Digital Optimist

This podcast kicks off the next series about the Endgame of Digital Transformation. The next four podcasts will postulate what the future may look like when technology is “done” transforming four areas of our world. This podcast kicks off the predications with the impacts of technology on society in general. While no one, not even Scott, can predict the future with 100% accuracy, even being able to imagine the future with some degree of clarity is helpful for knowledge and decisions today. Listen in and see if you agree with the picture Scott paints about what society might look like when our grandkids are old!

There are many CEO's and CIO's who cringe the moment someone says the phrase “digital transformation.” Unfortunately, the concept was hijacked by consultants and advisors for a decade and became way overused before an appropriate definition could really get into the dictionary. It became a term synonymous with digitizing business processes. It is a perfect time to redo the common definition and broaden it to look at a fifty-year time in history that is transforming humanity. This podcast also sets up the next series so be sure to listen so you have background needed to understand future episodes.

Maybe one of the more important podcasts in this series, the topic of Digital Wellbeing. A growing problem in the world is our many hours spent interfacing with digital tools, whether at work, or in our personal lives, and many time both. Scott provides an analogy between healthy eating and healthy digital being that you might find interesting!

This is one of Scott's favorite topics! He has been studying and talking about transhumanism for over a decade and it is time to take this concept more mainstream so we can prepare for the outcome. Our technology tools are becoming more powerful each year and with the advent of powerful robotics and AI, we will soon (historically speaking) have the ability to power our lives and capabilities far past previous generations. At some point, we will no longer be Homo Sapien, we will be a new species that is dimensionally more capable and powerful. We will not be cyborgs, we will humans who are boosted with tools that cause us to be H+. If you have not listened to the previous podast (The Singularity: A Better Definition) please listen to that one first because the Singularity and Transhumanism go together in ways you will learn.

This is one of Scott's favorite topics! He has been studying and talking about transhumanism for over a decade and it is time to take this concept more mainstream so we can prepare for the outcome. Our technology tools are becoming more powerful each year and with the advent of powerful robotics and AI, we will soon (historically speaking) have the ability to power our lives and capabilities far past previous generations. At some point, we will no longer be Homo Sapien, we will be a new species that is dimensionally more capable and powerful. We will not be cyborgs, we will humans who are boosted with tools that cause us to be H+. If you have not listened to the previous podast (The Singularity: A Better Definition) please listen to that one first because the Singularity and Transhumanism go together in ways you will learn.

Scott starts a new series that is all about finding better definitions for important words we use in the technology field. Too many times words are used that many people really do not understand. In other cases, the words we use are not good at really describing the concepts behind the words. In this first podcast of the series, Scott takes on artificial Intelligence and dramatically expands the words and meanings for different forms of intelligence. By the end, the listener will have a whole new palette of words to choose from when talking about human and synthetic intelligence.

This is an interstitial podcast between two series. There is so much talk about whether AI is good or bad and those words do not do justice to the complexity of that debate. Scott looks at one important aspect by thinking through whether we might become negatively addicted to the use of AI or will AI free us from mundane tasks and free our creative capabilities – or both! The more accurately we can predict the impacts of AI, the better we can adjust how we use it for good. This is the first podcasts that ends in a warning!

Like the story of the fish that do not have a sense that they live in the water because it always all around them, humanity is being impacted by the amplification of technology. For those of us living right in the middle of it, we have a sense that our lives are changing, but we don't really have the comparative scale to understand how much or how fast. People who have lived for many decades can remember the way it was and compare to the way it is – for better or for worse. Younger people have less perspective to work with. This podcast talks about the dark and the light of digital amplification when looked at through a larger lens. The more precise perspective we can create on what technology can and will do to humanity, the more we can make good decisions on finding the needed balance between humans and machines.

