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The Rise of the Human

 

There was a time, not too long ago, when it was feared that computers would win a technological victory over humans and rule with cold, formulaic precision. But humans, being what they are, didn’t let it happen. Humans became creative with the technology—they used it for their own purpose—and that behavior is now reshaping business intelligence and launching a new age.

The Industrial Age is history. The Information Age is not far behind.

Structure is making way for the unstructured. The certainty of 2 + 2 = 4 is giving way to any number of answers. And before artificial intelligence can even be fully realized, human intelligence is trampling it into submission.

If the introduction of the Apple iPad (pictured above) does to media what the iPod did to music—which many predict—human beings are going to win again. It has the potential to make human life more unstructured, less binding, totally media-centric, and fully connected. It’s a tool that will yank people forward away from informational formulas and into the communication crossroads that business simply cannot ignore.

In an article by Brooke Alker titled, “The Next-Generation of Business Intelligence”, he makes the case that structured, internal data can take a business only so far today, and that it must be augmented by evidence from “the most unstructured corners of the Web.” He sees the semantic web filling in the gaps in business intelligence by putting human contribution squarely in the position of helping to forecast the future.

Foresight never comes from what has happened, it springs from what is happening right now, every minute, from every aspect of life.

Business is learning more each day that people are not that easy to control. Formulas, survey data, statistics, predictive calculations—while they all have value, the new business model must allow “life” to have a prominent place in the decision process.

When I refer to “life,” I’m talking about how people direct their lives based on their time, their money, and—most important—their love of what they choose to do. Human desire trumps just about every other aspect of human life as far as dictating behavior, defining human truth, and discovering signposts for the future. If you know peoples’ passions, observe their behavior, and listen to what they’re talking about—you’ll get a peek at what to expect. No 2 + 2 = 4 thinking will ever be as revealing as the human exceptions that prove 2 + 2 = 5.

What the pundits are calling Semantic Intelligence, we call Human Intelligence—the secret to why CultureWaves^® is so distinctly different from other intelligence gathering.

I’m often asked, what makes CultureWaves so different? My simple answer is: it’s because we give people the “WHY.” We go to the busy corners of the web where people are congregating; we listen to their conversations; and we report back on their behavior. We have people tagging this “life” through the use of human need-states, emotional attachments, and their own individual thinking. The results form human truths and human intelligence—factors that make business intelligence smarter because it’s based on what’s happening now, not what has happened. It extracts rich meaning and adds new relevance.

People have pirated technology. Their love of individuality and communication is now taking over business in the same way.

When people started building their own web sites in order to share life—their photos, their videos, and their comments—they didn’t do it to start businesses. They did it to communicate. Now business is following their lead as it enters the world of social media thus creating the dawn of the Communications Age. This dramatic shift is why the “life” aspect of CultureWaves is so valuable. It looks at life and applies it to business instead of the other way around. That “other way” was the way it used to work in the Information Age. Do you see that age disappearing? You should. In many ways…it’s already gone.

That’s it, from the edge of the world,

Bob

Note: “The Next-Generation of Business Intelligence” by Brooke Aker can be found at http://soa.sys-con.com/node/892846. Published December 21, 2009. Copyright © 2009 SYS-CON Media, Inc.

Image: Please click here for the link to the image at Reuters.com.

Make your next thought better than your last.

The first thought.

Whether you believe in evolution, or intelligent design, or creation by an uncreated god—think about this.

What was it like to have the first thought? When those synapses crackled for the first time, did somebody, whoever it was, think “me,” “there is a me,” “me cold,” “me hungry,” “me want self-actualization”? Obviously, that last thought came later, and even today doesn’t come that often. But I’ll wager that soon after beings started to think, the ones who developed a capacity to think better, did better.

And that’s all we’re trying to help you do with neemee™. Only instead of being in a jungle, or a garden, or wherever that first thought came, we’re helping you think where you live today—firmly planted in the information age on the brink of an evolutionary revolution some people are calling Web 3.0.

