The Digital Horizon by Dr Alex N Beavers Jr - Bookswagon
The Digital Horizon

The Digital Horizon


     0     
5
4
3
2
1



International Edition


About the Book

Technology is the stuff of delightful dreams and scary nightmares. Steam power brought the industrial revolution, simultaneously raising living standards but also upending societies. Powered flight gave us both the joy of traveling the world and the terror of London's Blitz. More recently, the internet has freed communication more than ever while leaving us vulnerable to all manner of new threats prefixed with "cyber-". Our conundrum today is simple stated: Is humanity's microprocessor-based, big data driven, automation actuated, robot mechanized, and artificial intelligence intensive future -- the "digital horizon" -- full of hope or devoid of it? Is it the science fiction nightmare of humanity on bent knee bowing before the almighty AI machine, or is it the rosy dream of robots serving all our whispered needs? This book examines several critical factors that indicate that the dream is more likely than the nightmare. Our digital horizon is more likely to be hopeful rather than despairingly hopeless for three reasons. The first reason is economics. History has shown that for a new technology to enter society and be sustainable, it must have a beneficial economic impact. If a new technology improves productivity, then new wealth is created and quality of life improves. In other words, if there is no return on investment, then there is no new technology. The second reason is human intelligence. The human version of intelligence is building the artificial version in its own image using tools that make mathematical approximations of what we think makes the universe tick. We are building machines that execute these tools many times faster than the human brain. However, the artificial version of intelligence is faced with the same challenges as the human version: having to make decisions with imperfect data collected from an uncertain world. If we are successful, they will help us find answers faster and implement solutions more efficiently. We are designing these brilliant machines to be our clever collaborators. In other words, we are technology's master by design. The third reason is demographic necessity. To offset and diminish the chances of a severely diminished quality of life due to an aging population, there is a need for more, not less, technology to sustain and accelerate productivity growth. In other words, if there is not a continuing stream of new technology to continuously improve our economic productivity, then our standard of living will decline. These three reasons should prevent humanity from being overmastered by its own creation. History has shown us that there is a symbiotic relationship between technology and society. Technology is changing how we behave, learn, and adapt biologically while we make technology work to further our needs and desires. All indications are that mankind and technology will evolve simultaneously and synergistically as we sail toward the digital horizon.
About the Author: Alex Beavers is a 40-year veteran high-technology executive, entrepreneur, and author. He currently is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ringling College of Art and Design, the Advisory Board for Chai Energy, and founder of Palma Sola Consulting. Prior to 2017 he was Executive Director of Technology Commercialization at SRI International, founder and CEO of Averatek Corp., founding CEO of Artificial Muscle, Inc., CEO of Thomson Industries, CEO of ITP Systems, CEO of Applicon, Inc., CEO of Schlumberger Automation Systems Asia, GM of the General Electric Robotics and Vision Systems Business, and Managing Partner of the PwC High Tech Practice. His academic background includes a BSEE (Vanderbilt University), an MSEE and a PhDEE (University of Houston), and an MBA (Boston University). He has one patent issued. He has authored over 25 papers in technical journals and trade magazines and one book (Roadmap to the e-Factory). He was the editor of a second book (Life Wins!).


Best Sellers



Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9781544725451
  • Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
  • Publisher Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
  • Height: 229 mm
  • No of Pages: 246
  • Spine Width: 13 mm
  • Weight: 385 gr
  • ISBN-10: 1544725450
  • Publisher Date: 24 Mar 2017
  • Binding: Paperback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: N
  • Sub Title: Hopeful or Hopeless
  • Width: 152 mm


Similar Products

Add Photo
Add Photo

Customer Reviews

REVIEWS      0     
Click Here To Be The First to Review this Product
The Digital Horizon
Createspace Independent Publishing Platform -
The Digital Horizon
Writing guidlines
We want to publish your review, so please:
  • keep your review on the product. Review's that defame author's character will be rejected.
  • Keep your review focused on the product.
  • Avoid writing about customer service. contact us instead if you have issue requiring immediate attention.
  • Refrain from mentioning competitors or the specific price you paid for the product.
  • Do not include any personally identifiable information, such as full names.

The Digital Horizon

Required fields are marked with *

Review Title*
Review
    Add Photo Add up to 6 photos
    Would you recommend this product to a friend?
    Tag this Book Read more
    Does your review contain spoilers?
    What type of reader best describes you?
    I agree to the terms & conditions
    You may receive emails regarding this submission. Any emails will include the ability to opt-out of future communications.

    CUSTOMER RATINGS AND REVIEWS AND QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TERMS OF USE

    These Terms of Use govern your conduct associated with the Customer Ratings and Reviews and/or Questions and Answers service offered by Bookswagon (the "CRR Service").


    By submitting any content to Bookswagon, you guarantee that:
    • You are the sole author and owner of the intellectual property rights in the content;
    • All "moral rights" that you may have in such content have been voluntarily waived by you;
    • All content that you post is accurate;
    • You are at least 13 years old;
    • Use of the content you supply does not violate these Terms of Use and will not cause injury to any person or entity.
    You further agree that you may not submit any content:
    • That is known by you to be false, inaccurate or misleading;
    • That infringes any third party's copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy;
    • That violates any law, statute, ordinance or regulation (including, but not limited to, those governing, consumer protection, unfair competition, anti-discrimination or false advertising);
    • That is, or may reasonably be considered to be, defamatory, libelous, hateful, racially or religiously biased or offensive, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing to any individual, partnership or corporation;
    • For which you were compensated or granted any consideration by any unapproved third party;
    • That includes any information that references other websites, addresses, email addresses, contact information or phone numbers;
    • That contains any computer viruses, worms or other potentially damaging computer programs or files.
    You agree to indemnify and hold Bookswagon (and its officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, employees and third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.), harmless from all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of a breach of your representations and warranties set forth above, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.


    For any content that you submit, you grant Bookswagon a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable right and license to use, copy, modify, delete in its entirety, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from and/or sell, transfer, and/or distribute such content and/or incorporate such content into any form, medium or technology throughout the world without compensation to you. Additionally,  Bookswagon may transfer or share any personal information that you submit with its third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc. in accordance with  Privacy Policy


    All content that you submit may be used at Bookswagon's sole discretion. Bookswagon reserves the right to change, condense, withhold publication, remove or delete any content on Bookswagon's website that Bookswagon deems, in its sole discretion, to violate the content guidelines or any other provision of these Terms of Use.  Bookswagon does not guarantee that you will have any recourse through Bookswagon to edit or delete any content you have submitted. Ratings and written comments are generally posted within two to four business days. However, Bookswagon reserves the right to remove or to refuse to post any submission to the extent authorized by law. You acknowledge that you, not Bookswagon, are responsible for the contents of your submission. None of the content that you submit shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of Bookswagon, its agents, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners or third party service providers (including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.)and their respective directors, officers and employees.

    Accept

    New Arrivals



    Inspired by your browsing history


    Your review has been submitted!

    You've already reviewed this product!