We live in the age of the smart machine.
Not the 18th century machine that clanks and roars, but the intelligent one that lives in the cloud and extends out to our fingers, our eyes, our homes, our cities, and our places of work.
This is indeed the century of AI, Shel and Irena, and there’s three interesting ramifications for me.
- The extension of intelligence to every thing: toilets, walls, windows, lights, speakers, clothes, chairs, tools, vehicles, infrastructure, and our very bodies (with implants) … to sum up: what I call “smart matter.”
- The interplay of this smart machine in all its configurations and avatars with culture and news and jobs and politics and society at large … whether via fake news or targeted political messaging or personalized advertising or robot bricklayers and lawyers and doctors.
- The impact on what it means to be human, to be social, and to become who you are in an age of ambient, dispersed intelligence and omni-connectedness.
These are areas that I’m interested in exploring deeper.