The emulation of human behavior and our road to singularity

Humans learn from history and machines learn from humans. Throughout the years, humans have learned from the past to make better decisions about the future. Using both historical data and predictive algorithms, we have been able to predict things like climate change, business forecast, customer segmentation, and many more. Unfortunately, with all predictions and data in place comes a considerable amount of uncertainty. Artificial intelligence seeks to improve the gap between certainty and uncertainty so better decisions yield a ‘not uncertain’ result.

With the world advancing at a rapid rate, we see an improvement in the devices we own. As computers, mobile phones, and even refrigerators grow in utility, the pivotal point comes when these utilities turn into experiences that make life both easier and more interesting. This happens when our devices are so well taught, that they become their own versions of you. All based on your previous activity and inputs. Thus emulating human behavior.

Deep learning (DL), machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) are subsets of each other that we experience in our daily lives.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A system that can accomplish the same tasks that a human can, but using human input. One would find themselves having human experiences with these devices that allows you to include them in the process. Machine learning is an evolvement of AI.

Machine Learning (ML)

A system that is able to make predictions and take decisions based on past data. This is already ahead of human intelligence because it can look at this data and analyze it at a faster and more accurate rate. In a way, deep learning is an evolvement of machine learning.

Deep Learning (DL)

A system that thinks and learns like humans but using neural networks (NN). NN’s are the artificial brain behind AI and they use statistical models and patterns to become smarter. The more data and processing power a DL application has, the more useful it becomes to the user.

The Singularity refers to a point in time, in the next few decades, that artificial super-intelligence evolves to an irreversible state. Futurists like Ray Kurzweil, predict that by 2045 the processing power of the most powerful machine will allow them to become artificially intelligent enough to surpass human intelligence. This processing power and an algorithm that reverse engineers the human conscience will alone allow any machine to process and mimic human behavior at a faster pace. But with more power comes more responsibility to keep this power controlled. These computers can become so powerful that they become out of our control, even if the power is shut, they’ll create a secret back-up power generator that we have no control over.

But don’t get me wrong, if AI is developed right, A LOT of good will come out of this:

• World hunger ends because of nano robots creating food at an astronomical rate
• Revert climate change
• Cure virtually all diseases that exist
• Fix all political and economical crisis’s
• and maybe even human immortality in some shape or form

Artificial Intelligence could be the best thing to happen to humanity or the worst. If things go wrong, then the extinction of humanity is at risk. That’s why corporations hiring data scientists and AI developers should also hire people to keep us safe from AI. That way, the singularity won’t be the last thing humans invent.

TECHin2: Blockchain Technology

A paradigm shift in social behavioral economics

Blockchain technology is a new method of record keeping. It is a distributed ledger (essentially a public database/excel sheet) that is immutable, anonymous, but most importantly, public for everyone to see.

To really understand blockchain it’s important to think about how your typical transaction is done today. If you wanted to move your money from point A to point B, you usually rely on a bank, a money transfer company, or any central authority to facilitate your transaction.

The problem with having a single point of failure is that a system becomes immune to human fallibility, hacks, or any source of corruption that has existed in the past, and continues to exist today.

Taking a step back, the heart of transactions is trust and consistency. Without those — you can’t have a proper economic exchange.

What blockchain does is it shifts the trust away from people and institutions and instead puts it in technology. Allowing millions of strangers around the world to be both honest and reliable.

To put this all in perspective, here is a video that walks a you through a real world example where blockchain technology can be used and how eliminating a middle-man is the next step to scaling a trustless system:

This business model can be applied to any industry with a centralized authority or even a monopoly.

A common misconception I’ve heard is is that blockchain is bitcoin or bitcoin is blockchain. That isn’t the case, bitcoin is just the first currency to be built on top of a blockchain — essentially basing it on a distributed ledger.

Although bitcoin’s downward spiral happened in 2018, that doesn’t necessarily affect the underlying technology that is blockchain technology.

Thousands of patents were submitted in 2018 all racing for the next breakthrough with this tech and thanks to modern capitalism, it propagates from here.

Institutional disconfirmation is the idea that with every disruption or new idea that flourishes, there will be a bigger group backfiring that idea. JP Morgan — being one of the biggest investment banks in the world went from being anti-bitcoin/anti-blockchain to creating the JPM Coin — a blockchain based currency enabling the instantaneous transfer of payments between institutional accounts.

The internet (that you’re using to read this article) had a similar history to blockchain technology. It started with ARPANET in the 1960s as a way to set up multiple networks under the same military umbrella. Until its closure in the early 1980s. But the turning point was the introduction of the World Wide Web in 1989 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee with the initial intention of helping scientists collaborate information and share research. Now, the internet is the fastest growing industry the world has ever seen, exponentially faster than the industrial revolution in the 18th-19th century.

“Speculation drives innovation and innovation drives adoption. This is just the beginning of a new era for democratizing the internet.”