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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.

Voice Search—The New Oral You

Does it ever annoy you to see people, mostly young people, endlessly text messaging?

Or, do you find it frustrating typing info into your cell phone, or punching with your stylist, or wearing your fingers to the bone searching the Internet?

Well, all of that is changing with the new Google voice search and the even more advanced Vlingo voice recognition and processing application.

Those text maniacs are now able to voice enter their message and have it appear on their screen so they can correct it before they send it. Which means they will now annoy you by forcing you to listen to such mundane entries like, “Where are you?” and “I’m at home.” And, of course, you’ll be hearing other people searching the web, asking directions, researching where to go to dinner, and publicly displaying much other information that now remains, gratefully, in the private realm. And, you better get used to it because private is going public in the voice search age. All because it’s easier to speak than type, and easer to talk than write. The quality of the thoughts we’ll be hearing will be subject to how much thinking people actually do before they speak. Which, when you think about it, is always the case.

One blogger, Jan Chipchase, points out that voice search and recognition is going to be a boon to illiterates who will use it everywhere. He says, “You might think that mainstream voice search will be restricted to places where you have a degree of privacy, like say a car or home—but there are a number of reasons why that's not going to be the case: the first is that to some of the world's 800+million illiterate people, voice is the enabler—it opens up a new window to the world…”

He goes on to say that it will be a new way for people to expose themselves to others and I think he’s absolutely right. The world will become one big reality TV show with everyone spouting out their private lives as they search, socialize, and project all by voice. People will boast about their plans, flatter, criticize, chastise, and make verbal mistakes right in front of people that they would never do otherwise.

We already have books on tape so you can listen instead of read, one can only imagine what it will be like when you can just talk instead of write. It will make the office environment quite different. Will we all wear earplugs? And I can’t help but wonder, are there people who can’t read and write who are latent geniuses? Will they surface as people who can think but have never been able to get their thoughts down on paper or screen? Will text-messaging fiends drive each other crazy with their chatter? It’s all part of the new, improved louder world we’re entering now—with ears wide open.

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

Bob

For a little diversion, check out what the BBC is doing with voice and instrument sound. To visit their website, just click here.