Year Roundup

Welcome to

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User Friendly 2.0 with Host Bill Sikkens,

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technology architect.

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And this is User Friendly

2.0 here in the New Year.

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Bill. Gretchen

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Yay! Hello.

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World.

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Yeah, I would be much more on that

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when they dropped the

whatever they dropped this year.

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So you know.

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So anyway, so yeah

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We are starting out in the new year

and it's the third.

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So I'm sure, you know, 90% of us

have already dropped the resolutions.

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Yeah.

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You know, I depends on

how they make their solutions.

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Yeah, I don't

I don't do that anymore either.

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It's,

I never did old tradition, you know, but

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we have seen a lot of changes

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in tech last year,

and a lot are coming up this year.

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So we thought we'd do a little bit

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Take a look back on our first segment

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you know, what is actually happened.

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And then in our second segment,

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So this is a list that I put together.

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I don't know if this has any,

any particular order

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of some of the things that I remember.

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And we're just going to kind of have

a candid conversation about the first one

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is generative AI.

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Now, obviously, this has been something

that's been all over the place.

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not just as a tool,

but as a core enabler across industries.

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And we're seeing this in basically

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everything

you're looking at from chat box.

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You know, giving out right

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wrong information is maybe not

come into its own yet to other things.

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Now on to positive things like ChatGPT

and all of that

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have really gotten better.

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I know it's a program

where it's actually useful.

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And, Gretchen, you've been working with

AI for editing, not writing,

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but editing, you know,

and that kind of thing. Anything.

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And, Bill,

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I know you want to just delete all the

AI and go back to where we were. So.

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So, you know, new technologies are great,

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but sometimes I think they're dropped

into things a little bit too fast.

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Story that's interesting on

this comes out of New York and the city.

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It was one of the boroughs

had an AI chat bot

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where you would go on to the website

to find out, you know, like about building

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permits and hiring codes

and all that kind of stuff.

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And it was giving flat out

wrong information.

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So the question

that, you know, comes out of that is

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this is information that's being provided

by an official website of the government

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website says that you can go

by the information that's on there.

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But if you're asking the do

I need a building permit to,

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you know, tear down my house

and build a new one?

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It says, no, you don't.

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Just let us know afterwards.

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So is that really the AI's fault

or the human

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that gave it the inaccurate information?

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Well, if it was really an AI that

they were using, they're saying it is.

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I did a little research into this,

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and I think that is the problem with this

specific one large language model.

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It probably would be a lot more accurate.

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And they are in this case,

it's like they just gave it.

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So it's a weird way of doing it.

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I've heard of this before

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is you're typing the system that they have

is trying to guess the next word.

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That would be appropriate.

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And that's how it works.

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So obviously

that's not going to be two things.

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And they test it out too

and ask that the same question five times.

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And got a different answer

for all five questions.

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You know.

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So it's it's not an idea.

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Yeah.

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That's predictive

text like on your cell phone.

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That was really annoying.

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It still is.

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So yeah.

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So no no no that's I don't consider that

really I that's that's not useful.

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Yeah.

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And you but the thing of it is, is again

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you have something under that auspice

that is really giving out

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incorrect information

and it can become a problem.

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I'd love to talk to a lawyer

and see what the legal angle is on this.

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If I even told something by the chat bot,

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I'm told to go to on a city's website.

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That is information

coming from this official site,

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and then I get in trouble for it later.

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I mean, how would that work? Really?

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Yeah.

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It's, you know, one of those things,

I guess it'll have to be figured

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out, but, Yeah.

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So, I don't know what we'll talk about

where I is going in the next segment here,

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but we definitely are seeing it attached

to everything of your operating systems

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on your computers.

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Now, your word, all of that kind of stuff.

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Your phone, any search engine you use,

there are some that still don't,

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but it's kind of really gotten

into the majority of things.

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And it's actually to a point now

that you're in the tech industry and you,

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apply for certain jobs and haven't used

AI, you simply won't qualify.

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So, you know, it's it's definitely not,

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something that's optional

on certain things either.

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But, I want to see where we end up.

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I, I saw a documentary, over the holidays

about this and where this is going.

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It's called Terminator.

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Right.

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Now, next one that we saw last year,

which was it was out there,

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but it wasn't quite as on top of things

as AI is quantum computing.

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And quantum level technology

moving towards real world use.

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So we're going to do a show

on this this year

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because we've had a lot of questions

come in.

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And it's one of those things

that is too hard to like.

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Answer in five minutes.

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It will require a deep dive to get into.

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But the thing of it is, is we are seeing,

where this is.

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The UN has said that it's, converted

from future promise to early impact.

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So that means that, you know, it's here

and it's very early forms

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and in its very early forms,

it's already showing us a lot of things

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where on computing capability,

it's faster.

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And that's like the understatement

of the year already.

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Three days and, it can crack

codes, encryption, all that kind of stuff

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is going to have to be changed

very quickly.

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The whole idea of using passwords

for things has been obsolete,

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but it's really going to become obsolete.

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But on a positive side,

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it can analyze things

and like the medical arena,

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buying things that a doctor wouldn't

see right away, be able to,

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you know, do

a lot of stuff that is going to be,

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well, earth shattering in

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some ways especially, it's just coming

online and we're seeing a little bit more.

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And like I say, we'll deep dive into this.

