A sage mentor of mine (Jen Jenson), taught me the value of having your own personal "Board of Directors". Your board members are personal or professional mentors who are go-to experts for big decisions. The roles are clarifier, connector, challenger, counselor, coach, and confidante. You then consult this peer network based on their strengths. Vicariously, their strengths become yours.
The personal "board" idea has been around for a while, but now imagine having all these resources available, 24/7, 365, forever. You would get on-demand help with learning new skills, savvy financial tactics, fitness training, relationship advice, and more. Who would this be? Not who, what. Read further to find out.
If you haven't noticed, A.I. is a hot topic this year as we begin to see early examples of it rapidly evolving towards a hypothesized "Singularity". This post explores how quantum computing could play a role in our evolving relationship with artificial intelligence and personal development.
This post is also Part 4 of my A.I. Stepping into Life Series, that shares thoughts on how the progress of computing could likely impact human labor, the economy, and possibly life as we know it.
Part 1: We Are Masters
Part 2: Becoming Shepherds To Save Our Careers
Part 3: How Teachers Become Students
Part 4: A New Peer to Peer Network
Part 5: Partners In Time
Part 6: The Divergence
These are merely thoughts I've gathered along with those of many experts, to help spark your own ideas on the impact A.I. may have on your career. Sound fair? OK, check out this amazing video on how Google & NASA will change computing forever:
You might be saying "Wow... I don't get it!" So how does quantum computing work? Here's an over-simplified version of the best analogy I've heard:
Imagine you're in a library with a million books, and someone draws a smiley face on one page of a random book, then hides the book from you. Normally, you would need to search book by book and this would take a long time. In a quantum state however, you could create 100 million copies of yourself, read each page of every book, and report back on where the smiley face is in a matter of seconds.
Quantum computing does this with information. Rather than analyzing data bits from start to finish, it virtually analyzes it all at once! This is a huge breakthrough, though it is widely inaccessible to the general public. But that'll change soon enough...
This chart approximates the tremendous pace at which super computing power will advance over the next 26 years thanks to Moore's Law. Super computers may reach the computational power of the human brain in the late 2020's, but it will likely take longer to actually replicate human cognitive capabilities.
Similar to room-sized computers of the 1960's, right now D-Wave's quantum computers are quite large. Here's the mind-bender though: in 20 years that quantum computer could be in your pocket!
So, how does this relate to personal development and the board of directors stuff mentioned earlier? Though A.I. won't have human cognitive capabilities for a while, it will likely become more intuitive. In the coming years commercial businesses may host A.I. via-quantum computers in the cloud, and provide massive optimization services. What type of services? Think of it like how we use Apps today:
- Financial analysis A.I. with guaranteed investment returns
- Optimal A.I. traffic control for autonomous vehicles
- Optimal A.I. match analysis through global dating services
- A.I. Protein folding for genetic performance enhancement
As quantum tech becomes scaleable, all that power will eventually fit your pocket -OR- in the A.I. mind of your own personal 24/7, 365, robot board of directors. This change could also augment your actual face-to-face interactions and increase their value; similar to receiving a hand-written note today. Hardly anyone does this, so when they do it's a special experience.
This is where you can take advantage now! By adapting to swift-tech, you can ride the wave of transitions from master, to shepherd, to teacher, and peer-level performance of A.I. Experts agree it could happen, and it will possibly change the way the world economy operates.
The easy part is, all you need to do is think about it for now. But that's my challenge to you this segment, think about it! In what ways can you grow your skills and start learning about computer programming? How could you shape your business and adapt to automation trends? What will you do with all your free time when robots make you unemployable? (JK on the last one)
A.I. is likely to be the either the best or worst thing ever to happen to humanity. - Stephen Hawking, 2015
In my upcoming post we'll dive off into the deep end to explore the moral implications of robot/A.I. servitude, and take on some radical ideas of what the future may hold for your children's careers.
If this is review for you, then you are way ahead of the curve. Everyone else, it's time to catch up! (Click the highlighted words for interesting articles and background on these topics.)
Lastly and as always, these ideas are pure supposition and by no means certain. The question yet remains, what should one do when faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations?
Want to learn about how machine learning is evolving to impact the future of your career? Find more at zacengler.com
Learn more about future-proofing your career in my next series:
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Original content © Zac Engler, 3/22/2016