Like the story of the fish that do not have a sense that they live in the water because it always all around them, humanity is being impacted by the amplification of technology. For those of us living right in the middle of it, we have a sense that our lives are changing, but we don't really have the comparative scale to understand how much or how fast. People who have lived for many decades can remember the way it was and compare to the way it is – for better or for worse. Younger people have less perspective to work with. This podcast talks about the dark and the light of digital amplification when looked at through a larger lens. The more precise perspective we can create on what technology can and will do to humanity, the more we can make good decisions on finding the needed balance between humans and machines.

There are two central ways humans will amplify themselves. This podcast deals with the first which is physically improving our capabilities. We were all born with natural bodies. Some of these bodies had weaknesses from birth. Some of our bodies get damaged along the way. What happens when we can repair either of these states and create physical parity in the world? What happens when we can extend lifespan through the use of biotech, nanotech, and digital tech? We stand at the precipice of amazing improvements through the integration of AI, biotech, and nanotech. What kind of world will that lead us into? How much of what science fiction writers has shared for years will come true? Now is the time to get a clear picture in our minds and wrestle with what we will tell our kids and grandkids when they have the chance to enhance.

Human beings are always looking for an edge or improvement. In a lot of ways, we are achievement junkies who never stop figuring out how to amplify our capabilities. A competitive world drives us from childhood to find ways to be better than those around us. It is no surprise that technologies are becoming a more powerful influence in getting us the advantages we seek. In this opening podcast of the series, Scott looks into what has driven us in the past and how those same catalysts will cause a very Humalogy future – at the individual level. Will we all become cyborgs? No. Will we slowly be drawn more towards technology amplifications? Very likely. The more we wrestle with the direction of amplification now, the more likely we are to avoid some of the blind alleys that have hurt us in the past.

What is the human mind in relationship to our brain? What is a machine mind going to look like? How do humans decide on their next best word or action and how does an LLM do the same? At what point might we believe that a machine mind is waking up? In this episode, Scott dives into the philosophy of mind by asking you the listener a handful of intriguing questions. Along the way you might come to believe that we overstate the sophistication of the human mind and under predict the possibility for a machine mind to be awake. If nothing else, this episode will help you think about analogies and ideas you might not have heard before and that will help inspire your mind!

In the final podcast in the Digital Philosophy series, Scott examines whether technology will ultimately help or hurt the human race. This requires us to understand the recipe of digital interaction we each have and see what the ingredients are that make up our own recipe. To help with that Scott reviews an interesting list of negative impacts of technology, then the opposite side with the positive impacts. Only by meditating on these lists and looking at the digital recipes we each create for our lives can we answer this incredibly important philosophical question. Technology: A blessing or an existential poison!

What if we stopped using humanity as the high bar we seek when building AI's and robots? A philosophy to explore is the need to let go of the belief that building AI's “as smart as us” is the right path. The reason we fear AI's harming us is because we harm each other, and we can only imagine that technology will do the same. We can have a new philosophy that says we should build technology to be much more than us, then harness it to amplify the human race. This podcast will change the way you think about the standards we are setting with our new digital tools and the optimistic future we can have.

Philosophy is thousands of years old and for all that time, it has been the study of finding truth in a world populated by humans as the only thinking entities. AI's and synthetic intelligence are now changing the very definition of intelligences and consciousness. In this podcast Scott explores what he calls Neo-Philosophy and the need to answer important questions about the integration of human and synthetic intelligence. One such question is defining levels of consciousness and how technology fits into the new model. One hundred years of science fiction is now coming true and we need to find the Truth about how that will impact each of us. You might want to have a device near you to take a few notes from this podcast!

Why digital philosophy and not digital science? Because science struggles to answer some questions that have lots of humanity baked into them. Because the meaning of words sometimes fail us with being consistent across peoples and science struggles when the words don't have solid measurable meanings. Such it is with happiness and the meaning of life. These words are a state of being or set of choices we all make, and they are hard to measure. Were we happier thirty years ago? Did we have more of a sense of meaning? The answers today must live in the realm of philosophy. In this first podcast in the series Scott examines the possible impacts of digital transformation on our happiness and the meaning of our lives. There are big questions in this podcast that when answered, will help you move forward in life – if you are willing to contemplate them deeply!