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We've got a lot of questions about this

in the past year, but it is definitely

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something that I think, you know, is here.

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What do you guys think about quantum

computing?

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I'm just, you know, kind of off the cuff.

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But,

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I don't

I think I don't have enough information

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to really give an intelligent,

thoughtful response.

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So, you know, sometimes it's better

just to,

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you know, observe and keep quiet.

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One of the one of the most interesting

things from our listener

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feedback that I've seen on

this question is you have to send in

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and you take an average on

this is one of the most like nine

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on the comments we've had on it,

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is that the quantum computers

look like a chandelier.

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I mean, it's something out of cyberpunk,

but it is something

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that you could technically

say looks like a chandelier.

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If you don't know what we're talking about

next time you're online, Google it.

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You know, look up Quantum Computer

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and see some of the pictures

because they are it just brings up

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all kinds of questions as to

why is it that way?

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It looks like an upside down tomato plant.

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You know, it's hanging down.

You know what?

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Why is it that way?

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What's it doing?

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Does it why does it need to be that way?

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So I have lots of questions.

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So but I don't I don't know the value,

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the true value of this type of machine

and what it can do.

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Yeah.

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So and like I say

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we're going to deep dive into this is,

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is why this you know okay it'll crack

passwords.

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That's nice.

But why is it really important.

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And the other question

is where I'm going to answer is,

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why does it look like the way it looks?

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Because there is a there is

a specific reason for it, with a design.

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So we'll be diving into that

a little later this year.

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But, definitely

something that we've heard about.

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And, you know, we've said in the past

the stuff that was completely science

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fiction ten years ago is now we can buy

out of the store in a lot of cases.

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So why not this?

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And actually, I think it's going to do

more good than bad, by a lot.

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It's not a negative technology

by any means,

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but it is something that's going to change

a lot of things. So.

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All right, what are the other things

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upgrading energy

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and material innovations,

dealing with things like batteries,

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the structural batteries, other things

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like that, allowing for electric storage.

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I thing for energy shifting.

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And I know right now

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we're still trying to get that working

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on year round, but,

you have a basic version of this

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with a battery backup

that you have on your refrigerator.

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Yeah.

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And you're on an energy program

where power is cheaper at night.

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Like a lot cheaper than it is

during prime time.

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And the reason they're doing that

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is to try to get people to not do stuff

unless it's absolutely necessary.

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When it's hot in the summer

and you're going to overload the grid

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if you're not careful.

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So what this device does is, is

how's the time set?

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And I think, what

what is your prime time? 5 to 9.

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The expensive time is from 5 to 9.

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Yeah, right. I try not to do anything.

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No dishwashers, washing machines, dryers.

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You know, I try to avoid those things.

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Yeah, exactly.

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You know, and so, I'm 5:00, you know,

the power goes up.

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So what this does is you program

it and it's got a battery in it.

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It's meant for power failures, primarily,

but at 5:00, it disconnects itself

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from the grid

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and powers the device, in this case,

a refrigerator off of the batteries.

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So basically it's energy shifting.

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And then at 9:00,

when that goes on, it kicks back in.

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At least in theory.

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We haven't been able to completely

get it to work yet. No we haven't.

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We weren't able to get it to work.

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But we will. We will, and I hope so again.

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And, at 9:00 starts

recharging the battery.

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And, just in answer to that,

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I have figured out what we were doing

wrong.

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And, part of it is,

I can't say this all the way on the radio,

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but RTM read the manual.

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There's another word that a lot of people

put in there. Oh, okay.

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Now, see, I get frustrated

because read the manual is like, oh, here,

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I gave you this itty bitty

like link on there on your phone.

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I don't want something

that's a link on my phone.

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I want a piece of paper

that I can pull through.

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You know, I'm old and rickety

and I like the paper.

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And going,

oh, look, that's an important part.

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Yeah, well, I think tiny print and I.

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I'm going to have a little rant hero

when, got something

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it was a, cabinet for our,

we're building out

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and I think your code on the box

get the manual. Okay.

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The manual is actually great,

but it's restricted from printing.

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You can only look at it.

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You cannot print it out.

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I don't know why, but it's really stupid.

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A little bit of a frustration.

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And it's too bad, too,

because the cabinet itself is well made.

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I think the company is very responsive.

They're local.

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I assume they're doing this

to try to avoid other people from stealing

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what's in there.

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But there's so many ways

you can get around that,

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which is their store and say,

can you print this out for me?

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Because I want to be able

to read it. Yeah.

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And then they might be willing to do.

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I hadn't thought to ask,

maybe I will, but yeah.

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Yeah. So all right, next item on the list

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is robotics automation integrated reality

okay.

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We now have another term here.

What would that be? Air.

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No that's aviation.

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Yeah that's true I just aviation.

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Yeah.

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Let's not let's not use a bunch of

jumbled letters that, I don't like that.

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So robotics and automation

are accelerating capability and adoption.

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became more agile, capable

humanoid industrial robots

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are increasingly realistic, according to

the press release from the robot company.

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Now, I do have to say

we're seeing more of this.

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I have yet, as I'm sitting here today

to see a humanoid

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robot really function correctly.

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Have you guys seen anything

that's, like, not comedic?

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I've seen it.

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I've seen stuff,

but I'm not sure it's real.

