Collective Intelligence: The Rise of the Machine

In today’s world, we have access to amazing amounts of information via search engines and data provisioning companies. In fact, you can pretty much find out anything you want to know — from what is the best restaurant in town to how to perform an appendectomy on a chimpanzee.

So what are we going to do with all of this information? I previously wrote about the idea of collective intelligence: collecting massive amounts of data and experiences, synthesising that data and making it available to all people, all through the power of the cloud. The possibilities of taking that data and using it to provide goods and services to people at the right time and right place are really mind-boggling.

At this point, we all know that computing power will expand exponentially and devices will get smaller, easier to use and cheaper to buy. The explosion of wearable devices in the last few years alone seems almost unstoppable. At my last count, there were over 250 different types of wearable devices, and these devices are showing up in every aspect of our lives including entertainment, sports and medical (Google is developing a contact lens that monitors insulin levels for Diabetics) arenas.

Advances in battery life and longer range communication are now enabling these devices to interact with one another virtually anywhere. For example, it’s now possible to send alerts that monitor medical conditions and any necessary interventions to your doctor or even summon an ambulance automatically if you become incapacitated.

So if we have the ability to monitor and diagnose complex medical conditions through wearable devices, what is the next “big thing?”

Cloud technologies and the ecosystems that have developed around them have attracted thousands of developers to create applications that extend those platforms to virtually endless capabilities. Just look at the Salesforce AppExchange.

This makes me wonder: could that same cloud technology soon bring collective intelligence to new wearable devices without manual intervention? Applications will be the key here. If developers flock to the world of wearable devices, we can expect huge investments to advance capabilities and functionality.

Studies surrounding Mind Machine Interfaces (MMIs) or Brain Computer Interfaces began in the 1970s at UCLA and have lately ramped up considerably. Is this the next big battleground? The ability to deliver information directly to your brain via an implanted device? Scientists have already created almost microscopic “implants” called “neural dust” which, acting together, can deliver signals mimicking sensory impulses to create memories or thoughts.

Imagine eliminating the need for manual intervention to gain access to data, rendering any input device obsolete. What if collective intelligence was delivered directly to your brain? What then defines the difference between the machine as a computer and the brain as a database?

What are the implications of having access to all information known to man by just “thinking” about it? Will there be any need for schools? Who owns all this information? How would we know what was real or not? Would there be any such thing as “intellectual property?” Who gets to make the rules? The rise of the machine could no doubt provide incredible access to information, perhaps making omnipotence almost ubiquitous.

What do you think will be the tipping point to this technical adoption, and is it a big leap from that fitness band on your wrist to some neural dust in your head?

Salesforce.com’s Dreamforce 2014 will, no doubt, highlight some amazing technologies and opportunities for applying what this future might hold. Some of the brightest minds in the world will be on tap to shine a light on the art of the possible, and many of us from Asia Pacific will be there to participate and soak it in. In particular, Cloud Sherpas and “APAC on Tour” will be making a huge splash at Dreamforce this year and we are all very excited to see what the future holds.

I’m really going to miss the day when I don’t have to fly 15 hours to get to San Francisco. Instead, I’ll be able to just tap my temple and zoom into that collective…