Newminimalists welcome the digital future because they can make it human.
We live in a time of transition. The year 2020 will enter the history books as the doorstep as human move from analogue to digital systems. The digital system introduces a world run by algorithms. It is world of patterns not processes [that is the old analogue world]. The move from processes towards patterns was probably begun by Professor Alan Turing when he worked on his machine [Chris]. Using his machine Turing was able to establish a reliable pattern in the messages that the German command used to direct land, sea, and air operation during WWII. Once Turing and his close colleagues were able to establish this pattern in the German messages they had an algorithm that broke the Enigma encryption coding machine that had eluded all the best efforts of by analogue means to achieve this end. The work of Turing and his team was estimated to have shortened WWII by 18 months and saved 14 million lives. Turing's machine, Chris, is what we would call a computer today.
My thesis here is that we are about to move into a world that is patterned on the basis of "use value" not run on processes that contribute to "value adding". The changes that this will bring to the way we live, work, communicate, educate, and raise children will be like nothing the world has ever seen before. The great question directed to Alan Turing was "can machines think?". His standard answer raised a more interesting question because it shifted the conversation about thinking from the notion of a process to that of a pattern.
When we examine the thinking [decision-making] patterns of machines [artificial intelligence] then we are struck by the similarities not the differences in "the way AI machines think". When we examine the thinking [decision-making] patterns of humans [organic intelligence] we are struck by the differences not the similarities in "the way humans think". Your favourite colour is red mine is yellow. You love coffee I love tea. You have a passion for luxury I crave quality.You admire actors I admire astronauts. Of course there are countless more differences that we might note.
The thing about those differences is that they form patterns of thinking that are not easily explained by analogue processes. And this is the reason that Turing struggled to crack the German Enigma code. Then one day he realised that humans are "lazy thinkers" and so they often curate thinking patterns [group think] that is detectable and thus predictable. And this means that in a digital world the ability of a machine to detect your preferences and thus to prediction your decision-making, routines, and beliefs is both feasible and desirable.
Welcome to the digital world where algorithms and patterns rule.
Richard
If you would like to discuss life inside or beyond the algorithms contact me. You can direct message me or email me at minimal-you.com
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