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I mean, I've seen on Instagram suicide

after a while, but.

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Yeah.

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Really?

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That's, Yeah, it was,

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it was a robot that was moving packages

and that was its only thing.

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And eventually

it just reprogramed itself to shut down

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because it couldn't stand that its life

was just moving packages.

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Now that

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seems to support singularity

in AI a little bit.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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Why am I here?

And I don't want to be here?

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You know, boy, that I hadn't heard that.

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That's an interesting story.

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Where was that? Jeez, I don't know.

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It was about six months ago

that I remember that being around.

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But what do you know?

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Do you remember what country it was in?

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I want to say it was America.

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Really would have been.

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You're heading into that a little bit.

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Let's. That's, That's interesting.

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Like I said, it's kind of dark

now. Literally.

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You can reprogram it and bring it back

online, but it's still kind of a

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and something like that,

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you know, because like we get asked

the question, have we hit singularity?

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In other words,

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is I to a point

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where it can think for itself in a sense

that if the answer to that is yes,

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we need to rethink a lot of our laws,

because,

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you know, you're dealing with, well,

essentially a life form at that point.

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And,

you're starting to see some stability.

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Yeah, yeah.

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You know, so another one that is

an interesting term is digital twins.

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And I was reading through this

and this is defined as high fidelity

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virtual replicas of physical systems

meaning not real time data.

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And what this is, is

you're basically create like your factory

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but in virtual not virtual reality,

but a virtual version of it.

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And the computer is able to look at that

and compute out different scenarios,

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look at efficiencies and that type

of thing, monitor everything.

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And that's what a digital twin is.

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And this is something

that hasn't been highly reported on.

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I know in the last year,

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but it is something that has been kind of

getting into things.

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So, you know, on a positive

standpoint of this,

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I think there are a lot of things

you can do.

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We're going to hit this

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a little bit in the next section

on what's coming up for this.

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But it is a term I think we're going

to hear a little bit more this year.

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All right.

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On that note, biotech,

healthcare and life science innovation

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We've seen a lot of service,

surges in biotechnology diagnosis,

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research tools and so on.

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And again, quality of life.

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One of our episodes towards

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the end of the year, last year,

we were talking about at the technologies,

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now getting to a point

where they can recreate parts of the AI,

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and there are other things out there

that are like that that are becoming

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something

that was going to be pretty standard,

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limbs, replacement limbs

that were something you kind of hooked on.

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And they got better and better.

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Now they have, where they attach

and are cybernetic.

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They respond to your brain function

just like your arm.

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What are your leg? What?

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These type of things

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We saw, I think, a bigger surge

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in that kind of stuff than

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a lot of other years.

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So it is one of those things

that use properly

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this kind of technology

and have a lot of benefit.

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One of the other things

to do with virtual reality

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and some of this stuff,

the metaverse did not take off

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like they expected,

or that we all know that.

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But some of the effects from that,

like a doctor being able to,

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perform surgery remotely,

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is an example of something

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that has come out

of this kind of technology,

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a combination of biotech

and robotics and stuff.

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So if you have something

like a war theater

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or a remote place

that, specialists couldn't get to,

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you can get the machinery out there

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and allow people to have access

to high quality medical care

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that perhaps they wouldn't

be able to get access to otherwise.

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So, you know, interesting thing.

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And just see, these are some of the areas

where we've seen a lot of jumps.

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I don't know, on the other side of it,

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thinking about some of the things that

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you would wonder.

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I don't you know, we talk a lot

about things like, gaming, video games.

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I'll just pull that up.

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I don't know very many new games

this year.

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Bill, is there something that's like

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That just was the game of the year.

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She's not really.

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Yeah.

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I also have noticed through well,

you know.

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I was seeing less tech

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as I was doing the no, the news

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it got to be less and less and less.

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And it it took more effort to hunt for it.

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And I had to go outside of the U.S to find

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evidence of new innovative tech.

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So, maybe the games

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maybe they're more

you're seeing more of them overseas.

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Bill, what do you think?

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To a

degree, I guess now that I think about it,

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the game Silksong came out,

that one was pretty big.

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Broke records, crashed multiple stores,

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did pretty well that way.

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But the big name games

that you usually expect

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did not seem to really do as well.

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Yeah.

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I just, you know, I didn't

we didn't well, we had to switch to.

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But other than that we didn't have any new

consoles and people are buying it.

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But I don't think it's the home run.

The Nintendo was hoping for.

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And you know that one.

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I still this kind of segue

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into our next thing, which is physical

media, is starting to make a comeback.

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the one of the problems with the switch to

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is they said, well, we're backward

compatible to the original switches,

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which is something you want to do

if you have a new console come out

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and you have somebody that has a library

of software for the previous one,

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if they're going to be able to run it

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on the new one,

they're much more likely to buy it.

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Except for one thing,

they didn't include a cartridge slot.

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So any of your games from the switch,

one that are on cartridge,

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well,

or technically it's backward compatible.

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The software is that there's no way

to get it into the other unit, right?

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So stuff like that.

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What were they thinking?

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Nintendo thinks about its bottom line

lately.

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That's really the case.

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I if you summed it up

better than I was going to actually like

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the previous CEO would have been like,

oh no, we have cartridge slot,

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we need this and that

because they really thought about gamers,

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Nintendo's current CEO

and or do not care about anybody

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other than their bottom online.

