Information technology forever evolving
Since the invention of modern computers, we’ve seen an intensifying pace at which technology is thundering forward. So to try to predict what information technology is going to look like in the future needs tempering with how far in the future we are looking.
Also, not to mention, what aspect of life we’re talking about. As “big tech” comes rolling through it seems to be permeating into all corners of what we do as humans. One thing is for sure, Information technology is forever evolving and changing in ways we may not have been able to imagine only ten or twenty years ago.
New job niches created by broader innovative shifts in technology
One thing that is evidently clear is the impact technology is going to have on the employment sector. Robots, AI and the proliferation of hi-tech devices are hurtling us forward to almost replacing the human body and lower aspects of the human mind.
When I say the lower aspect of the mind I’m talking the more rational, logic orientated functions of the mind. The higher aspects of the mind being more abstract being able to relate seemingly unrelated things. So, I can see that employment positions that require the individual to oversee the bigger picture of a work environment as being favoured, more useful.
Let me illustrate one type of employment scenario that may play out. If an office worker spends a lot of time obtaining information from customers and clients and enters that information into forms to post to computer systems, it’s very likely this type of job will be replaced in the not too distant future. As fragmented computer networks become more standardised and interoperable, data will be shared much easier without the need for human intervention.
Facilitated by artificial intelligence, being able to make data from one system translate or “fit” another system will be more and more commonplace. However, the individual that monitors and audits the information flow of these systems could be very much in demand as this requires being aware of multiple aspects and comparing that to a company’s changing requirements.
Retail Shopping Self-Checkout and Beyond
With the increased popularity of online shopping, it’s clear that the traditional bricks and mortar stores have taken a hit. Not only that, the push for more automated methods of self-checkout seem to be taking place. And what new job role have we seen emerge? The self-checkout assistant. The person that monitors and overviews multiple self-service checkouts in case customers have problems.
What I have observed is that these people not only have to deal with customers not able to use the system, but also technical quirks that arise. These are things that will no doubt be improved in time but there is a definite theme to the future of information technology. And that is that it’s pushing and continue to push employees more and more into positions overseeing computer systems. A modern version of the master and slave if you will.
OK, you might say the future of bricks and mortar is going to be like the Amazon Go stores cropping up where all you have to do is pick up the items that you want and walk out of the store. I’d say you’d probably be right in that assumption.
However, to make the experience flow smoothly there will naturally be a shift of employment from cashier to overseeing computer systems that make it all possible. Anyway, I think I pushed that point enough! Human up here, computer down there.
Agriculture Taking On Scientific Analysis
Agriculture and food production appears to be a big beneficiary of emerging AI technologies. Machines such as drones helping to monitor and collect data from crops and livestock. This in turn allowing networked systems to analyse water levels, soil nutrients, changes in weather and temperature. Increasingly farmers will be empowered to make decisions based on a multitude of data that simply wasn’t easily available for previous generations.
Other areas of farming impacted also include management of risk brought by better pest control. Not to mention typical instabilities as a result of labour shortages.
A website worth exploring where farming is going is Future Farming. There are heaps of articles on a broad range of topics.
Medicine and the future of healthcare
As we all know medicine and healthcare is taking leaps and bounds due to advancements in technology. So many, that I won’t go into any details in this article.
What I did want to have a look at is a more visionary look at the future of healthcare. While not a reality now I do feel that we are heading into a world like what Siemens Healthineers is painting here in their future concept of healthcare. If you can get beyond the sterility of this video I can see a more awkward, grungy version of this happening.
Programming moving towards natural language instructions
With the recent release of GPT-3, programming language processing has made a giant leap towards programming computers using everyday spoken language. In short, the divide between the language of machines and the language of humans is narrowing. It’s expected this line will blur over the coming years.
For anyone that isn’t familar with GPT-3, see some of these articles to gain some further insight into what it can do…
- Deep Learning Trends: top 20 best uses of GPT-3 by OpenAI
- Crazy GPT-3 Use Cases
- What is GPT-3? Everything your business needs to know about OpenAI’s breakthrough AI language program
Also, this youtube video from Coldfusion raises some interesting questions, “From Essays to Coding, This New A.I. Can Write Anything“.
Where do we go from here? The need for a more widespread computer literacy
The future of information technology can be a bright one. We take the reigns and understand how it affects us.
If you opt-out and allow the growth of this beast to be dictated by a select few we risk communities being unnecessarily divided by the have and have notes. Or more correctly the knows and not knows.
Get involved and learn more about computing by visiting the Website Library. It contains a bunch of curated tutorials. Course content is accessible totally free.