This podcast is an important concept that sets the foundation for the new series coming next – Digital Philosophy. Scott shares the concept that the generations alive today are struggling with a lack of context and story as to what we are trying to achieve as a country, or as a world. We have almost no agreement as to what the important outcome of our being alive together will mean. Without a compelling story to hang on to, we are floundering in a existential crisis. So, Scott offers a story we can all hang on to. It is a story with a positive ending that historians will write about for hundreds of years. Listen and see if this story resonates with you.

Most everyone understands that a large amount of content on the Internet is not true. This is posted by people and organizations who have a specific reason to lie and mislead, or can be posted by people who simply state “facts” and make references to research that is simply not valid. We are not far from the ability to use AI, Machine Learning and Deep Learning to begin scoring content as to the likely truthfulness it contains. Will there be bumps along the road of this quantification concept? Yes. Do we need something better than the nothing we have today to help us? Yes.

Organizations are using more technology and data to measure job candidates and workers. This dynamic was kickstarted during the pandemic when workers were forced to work from home for an extended period of time and job interviews all became virtual. Now that we have moved back to a hybrid work environment, we have the gap between how workers feel about their productivity and what leaders are thinking. With AI, wearables, and automation on the rise, the ability to do real time surveillance on workers is on the rise. Ultimately, is this positive for workers? It surely is positive for organizations. Scott unpacks this concept in the next podcast in the Quantified life series.

In a world where data and analytics are being applied in new ways, we explore the evolving “Trust Score”. The foundations have been laid with people judging the ability to trust someone based on their online presence, credit score, work history, school grades, etc. Will a Trust Score help the world be a safer place where people work hard to have a good Trust Score, or will this kind of measurement overly punish people for every mistake they ever made? Now is the time to think through the ramifications of using digital transformation in this way!

Does everything need to be measured? The concept of technology driven quantification and measuring has far reaching impact and is not often discussed which makes it a perfect Digital Optimist topic. The capability for people, organizations, and products to be rated, to be quantified, to be measured, in very public ways is expanding. The door is now wide open as people have credit scores they never asked for, UBER drivers are rated, and social media has a currency of measurement all its own called “likes”. Gazing into the future, we will get new measurements like Trust Scores that will have positive and negative impacts on people. Although data and analytics are wonderful for bringing clarity to the Truth, humanity may see some interesting consequences to creating measurement systems for very human characteristics such as the level of trust we can put in a person.

Adding machine intelligence to automation opens up a world of new possibilities. As we stand on the brink of replacing more parts of systems formerly done by humans, it is critical to examine the impacts on the world. This is the kind of podcast Scott loves to create and deliver!

Most people think of the office or their organization when they hear the topic of automation. However, there as much or more automation going on in our personal lives today. While automation at work helps organizations be more profitable and mechanize processes and systems, automation in our personal lives has very different impacts. In this podcast Scott paints a picture as to the current levels of personal automation we often take for granted, and the future view of the automation mesh that will have a big impact on our life experiences from now on.

As a new wave of intelligent automation tools with levels get used in the workforce, we shift the Humalogy balance. Scott makes new observations as to the ideas and best practices people need to know in order to gain a tactical advantage with further automating the systems that drive organizations. In the larger picture, we are replacing large swaths of work formerly done by hand and the long term ramifications of trusting machines with doing the majority of work in an organization need to be discussed.

Let's focus on what we mean when we say "intelligent automation." We also dive into some general ways that it can help, and possibly setback, people and businesses.

How is the development of AI learning coming along? How is it helplful, and what will it look like in the future?

What makes someone a Digital Centaur? Being a highly evolved human being with many skills in the technology world. In this episode Scott discusses what makes someone a Centaur Leader vs a Centaur Citizen.

As technology evolves, so does the way we live. The Internet of Things (IoT) is shaping how our lives are lived and what devices are used for everything from cooking to monitoring your health. What does the future of smart sensors & devices look like? What are some examples of what they can do and how will they change our lives? Host Scott Klososky explores these questions and more in the latest installment of Digital Optimist's series on Machine Intelligence.