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I mean, if you look at the other two

big players, which is Sony and Microsoft,

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the PlayStation,

the Xbox newest versions of those have,

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if you want one without a physical media

drive, you can buy it.

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I mean, it's available,

but you have the choice.

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And I know Microsoft

was thinking about doing the new Xbox,

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where it was digital only,

and there was a lot of pushback on that.

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Like, you know what?

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What are you doing?

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And part of it, yeah,

I've kind of done a flip flop.

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I'm going to admit to it.

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I'll do my politician side

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here is I'm kind of getting back

to where I want physical media.

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And the reason for that has to do with,

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an incident I had with Star Trek

Next Generation and Amazon. Now,

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Star Trek is something I like.

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I usually, watch it these days.

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I think I've memorized

all the scripts at this point,

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but it's something I have in the

background when I'm doing other work.

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I just want something on

in the background. Right.

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So if you have the DVD.

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Yeah. What's the disadvantage to that?

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Well, you have to have a physical drive

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everywhere where you have a television

to be able to use it.

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You have some other things like that.

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But on the positive

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note, it's sitting on the shelf

and you can use it anytime you want.

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And now I'm not an attorney,

so you know, it's not legal advice,

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but my understanding of fair use is

you can rip it and put it

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on a media server for your own use,

which is what I do.

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And then that way

I kind of have the best of both worlds.

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I've got the physical drive.

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Well, what of the physical?

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Yes, but I also can watch it

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streaming on my home

network and things like that with Plex.

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So what happened with

this is I was traveling and,

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I guess this would have actually been

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and I wanted to watch Star Trek,

and I've purchased it on Amazon,

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which is about the same price

as the DVDs were ended up being.

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And, well, this is restricted.

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You can't watch it in your current

geographical location.

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Oh really? You know,

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yeah,

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that's kind

of cruddy and it seems like I'm not alone.

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It I don't think we're going to be seeing

the record stores reopen or,

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you know, cassettes

becoming a prime time thing again,

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but there is a desire

to at least have the choice.

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Talking about video

games, too, is if you have a disc,

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DVD, Blu ray, you know, whatever it is,

depending on the generation of your system

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and your time of the game,

you can go to GameStop or sell it on eBay

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or something like that.

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You cannot do that with digital media.

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Now. It's it's there.

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It's like,

I don't know Bill, can you reassigned I

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if you ever heard of that

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because I don't think I have

no you can't resell digital media.

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So it

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it's and it's no cheaper

I mean I maybe a couple of bucks

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sometimes I like it really isn't

that much cheaper than the disc.

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And that's that's a big talk.

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It's about the cost of games going up

when it's really should be going down.

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Yeah, yeah.

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They're not having to pay for,

you know, distribution, all the cheating

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and all of the shipping and the artwork

and the artists.

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Yeah.

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I mean, yeah,

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if they don't even have to finish

programing it when they start selling it.

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Yeah. Because of when you download.

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I mean, you know, if in all reality

they don't.

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Yeah.

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It just goes online.

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Oh okay. Well download an update

okay. That's nice.

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Well I got the original game.

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Now I'm downloading the update.

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But I have nothing,

you know, in hand anymore.

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And there was something

kind of cool about,

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you know, things like album covers

or the boxes that the games came in

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or you had the artwork

like you're talking about,

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and you know, these type of things

and the smell of opening it,

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you know,

which I'm sure is not good for you,

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but the off gassing from the new disc

inside and all of that. So.

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You know, smells like tumor.

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Right? So anyway. Oh.

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Oh, man.

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Oh my goodness.

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Oh. But in all reality there is you know,

part of it certainly is nostalgia.

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But the other part of it is,

is having some kind of control.

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I know Jeremy used to complain about you.

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If you don't have access to the internet,

well, you can still watch a movie.

488

You know, it's it's kind of cool. Yeah.

489

I have a huge VCR

and, DVD and Blu ray library.

490

Yes. If you

491

and, and you're starting to see this

stuff sell again, I mean, it's available.

492

You do have to usually mail order it.

493

There was one store that sold records

494

and that type of it,

and I'm going to look into it.

495

That's still open in, Oregon here.

496

I'm going to check it out

that he has a record store.

497

So there's some of them still around.

498

All right.

499

Well, next segment

500

we are going to dive into what looks like

501

What is some fortune telling.

This is user friendly one.

502

Oh we'll be back after the break.

503

You see him? He's from the future.

504

He's got a really big computer

505

and he uses it uses it every day.

506

And she uses it in every way.

507

I see you so you know I know that show

because, you see, uses you guys.

508

Welcome back.

509

This is user

friendly 2.0 user friendly dot show

510

is your one stop for everything

user friendly.

511

Check it out.

512

Send us your questions and your comments

as you have been doing.

513

We have all of our back

episodes tech Wednesday.

514

How do you even hear us

on your smart speaker?

515

You want to do that?

516

So far about 11,000 people have,

which is interesting.

517

Analytics are wonderful,

518

but it

is incredible to see how much interaction

519

we're getting, comments

and all that kind of stuff.

520

One thing that's a little different

about a show like this

521

is if you're on, you know, YouTube

522

or one of these things,

you have regular comments.

523

We all on the radio,

you don't really have that.

524

And even the podcasting,

because there's so many different ways

525

to get to the podcast.

