I have to admit that keeping up with 2017's wide array of developments and progressions across so many domains - most of them on the back of technological innovation - has spun my head and sprained my neck.
- Bitcoin and crypto-currency
still baffle me - and not for lack of study either. I know a guy who became a $ millionaire within 18 months - and quit his job and bought a new house within the same week... he was my business coaching client. We had lunch, and he summarized his 'astuteness' as: "I think I knew just enough to hurt myself, but I took the plunge and I'm really grateful that I didn't get hurt. It really could have gone either way."
- ICOs...
Coindesk estimates the total ICO investment at about $3.8 billion. The bulk of that was in 2017. Still, that number seems a little low to me, given all the attention (hype??) that ICOs racked up - and the crazy number of articles that were written. With that said, I want to move from experiencing this as an analytical/ pseudo-academic bystander who never got his hands dirty, to someone who embraced some tactile learning experiences and who (by this time next year) speaks from experience.
- Sophia acquiring citizenship
is WAY MORE than a publicity stunt. It's the earliest fringe evidence of the imminent mainstream.
Sophia is a sign post to citizenship in the same way that Prince (among others) was a sign post to music; in the same way KIT (the talking car in the 80's hit series 'Knight Rider) was a sign post to autonomous vehicles; and in the same way that movie 'The Matrix' was a sign post to computer programmers creating/ manipulating a world in which the rest of us get our rear-ends handed to us (without the silver platter) by lines of code.
The UAE appointing a Minister of Artificial Intelligence is (in the same way) a sign post that America is no longer the smartest kid in the political class - and that it's time to enroll in some extra lessons.
- Progress in Robotics are moving quickly.
From bionic animals, to warehouse droids, to healthcare robots, to life companions, it seems only a matter of price until these technologies become pervasive to our lives...
- And what about Industrial and commercial applications of drones?
Dubai showcased a drone taxi as well a police hover-bike. PR or real?