Lost without tech

One of the most impressive sights in nature – after the wildebeest migration across the Serengeti and the salmon run in Alaska – is the annual spectacle of groups of teenagers roaming the British countryside in pursuit of a Duke of Edinburgh award. Thousands of youngsters are released into the wild in this traditional rite of passage, equipped with maps, compasses and enormous rucksacks, but deprived of their mobile phones.

Which is why they hunt down passing hikers and dog walkers and demand: “Can you tell us where we are? Can we borrow your smartphone?” Don’t they know how to read a map? “What’s the point,” they reply, “when you can use sat nav and GPS?”

This is the most tech-savvy generation in history. But they are so dependent on technology, they are lost without it 

When the teenagers finally arrive at their waypoint and are reunited with their mobile phones, the first thing they do is check their missed calls, emails, text messages and social media. Ignoring the people around them, but reconnected with their virtual friends.

Technology has become such a central part of life, it’s hard to imagine how we survived without it. Machines initially did the heavy lifting and the dull or dangerous jobs. Now they are replacing our intellectual capabilities.

But as technology gets smarter, is it making us more dumb? Satellite navigation makes our sense of direction redundant. The internet has removed the need for individually retained knowledge.  Algorithms are superseding our decision making processes – including medical diagnosis.

Letting computers do the hard work leaves people to focus on what they’re good at. But what do we do better than computers? What is the point of Us? Well, we do emotion. We play games. We’re good at aggression, and hubris.

For a long time we thought computers would never be clever enough to beat humans at chess. Then IBM’s Big Blue defeated Garry Kasparov, and it was Game Over for the human race. Now, a Georgian grandmaster has been disqualified from a competition for using a chess program on a smartphone hidden in the toilet. 

The changing relationship between man and machines takes 6 forms, according to the Hype Cycle Emerging Technologies report:

1. Augmenting humans with technology (M-health, wearable technology)

2. Machines replacing humans (decision-making algorithms, cognitive computing)

3. Humans and machines working alongside each other (the internet of things, virtual and augmented reality)

4. Machines better understanding humans and the environment (natural-language question and answering, affective computing)

5. Humans better understanding machines (virtual assistants, robots that respond to social cues)

6. Machines and humans becoming smarter (Big Data, advanced analytics)

So are we heading towards a dystopian future in which humans are the slaves of the machines they created? Will we have to ask Siri for anything beyond reach of our puny thumbs? Or maybe that is your idea of utopia?

Stephen Hawking, who relies on technology more than most of us, warns that AI will eventually spell the end of our species. Eventually? Most of us already suspect that our smartphones are sentient, and I’m pretty sure my toaster could pass the Turing Test.

The most important question today, of course, is whether we have the skills to survive a zombie apocalypse. Yes, if it’s virtual and we have a decent broadband connection. No, if it’s real and we have to decide which direction to run in.

The future depends on whether we regard computers as competitors or collaborators. If we use technology as our ally, it can help us evolve to a higher state. Computers can enhance our physical and cognitive abilities, especially where they are deficient. M-health and wearable technology have the potential to transform our wellbeing and quality of life. Imagine the benefits of equipping every dementia sufferer with wearable GPS to locate them when they’re lost. 

Using technology to find our way around didn’t begin with GPS, but with the map and compass, which enabled us to discover the New World. Luddites might argue that we should stop colluding in our own obsolescence, but that ship sailed in 1492.

There are some human capabilities, however, which computers may never replace. Our creativity and imagination. Our artistic vision and aesthetic sensitivity. Our ability to adapt and improvise. Our empathy, humour and emotional intelligence.

Above all, what people do best is people. The shortcomings of NHS Direct show that an algorithm on the end of a phone is no match for face-to-face contact with a fellow human, who can detect body language, undeclared symptoms and unspoken concerns, and can read between the lines. Computers may have mastered chess, Othello, Scrabble, backgammon and poker, but they still can’t beat humans at Go – an eastern board game that relies on low cunning and unpredictability.

New programs are being designed to read emotion and even emulate creative activities like copywriting. But there are some human endeavours that computers will struggle to surpass. Shakespeare can’t be improved by spell-check. Rembrandt’s self-portraits wouldn’t be any better if he’d used a smartphone on a selfie stick.

We may not know exactly where our relationship with technology is heading, but it’s up to us which direction we take. Just don’t ask a teenager with a rucksack.