526

It's like there's not one

central location.

527

So having that up on the website

has been really cool

528

because we've gotten

a lot of good questions.

529

I mean, last year just amazing.

530

Some of the things that came in.

531

And we're going to be answering some of

532

We doing some of the programing

from there.

533

So get involved.

534

User friendly dot show is the place to go.

535

There's a blue button right on the home

screen of how

536

to send us your questions

and your comments.

537

Well,

538

539

So let's become fortune tellers here.

540

What do you think's

541

Now I have my own ideas

and one of them is, is

542

that I'll finally get that pinball

machine working.

543

But I don't think that's really what

this is about.

544

I'm a and I'm a writer,

545

so I can just really go down a crazy path,

you know what?

546

I have to do a deep dive in your books

now that they're out

547

and talk about that a little bit more,

548

because we've been getting some questions

on that front as well.

549

But, so when's the movie coming out?

550

Okay, I don't know.

551

That's true, Lucas, you know.

552

Right, right. No.

553

Go ahead.

554

All right.

555

Well, it's, that's go ahead.

556

On that note, I think I'm still recovering

from the New Year's party a little

557

bit here.

558

All right, so item number one on the list

559

again, like in the first segment,

these are just some things I put together.

560

This isn't really based on

anything real official other than just,

561

you know, looking and doing some research

and seeing what's coming up.

562

so I think we're going to see

563

564

To be the year of software building

itself, AI driven, that kind of thing.

565

For that, AI native development

platforms will be central,

566

according to several sources

that are out there.

567

So you still have a programmer involved,

568

but the AI is pretty much able

with that to generate, test

569

and manage code as part of the workflows

is together, at least right now.

570

Not I'm going to be retiring

to anything like that.

571

It's because, you know,

that, will be in the job.

572

But, I don't still don't see

573

AI putting everybody out of business,

at least not yet.

574

But it is changing things.

575

Well, you brought up, jet

suits and flying like that.

576

Do you think that we will finally get

577

some kind of Jetson like vehicle

578

for the regular person

to just stroll around in?

579

Or do you think that's way

far off in the future?

580

It's an interesting conversation

because seen, you know, like gravity

581

jet suit, the fact that these things

are a reality and they work well.

582

Yeah.

583

And some of the other things, I mean,

they do have flying cars that are safe

584

and usable now and that's been tested

in the last year and other things.

585

So the question becomes, well,

where are we going with that of,

586

you know, flying

car, flying busses, things like that?

587

One of the barriers

588

to entry on

this is the fact that it affects

589

other things that you wouldn't

normally think about.

590

One of the things on the jet suit

that's a concern from,

591

you know, outside people is that it

renders any fenced off

592

area the security of that

not really all that good anymore.

593

You could fly over the fence

around the airport or whatever.

594

You can do that with that copter.

595

You can do that with a helicopter,

but it is a whole lot easier

596

in a smaller device.

597

Yeah, whether it's a cat suit

or even the flying car.

598

That's not a helicopter.

599

Now, you're talking about general adoption

of these things,

600

because that's

when that would really become a thing.

601

If everybody owned a helicopter,

then yeah, it would be an issue.

602

But everybody owning a

helicopter is not affordable.

603

It will someday be affordable

to have a jet suit,

604

and it will someday be affordable to have

a, flying car, which is one of the other

605

barriers to entry is the cost.

606

But that is coming down, you know,

and we're seeing that type of a thing.

607

So where is that going to go?

608

You know, very, person

I work with, genius

609

made the comment that, you know,

we want to use current modern aviation.

610

Well, what do you consider old fashioned?

611

You know, Aero aerial planes, right.

612

Why do you think that

requires a runway? Oh, okay.

613

You know, and

614

I I've, I've heard you

mention his response on that.

615

And I think we're probably going

to keep a certain amount

616

of the runway vehicles because of the,

the logistics of carrying large,

617

heavy objects, really requires

those big jets. Yes.

618

And I think maybe the, the smaller

or personal,

619

vehicles could be the type

that don't require runway.

620

What do you guys think?

621

Yeah. No, I think that's very true.

622

And and that's tongue in cheek, of course.

623

But, you're dealing with technologies

coming together.

624

And one of the other things

too, is things like range.

625

Just like now you can drive your car

to, you know, not overseas or anything,

626

but you can drive your car

to any destination in the continental

627

or landmass that you're in,

and you can fly to any destination.

628

Flying will be faster,

which is why you do it.

629

And I think

we're going to see the same thing.

630

The jet suit has a limited range,

so it is a flying car.

631

So the you know.

632

747 730

I won't make some 40 sevens anymore.

633

737 Max, you know, these kind of things

are the air busses that are modern

634

will still accomplish that, at least

for the foreseeable future, in my opinion.

635

Where you're bringing, you know,

a group of people like normal passengers

636

and certainly, like you say, cargo

package delivery, although we are starting

637

to see technology and it's not that new,

but it's starting to get to a point

638

where it's actually usable, like Amazon

using drones to deliver packages,

639

that kind of a thing.

640

And I'm hearing

641

that we're going to actually see that

in production this year as a prototype.

642

Really.

643

Okay, I, I'm wondering

when we're going to see

644

like the characters in my books,

for the cyber hot books, that is.

645

Yeah.

