The article entitled “winning the race with ever-smarter Machines” by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee is spot-on about combination of technology and humans (Brynjolfsson and Mcafee 53). The central argument of these authors who work at MTI Center for Digital Business is that, “technological progress creates opportunities in which people race using machines” (Brynjolfsson and Mcafee 57). I concur with the authors that the fast progress of information technology necessitates institution of new business models and processes by corporations so as to benefit from the ever-improving technologies.
In the last few years, there was knowledge on the power and limitations of computers as compared to humans. However, rapid technological development has resulted in many people lagging behind. Currently, computers are performing duties that were initially exclusively done by human. In reference to the book by economists Frank Levy and Richard Murnane, The New Division of Labor, Brynjolfsson and McAfee (54) noted that some tasks like arithmetic could be easily automated while others like driving through traffic were not easy to automate. Although the first DARPA Grand Challenge, held in 2004, supported Levy and Murnane’s conclusion as the “winning” team fell out after 8 miles of the designated 142 miles, this point of view was challenged within six years.
This happened when Google automated cars travelled over 1,000 miles on U.S. roads without any human intervention and more than 140,000 miles with only minimal human interventions while relying on previously collected data. In spite of the difficulty to automate driving in roads with heavy traffic as correctly observed by Levy and Murnane, the challenge of building a computer that can substitute for human perception and pattern matching is being realized. The ability to programme computers to engage in complex communication is another breakthrough. This once daunting task is now possible through applications like Apple’s Siri personal assistant that has made unprecedented progress in complex communication. This application can comprehend human speech well enough to respond to a wide range of daily requests. By combining the advanced computer digital pattern abilities with complex communication abilities, the IBM’s Watson Research Center was able to build a powerful supercomputer called Watson that in February 2011 overcame the best human players in a game of Jeopardy (Brynjolfsson and McAfee 55).
According to Brynjolfsson and McAfee (57), two concepts are important for understanding the outstanding development of information technology. The first one is the Moore’s Law which is based on doubling that eventually results in exponential growth. Although Technological advancement is not remarkable initially, it obeys Moore’s Law and will result in jaw-dropping results in the near future. The second concept relates to Moore’s Law as it concerns doubling. The authors argue that constant doubling and other forms of exponential growth are deceptive as they are not extraordinary at first. They argue that this hoodwinks people as the exponential increases resemble normal linear ones initially but with time this growth surpasses our perceptions and expectations to yield results that are far beyond our widest imagination. Brynjolfsson and McAfee (56) are of the opinion that these kind of exponential growths where technological advancement yield jaw-dropping results will soon be felt across virtually all tasks, jobs, and industry. Inexpensive and powerful information technology will result in a paradigm shift of the business processes.
The ongoing digitization of information in virtually all fields, the ever increasing speed of the computer processors, and the embedding of better algorithms into the software are reasons why I believe that computers will continue to improve in speed and accuracy. This means that computers will outdo humans in certain tasks in both speed and accuracy. On the other hand, some tasks like nursing and salesmanship will always require human touch and can not be performed by computers as machines are devoid of emotions. The performance of the combination of machine and human produces powerful results than its single constituents. This offers a great opportunity for organizations to tap into so as to foster growth. However, the business managers and entrepreneurs must develop new business models and processes that will combine employees with increasingly extra powerful technology to realize valuable results. For example, organizations can combine speed and accuracy of the computers with human insight. Technology may also be used to test human ideas so as to settle on the best.
In conclusion, it can be seen that the trend of technological advancement is towards more speed and accuracy thus enabling machines to perform tasks that were initially done by human only in a fast and more accurate manner. This means that human beings cannot afford to continue the race against machines as machines are increasingly winning these competitions both in a physical and mental sense. The way forward is to come up with combinations of machines and humans so as to maximize on the best attributes of both. The authors put it well by arguing that the race will be won using machines and not against machines.
Works Cited
Brynjolfsson, Erik and Andrew McAfee. “Winning the Race with Ever-Smarter Machines.” MIT Sloan Management Review 53.2 (2012):52-60.Print.