"But our Cloud's silver lining does all kinds of work for us and helps us accomplish more things faster than we could ever dream possible. We love our Cloud. We pay money, sometimes a lot of money, to 'touch' our Cloud and have our Cloud 'touch' us. Very soon our Cloud will 'think', and 'learn' and gain 'intelligence', and help us live in a better, safer, heathier 'smarter' planet. Our Cloud will embrace our lives and help us in all things."
My observation above "Very soon our Cloud will 'think', and 'learn' and gain 'intelligence'" is flawed in that many of those in the know would argue the Cloud is already inetelligent, self-educating, and indeed thinking. More correctly, the Cloud stores information - knowledge - and makes comparative analyses for the purpose of predicting future events. You hear it all the time called 'modelling'. In that sense then the Cloud is an intelligent, thinking 'entity'. Consider the following:
in·tel·li·gent (/inˈtelijənt/) Adjective
|
learn (/lərn/) Verb
|
think (/thingk/)
- to have a conscious mind, to some extent of reasoning, remembering experiences, making rational decisions, etc.
- to employ one's mind rationally and objectively in evaluating or dealing with a given situation
- to have a certain thing as the subject of one's thoughts
- to call something to one's conscious mind
- to consider something as a possible action, choice, etc.
Given these definitions, one can rightfully argue that information technology has evolved - and continues to evolve - to increasing levels of 'intelligence'.
Obvious, daily examples include computer modelling applied to predicting weather, financial activity, industrial processes, engineering design, disease evolution and genetic predisposition. Less visible yet critical applications include intelligence-gathering and analysis for military, law enforcement, and national security purposes popularly known as 'profiling'. The current gun-control propositions before Congress include 'profiling' existing and potential gun owners to help identify - predict if you will - individuals most likely to commit a serious violent crime. Does anyone remember the Tom Cruise movie "Minority Report"?
Less obvious, but nonetheless useful, are social-behavioral predictability functions including innumerable marketing research and consumer preference analytics.
My grocer sends coupons based on past purchasing patterns suggesting items they think I might also find to my liking. Barnes and Noble, Netflix, Amazon, Sears, and countless web researchers collect information to predict what might interest us, based on 'historical' consumer data. I say 'historical' with tongue-in-cheek since in most cases the predictability application is processing information real-time and making virtually instantaneous recommendations - i.e. in-store coupons printed at checkout, or eCoupons delivered to your smart phone while shopping.
My grocer sends coupons based on past purchasing patterns suggesting items they think I might also find to my liking. Barnes and Noble, Netflix, Amazon, Sears, and countless web researchers collect information to predict what might interest us, based on 'historical' consumer data. I say 'historical' with tongue-in-cheek since in most cases the predictability application is processing information real-time and making virtually instantaneous recommendations - i.e. in-store coupons printed at checkout, or eCoupons delivered to your smart phone while shopping.
So far, all of this seems to be a relatively positive thing. I am increasingly concerned however with the ease with which we justify information-gathering and analysis. I consider it legalized snooping. Inch by inch we are willingly relinquishing individual privacy for some higher 'good'.
but that's a whole other blog....
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