646

When will we have emergency responders

like my characters?

647

In London, there is an

648

at least one person that I know of that

I've met that uses

649

that sometimes training on it to be able

to respond to emergency situations

650

and get there a lot faster.

651

So when will that happen?

652

Well, I in some ways it already has.

653

Now your characters have full

exoskeletons,

654

cyber suits as they're called in the books

and something like that.

655

We have the technology to do that

right now.

656

The Japanese have developed,

you know, brain computer interfaces.

657

We have some of that in this country

to be able to operate these things.

658

We're already seeing cybernetics

for replacement limbs

659

and other things that are in general use,

660

which is another thing

I think that's going to really

661

come into its own this year.

662

But these type of things are not science

fiction anymore.

663

So it comes down to cost, availability of

parts, the ability to manufacture things.

664

All of that plays into it.

665

But the question, you know,

at the end of the day with that is

666

what are some of the things that,

you know, you might not really think about

667

and not talking about,

you know, science fiction and stuff?

668

I'll ask a question what is a real cyborg?

669

You can access the internet

like you would over your phone.

670

Mentally,

671

you can operate augments, which we already

have the technology to do that.

672

Some of these things.

673

Okay. So what does that change?

674

You go in and take an exam.

675

Well, you don't have to study for it

because you can just worry, right?

676

Is that bad? No,

because it's part of who you are.

677

If you're that so, you know, at the end

of the day, a lot of these questions

678

that were just interesting things

to think about the movie are no longer

679

their reality,

you know, and going in that direction.

680

It's going to be interesting to see

681

what the adoption of these things

is to you're going to have a certain

682

because you do now, people

that want to stay, you know,

683

and interact in the way that they do,

they're comfortable with it.

684

There's people that are going to be

scared of things, at least initially.

685

All of that is the reality of it.

686

So but the reason I say it's

kind of a weird question in a way,

687

is because

688

what you're talking about is not so much

do we need to invent all of this?

689

A few things here, but most of it's there.

690

It's more

what will it take to actually adopt it?

691

And I think that's more of the question

in a lot of these things, you know, so,

692

do you know, do humans need to learn

how to work better together?

693

You know, do

we need a walk partner technology?

694

That's just should be something

that happens that's about are.

695

Yeah, I know, but it just seems like

696

some of the mindsets that are necessary

697

are a more co-operative, culture

as opposed to one.

698

That's very selfish.

699

Yeah, yeah.

700

So a collective support

group of some kind.

701

Yeah. I mean,

you know, it's going to be interesting.

702

Things are changing

703

and it's going to be up to us

whether that's going to be a good change.

704

We enhance quality of life.

705

And you know people can start to work out

a little bit

706

more like you're talking about.

707

Or we have, you know,

like what's in and our cyberpunk,

708

which is where we don't want to go,

at least in my opinion.

709

Hopefully

we don't want to go there. Right. So it's.

710

I mean, I'm a nice bonsai tree.

711

That's fine. But.

712

But anyway, so yeah, it's

713

you know, it's going to be interesting

to see where those goes.

714

I don't think we're going to see full

fledged cyborgs or people using jet

715

seeds this year, but

I do think we'll see it in our lifetime.

716

And I do think it's not that far out.

717

So, you know, I also keep seeing,

718

videos on like, Instagram,

719

of these robots that look real.

720

And I haven't quite figured out

whether this is, like, fake, like,

721

made up stuff, you know, just to look cool

or if they're real.

722

What do you think about robots that have,

723

better mobility

724

with, more cognitive abilities?

725

Are we going to see something like

that in a package together?

726

First of all, I think

727

that description is moving

more like an android than a robot.

728

Really?

729

Yeah. Okay.

730

If we don't want to. Yeah. Like.

731

Oh, yeah, I driven since, C-3po and R2d2,

I would say those are androids.

732

They think, and they do things.

733

So. Okay,

when are we going to see stuff like that?

734

Well, we already are.

735

Are we?

736

Yes. I was going to say the same thing.

Yeah.

737

Go ahead with that because. Yeah.

738

Well there are some robots that they have

that are being trained.

739

You can train yourself

actually if you purchase a

740

that are doing house

741

chores, things

like that, that, need help,

742

there's ones that are helping elderly,

743

I believe in China.

744

There's really a lot that's developing,

745

and it's just a matter of time before it's

really perfected and becomes marketable.

746

You know, if you

talk about in the Asian countries, there's

747

a lot more adoption of this early adoption

of what you're talking about.

748

There are places

where you need to go to the hospital.

749

The staff checks you in are androids,

robots, whatever you want to call them.

750

Look, humanoid.

751

They do the paperwork,

you communicate with them, you get in,

752

you know, and all that kind of stuff.

753

It's turning out

to be a lot more efficient,

754

some ways to be able to do that,

because what it's doing is it's releasing

755

the caregivers, like our doctors

and nurses, to be able to do their job

756

and not do paperwork or sit at the counter

somewhere.

757

You know,

there's a certain amount of the population

758

that is creeped out by that,

759

although it's becoming a little bit

more normalized now.

760

But it is interesting

to see where that goes now.

761

True AI driven robots.

762

Interesting thing. Last year I built one

763

and I call it chat doc

764

and Gretchen, you've seen them

and it was a proof of concept

765

and I was doing for a previous employer,

and it's basically a little dog.

