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  • Author Author: rscasny
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When Populist Politics Meets Technological Innovation: A Sign of the Beginning of the End of IoT?

rscasny

While I spend a lot of time in my workday at element14 pouring over datasheets on new tech products or attending meetings on new tech product introductions, in my personal life, I veer to reading business publications, such as The Financial Times, which offers an array of new information (and a surprising amount of tech news, information and analysis) that impacts me both personally and professionally.

 

So, yesterday, on Saturday afternoon when the errands were done and no one was bothering me, I turned off my phone, and I did my typical thing: opened up my tablet and clicked to FT. My eye immediately was attracted to this story:

 

Tech Leaders at Davos Fret Over AI Effect on Jobs

 

The gist of the story was that the tech community (i.e., Silicon Valley) fears that since "the march of the robots" (and AI) is progressing quite rapidly, they fear a backlash with this year's new political reality: regressive and populist politics, as evidenced by new political wins in the U.S., the UK's Brexit, and other populist rumblings across Europe.

 

Initially, I didn't take too much interest in the story, which was essentially a report on the Davos economic forum. But then my eye was pulled to this story:

 

Chiefs Hold Back on Smart Factories after Backlash

 

Now, the gist of this story is that industrial enterprises (who use new technology such as robots, and support the Industry 4.0 vision of advanced manufacturing) are getting a bit squeamish regarding the introduction of more technology into their operations. They also feel like they are caught between a rock and hard place because if they do not introduce new smart (IoT-driven) technology they will be less competitive and lose jobs anyway. This story concerned me given that smart factories employ IoT technology and offer immense benefits, which I won't get into here.

 

Then I was beside myself when I saw this article:

 

How Unprepared We are for the Robot Revolution

 

The gist of this story is that "machine learning is likely to be the primary driving force behind an [ ] explosion of applications in robotics and software applications." The article gives the example of a robotic car that doesn't need any human intervention, and poses this question: how many human driving jobs will be lost due robotic cars, etc.

 

At this point, I quit reading and turned off my tablet, and paused to reflect.

 

IMO: My firm belief is that no society can survive (or has ever survived) by passing by technological innovations. I can appreciate the voice of populism; we must address the concerns and issues of all our citizens no matter what point in the social strata they reside. But are we to just give up and, in effect say, "Nope, I won't buy a computer because they put too many paper pushers out of work. Nope, I won't buy a car because they put too many wrench turners out of work. Nope, I won't do any medical research to extend the lives of human beings because they will put more funeral directors out of work."

 

I see this populist trend as risky and foolish. And it could very well be the first sign of the end of IoT technology investment -- stemming job growth in this area.

 

I personally think if "no-tech/lo-tech" jobs are being replaced by "extreme-hi-tech" jobs, then the nations of the world need to prepare its citizens appropriately. All education must be free. There should be more emphasis on compelling people into educational and training programs for the jobs of the century. Your thoughts?

 

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  • I think here we're seeing people holding back on IT spend a little, they are trying to stretch what they have, which is concerning because in other countries businesses will take advantage of new IT infrastructure. There are efficiency gains to be had with a bit of capex but some businesses are going to miss out. For instance you can reduce your costs between business sites through using a combination of Internet with 'best effort' communications rather than exclusively relying on guaranteed service agreements with service providers. But that entails using more modern IT infrastructure. Such equipment is now 15% more expensive.

    So I think some businesses are holding back due to economic issues, but I hope they realize that the opportunities for business are dramatically changing and so they need to invest. For example one of the German industrial manufacturers (Siemens I think) offers IoT enabled washing machines for hotels, so they can proactively repair machines that are about to fail, before they fail. This means less spare machines are needed, and less need for an engineer to go on-site and then realize a particular part needs to be ordered. Now they can know in advance.

    Also one of the consumer associations here for motor vehicle drivers has announced an IoT telematics service to keep a check on motor vehicle health. I think they charge around £15 ($15) per month to consumers: RAC technology lets cars 'talk' to drivers before they break down

     

    There is an interesting book called 'The Technological Society' where the author thinks that it is in human nature to want to continually invent to optimize, and make things more efficient. He suggests that it is inevitable that by pursuing this, it is therefore only to be expected that we will optimize ourselves out of existence, because we will never consider ourselves to be as efficient as the machines we make. I hope we're still far away from that point! : ) But I often find myself thinking of ways to replace our tasks with those of a machine. I can't help it. I think most engineers are like this. Even when shopping yesterday, I was thinking how to replace us with a shopping bot..

    This video is very cool:

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  • I think here we're seeing people holding back on IT spend a little, they are trying to stretch what they have, which is concerning because in other countries businesses will take advantage of new IT infrastructure. There are efficiency gains to be had with a bit of capex but some businesses are going to miss out. For instance you can reduce your costs between business sites through using a combination of Internet with 'best effort' communications rather than exclusively relying on guaranteed service agreements with service providers. But that entails using more modern IT infrastructure. Such equipment is now 15% more expensive.

    So I think some businesses are holding back due to economic issues, but I hope they realize that the opportunities for business are dramatically changing and so they need to invest. For example one of the German industrial manufacturers (Siemens I think) offers IoT enabled washing machines for hotels, so they can proactively repair machines that are about to fail, before they fail. This means less spare machines are needed, and less need for an engineer to go on-site and then realize a particular part needs to be ordered. Now they can know in advance.

    Also one of the consumer associations here for motor vehicle drivers has announced an IoT telematics service to keep a check on motor vehicle health. I think they charge around £15 ($15) per month to consumers: RAC technology lets cars 'talk' to drivers before they break down

     

    There is an interesting book called 'The Technological Society' where the author thinks that it is in human nature to want to continually invent to optimize, and make things more efficient. He suggests that it is inevitable that by pursuing this, it is therefore only to be expected that we will optimize ourselves out of existence, because we will never consider ourselves to be as efficient as the machines we make. I hope we're still far away from that point! : ) But I often find myself thinking of ways to replace our tasks with those of a machine. I can't help it. I think most engineers are like this. Even when shopping yesterday, I was thinking how to replace us with a shopping bot..

    This video is very cool:

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