The machines are learning. The latest in predictive analytics is called real-time predictive analytics, which uses data from sensors to make predictions about the present and future of an event. In this episode, host Scott Klososky explains why this technology has huge implications for industries like transportation, healthcare, and manufacturing that rely heavily on forecasting as a part of their workflows today.

We're in the midst of a technological revolution. The machines are getting smarter and more powerful every day, but how do we train them? Machine Learning enables a computer to learn without being explicitly programmed or supervised on every step, meaning that they can identify patterns on their own without needing a human programmer's input. In this episode, host Scott Klososky explores what machine learning means for our future as humans, and how it is impacting us already.

We live in an increasingly volatile world and this creates opportunities and risks. Host Scott Klososky shares practical and thought-leading ideas as to the types of crises that must be prepared for in advance. The more flexible and technology-automated organizations become, the more able they are to flex and withstand difficult events.

In this episode, host Scott Klososky continues his series on Machine Intelligence focusing on AI in all of its different forms. We interact with AI everyday, whether we are conscious of it or not. If we better understand AI and it's impacts, we can ensure that we as individuals and businesses can reap the benefits of this powerful technology.

Do you wonder how robotics, AI, Machine Learning, and other technologies will affect your life? In this episode, Scott Klososky shares a futuristic vision of the impact of machine intelligence, specifically robotics, on humanity across the globe.

In this first episode in the Machine Intelligence series of Digital Optimist, Host Scott Klososky defines machine intelligence and the terminologies surrounding it, as well as discusses the potential positive impacts of this technology for our society.

On this episode of Digital Optimist, host Scott Klososky interviews a special guest to discuss technology, climate change, and the future of our planet.

In the last episode in the "Relationship" series, Scott Klososky discusses the ways in which a balanced use of technology can enhance committed relationships.

In this episode of Digital Optimist, Scott speaks to the role of technology in the modern family. Especially during the COVID19 pandemic, technology has helped us stay connected even when physically apart. Scott also makes the important point that, when possible, we should avoid using technology as a crutch or replacement for in-person bonding.

On this episode, host Scott Klososky discusses the ways in which we should be optimistic about the future of friendships, and how to make the most of "synthetic" digital friendships while still building quality in-person relationships.

Who are the people you personally care about, who in turn care about you? That’s your network. All opportunities for impact in your life will spring from the strength of those relationships. In this episode, host Scott Klososky discusses the power of networks and how technology helps us to grow them exponentially while also maintaining the quality of relationships.

Relationships are at the heart of the notion of smart society, and digital technologies appear to be changing the ways we relate to each other. However, the new generation of smart technology may actually be serving to enhance our human relationships and not diminish them.

People say young folks are the hope of the world, but often, the person saying this has no idea just how true that is. Scott Klososky discusses the concept of "generations" and perceptions surrounding Gen Z and the A’s (or Alphas) after them, who are being born today. In the US, Baby Boomers, Gen X and Millenials have increasingly developed lives that have serious emotional, physical and mental difficulties. Younger generations are facing a world where so much of what should be balanced well is painfully off kilter, and dealing with this in incredibly innovative ways.

What was life like before the Internet? Well, for one, it was a lot harder to fix things. A simple search on Google or Youtube will provide the answers you need to fix almost anything. On this episode of Digital Optimist, host Scott Klososky examines how instant access to information provides us with the opportunity to fix the world's most daunting problems.

World-renowned technology expert and speaker Scott Klososky discusses the possibilities and opportunities of awakening and embracing Digital Transformation. It is seductive to fear the future because we are biologically programmed to look for danger. This natural impulse is enabled by popular media. However, this podcast is meant to awaken a sense of hope for a bright Humalogy™ future. With a more expansive view of the facts, history has proven that humanity constantly progresses. Technology is increasing the speed at which we experience this beneficial progression.