766

It's shaped like a dog.

767

It walks around on four legs and,

you know, is shaped that way.

768

And it's connected to ChatGPT.

769

And ChatGPT has control

the microcontroller in it,

770

be able to operate it so you can talk

and it talks back to you.

771

A normal conversational,

you know, methodology.

772

There's all that kind of stuff.

773

It follows you around it,

you know. So it's interesting.

774

Now, this isn't humanoid,

but it's still something along that idea

775

and that existed.

776

It already does.

777

I didn't get to see him.

778

Oh, actually behind me.

779

Oh, is he actually running?

780

The last time I saw him,

he was not functioning.

781

So it was in the development stage.

782

Yeah. Well, yeah,

I was about six months ago now.

783

He is running now and he works.

784

And, is, fully operational.

785

I mean, you know,

and the thing of it is, is it's kind of

786

in some ways creepy.

787

I think it's kind of cool. But,

you know, you're right.

788

I saw something that was an advertisement

789

and I thought, that's probably nonsense.

790

They're trying to get us to buy things

for the Christmas season.

791

So, you know,

I kind of like, push that aside.

792

But the idea was cool.

793

It was like a little toy dog

for, like a companion for a senior.

794

Yeah. Are these things real?

795

Yeah. So there are real.

796

Oh, really?

797

Oh, that's kind of cool kind of thing.

798

And not only are they real, it's solving

some problems of seniors, especially

799

a lot of times end up in a situation

where they're by themselves.

800

And, these kind of devices are making

801

a huge difference with mental, you know,

802

what is it like depression,

you know, kind of thing.

803

And, and Canyon channel loneliness.

804

Yeah.

805

So where do these things will it.

806

Oh look expensive now although on

some of these things specifically what

807

you just mentioned, insurance is starting

to cover them in certain situations.

808

Well,

so do you think this year we're going

809

to see more of these companion,

robotic pets?

810

Oh, yeah. More than likely.

811

Yeah.

812

I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

813

And, you know, again,

it's going to be all about adoption.

814

Yeah.

815

A couple of years ago,

Facebook changed our name to metal

816

because the metaverse

was going to be a thing.

817

And it's not that the technology wasn't

there, just people didn't do it.

818

So the question more is, are people

going to buy robotic dogs?

819

Well, that will really be what will tell

820

if it's proven or not and how popular

something like that becomes.

821

But the biped robot line,

822

especially in places

where you work at hype

823

places like warehouses and things,

they're very beneficial in that.

824

And yes, you know, it comes out, oh Bill.

825

Well, you can just,

826

you know, with the machinery,

build something that's more efficient.

827

All well,

maybe not all 99% of our infrastructure

828

in these kind of things is designed

for a human to be able to operate with.

829

So if you have a device

that can go in there and do the same job,

830

that can fit into the same requirements

that the human did,

831

there's a lot of use

for something like that.

832

And even in some ways,

whether it's sentient

833

or whether it's a robot on the floor

that a human is controlling remotely,

834

you're still saving your back.

835

You're still saving your injury.

836

You're not going to fall off

of the robot falls off of height.

837

You just you don't have a human

in the hospital, you know?

838

So there's a lot of arguments in favor

for stuff like that.

839

And today, right now, we can do that.

840

You know, the whole idea of,

you know, a fully sentient robot,

841

you know, there are schools of thought

that say we're there there are schools of

842

thought that say we're not.

843

And I think a good argument can be made

either way on that side of the equation.

844

But, but yeah.

845

So, you know, we're looking at that

next item on the list too,

846

which I think is interesting.

847

And now I like the stuff

a lot of people don't.

848

I understand that, but is intelligent

connected infrastructure.

849

This is like your smart homes

and intelligent.

850

Everything.

851

I think it's really cool to be able

to walk into your house and think, I mean,

852

you know, say turn on the lights

and all that kind of stuff,

853

and it does,

but it's going a step further.

854

I mean, we've had that for a long time,

but there's things now like,

855

if I go to bed at night,

856

forget to lock the door

and turn the lights out,

857

the computer will figure out

that I went to bed and do it for me.

858

So the door's not sitting unlocked

all night.

859

You know, that kind of a thing?

860

If I'm in the house and someone drives

my car away,

861

there's actually systems in place

that say, hey, it's 2:00 in the morning.

862

Do you know someone in your car?

863

That kind of stuff. Right.

864

So that's the connected they now step

beyond this is we're starting to see

865

some of the cybernetics is being used

for mainly things like limb implants.

866

They're also connected.

867

Now I'm not quite sure what that's about,

but I mean it can be kind of cool.

868

I just don't give me a bad software

update on my knee.

869

That could be bad.

870

So I.

871

So, you know,

872

and along those lines,

we've talked about quantum computing.

873

We just talked about it

in the other segment.

874

I think we're going to see our quantum

safe infrastructures coming out this year.

875

And what that means is,

is this technology is here.

876

So we're going to see encryption,

cryptography, all these type of things

877

advanced to a level

where it is safe with quantum computers.

878

But the day of a username and password

that could end the year,

879

depending on how far that gets it already

more or less it.

880

And you have a, you know, device to

authenticate now or something like that.

881

Service

password does help with the hacking.

882

You know, multifactor

883

authentication is a good bandaid, but

it doesn't completely solve the problem.

