the power of technology to protect it. But
what if we’ve now reached an inflection point, where the machine, and by
extension, the Internet of Things, is now ready to become our protector? Where we now have the ability to secure our
skies, our waters, and even our highways and schools. Sure, there are
times when the machines fail, but this is more the exception, and the odds that
the human may fail in judgment are in fact far greater.
The technologies are available today – just look
at Google’s autonomous vehicles and the states that have embraced them, jets
that can land on their own and the transition of global navigation to GPS, and
sensors that can track people and objects based on Bluetooth Low Energy,
ensuring that your loved ones have arrived safely at school. In fact, I’m
taking delivery shortly of a BMW i3 that includes something called Active
Driving Assistant and Active Cruise Control, as well as other under-the-hood Teutonic
magic. On my way into work, it will vibrate if I’ve left a lane, brake
I’m too close to the car in front of me (even if distracted), and even warn me
if a pedestrian crosses my path. Not
quite Google, but a heck of a lot cheaper!
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| BMW Active Driving Assistant |
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| Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy - Internet of Things |
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| Google |
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| BMW i3 |
Are we giving up that much by turning over
control to something that doesn’t get tired, stress-out over the kids, get
overly emotional, and can react in a millisecond? Throughout history,
humans have embraced technology – fire, plumbing, steam, electricity, and
modern medicine. Isn’t this just the next logical step? We’re not
talking about a world of Skynet, ARIAA, and the M-5, but if you ask anyone who has
experienced some form of calamity firsthand, I’m sure you’d get no pushback.
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| M-5 |