But that is getting ahead of things.

Right now we have Web 1.0 and, for some, Web 2.0. And we have our hands full. Google. Yahoo. Facebook. MySpace. YouTube. 3D. Virtual Reality. Everything is mutating like an out-of-control virus in a Petri dish. The culture is growing wild, and you have to make a choice. Run and hide? Or inoculate yourself by injecting some of that virus right into your veins?

It’s never good to run and hide from technology.

The Boomer Generation comprises about 85% of decision makers in the business population. They understand Web 1.0 as a search device that can direct them to just about anything they want. That is, if they know what they want. (Remember, “me hungry.”) The basic bookmarking tool based on algorithms works for them. It’s like a phone book, or a fancy way of finding anything in the “library” of knowledge. Yet most of the “run and hide” Boomers are overwhelmed by the data, can’t find any real meaning in it, don’t get the social networking thing, see it as a kid toy, and have no idea how to make money with it.

The NetGenners (internet generation) simply don’t know anything else. They’ve either grown up with the web or embraced it as the boat carrying them through a monstrous sea change to an unknown shore. These are the tech-savvy, and they see the web as a magical doorway in a whole new expanding world of delights that come to them wherever they are. (Quite a difference.) One of the most amazing things about this group is that they can be any age. They don’t fear the web, they drink it in, and they are being trained to think in a whole new way.

The Digital Natives — Connected? Or Addicted?

Wireless signs of the times—like the one you see here—are cropping up all over the country, but nowhere are they more prevalent than at our college campuses. This one from Rutgers University lets students know they can escape the confines of their dorm room and tap into the internet anytime, almost anywhere.

The term “digital natives” has been around for a number of years and is credited to Marc Prensky from his article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” written in 2001. It defines “digital natives” as the first generation of people who “perceive technology as their friend and rely on it to study, work, play, relax and communicate.” The fact is, more of our young people under 25 can’t get along without technology, and if they can’t have a wireless connection, they feel deprived.

In an October ’06 USA TODAY article by Sharon Jayon, she quotes A.J. Hunter, a Ball State University student, as saying, “I can’t even think of when I use it and when I don’t. It’s such a part of life.” This second nature quality to wireless technology is making it not only a part of life, but also something students simply cannot live without.

The Future Has a Ring Tone

Recently I learned something that should be an eye opener for every ad agency creative, executive, planner, and owner. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences created an Emmy category for “outstanding original programming for computers, cellphones, and other handheld devices.” We’ve known for awhile now that programming is moving from on-the-clock to on-demand viewing, and that the computer is becoming the new TV, but now it appears that video is about to jump right into our pockets. And the move is being fueled by the fat cats in the mainline media industry who hope to get fatter.

You can read all about it in USA TODAY in Kevin Maney’s column from April 12. In it Maney says, “this might be the most experimental time in media history,” and I have to say I agree with him. It’s as if the industry were crawling out of the primordial media mud, growing legs, and running like crazy in every direction imaginable.

The Great Ice Age of Mainline Media

It took thousands of years for The Great Ice Age to crush mountains in its path, gouge out huge valleys of solid rock, and totally resurface one-third of the earth. According to information published by eMarketer, Inc., the use of broadband has moved from 35% to 42% to 53% in less than 2 years! That’s an Internet ice age that’s overtaking mainline media in rapid fashion.  It’s only a matter of time before the new medium becomes THE medium. But there’s still some life in the old woolly media mammoths.

An article on the September 28 front page of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) spells out how “Big Media Firms Dig Into War Chests for Latest Assault on the Internet.” It’s not surprising that companies such as Viacom International Inc., News Corporation and Time Warner Inc. are buying up Internet properties as fast as they can. With broadband access now reaching more than half of the 73 million cable television homes, the Internet is a substantial competitor for distributing movies, TV, and even TV-like webivision commercials.