884

But it's better than not by a lot.

885

But going in a direction where you,

you know, have something where you can

886

definitely, without

887

any question, confirm who you are.

888

And I don't know if I would go

as far as to say it can't be hacked,

889

but it becomes much more difficult,

like a lot more difficult.

890

So now one of the other things,

891

and this is something that is going to be

it's not a new technology,

892

about surveillance.

893

And one of the things is a company called

lockers, things called lock cameras.

894

And this has been in the news.

895

I won't get into politics of it,

but basically what they are is a lot of,

896

cities and different things like,

have these around.

897

They're on phone poles and traffic lights

and so on, and everything is monitored

898

and so if a car stolen,

they can go into the system using

899

AI and probably find the car.

900

The ring

901

doorbells and all that stuff are now

part of those systems to.

902

I don't even think you can opt out of that

off the law.

903

But in any event,

surveillance is getting a little bit.

904

And a lot of,

schools of thought out of control now

905

because everything is watched, you know,

906

and along those lines

is things like telematics in your car,

907

BMW had their big thing with the

908

you have to pay have a subscription

for your heated seats.

909

That's a true story.

910

And we're seeing cars

trying to make it like your phone

911

where you buy apps for everything

and all that kind of stuff.

912

But most modern new cars,

913

they can track where you are.

914

The hardware is in the car.

915

It's not like something

you would add on to it anymore.

916

Is that safe?

917

Is that something we want?

918

A lot of people say no.

919

So it's an area where reining

in technology is going to be important.

920

You want to use it in the right way,

and using it in the right way

921

creates a situation where you're improving

quality of life and efficiency

922

and you know, the world around you.

923

It can go that direction,

but it can go the other way, too.

924

And somebody said,

you know, with the advent of the internet,

925

especially with the web as it is

now, not so much 1.0, but the videos

926

and all these things like we have now,

927

personal privacy

is a completely different thing.

928

I don't think it should be,

929

but that's my opinion, you know?

930

So we want to expect to be observed

every time you walk out the front door.

931

But think about it.

932

You walk down,

go for a walk from your house,

933

you got ring

doorbells and I pick it on ring.

934

But any, you know, surveillance

doorbells and cameras

935

and all that kind of stuff

that's now being sent to a central place

936

where I can scrutinize it,

937

you know.

938

Is that a good.

939

So, so, but I also have this question,

940

if you're surveilling it and watching it,

are you taking the responsibility

941

that if you see someone hurt,

942

are you going to send help?

943

Well, I don't I would still do that

whether or not I know I'm on camera.

944

But the thing is, is whoever's

watching and surveilling,

945

are they going to send help?

946

Who who is watching?

And that's my question.

947

Are you going to take responsibility

for your ability to watch everybody?

948

Are you going to send help?

949

And that's a that's a good question.

950

I mean, you know, I,

I don't think there's rules

951

that you have to

I don't know, I'm not an attorney.

952

And the interesting

if someone is to answer that.

953

But what it comes down to,

and this is an example I've used in

954

the past, is really

955

technology should be augmentation

not replacement of common sense.

956

And it's like

957

the idea of the backup camera in your car,

a very good piece of technology.

958

It makes it a lot safer

until you don't use the mirrors anymore.

959

Yeah.

960

You know.

961

Yeah I still do all this physically

behind me turn my head against you.

962

But there's a lot of people that don't

I mean you know with now

963

we've have learned obviously that real

autonomous driving is not quite here yet.

964

But there was a case that came out

that was on the news that the police

965

couldn't get a Tesla to stop

when the driver was asleep.

966

Now, explain that to me,

967

because the car is supposed to be

968

monitoring that you're able

to control the car if you need to.

969

That's like, how did that happen?

970

Right.

971

Yeah.

972

So anyway.

973

But yeah, it's it's a good question.

974

And these are some things that go beyond

just is the technology there to do it.

975

The more of a step.

976

What are the, you know, ethics of it.

977

What is the moral of a subject.

978

And we do need to be

thinking about these things.

979

If we really

980

do hit singularity and have sentient AI,

981

that's a living being

because they can think for themselves,

982

I'm sure there's going to be people

that would argue with that,

983

but I don't know how you would

because we're a machine.

984

Yep. Different.

985

I mean, the human body is a machine.

986

And as time goes by there,

the line between that

987

and machines, what we think of machines

is very much blurring.

988

So what happens when the AI calls

989

you and goes,

who am I and what am I doing here?

990

You know, yeah, yeah. What's my purpose?

991

Yeah.

992

So you get that phone call

and it's like, okay,

993

you know, things have changed.

994

And could that happen

this year? It's very possible.

995

I wouldn't rule it out.

996

Moore's law,

you know the number of transistors on

997

electronic devices

will double every two years.

998

So far

we've been holding pretty true to that,

999

even though a lot of people

didn't think we would.

And we're at a point right now where it's

like the analogy I've given this before,

you start with a penny doubling every day

for 30 days, and you're a millionaire.

That's just how the math works.

And you get to a point where

the computer will be able to think,

you know, I can't do that, Dave.

We need to make sure we don't go there,

and we need to make sure

we don't go there.

And if we do,

the potential is very bright.

You know, if we're talking negative here,

there is the other side of that coin.

That done right, it's

going to change things in a way that can

eliminate hunger, eliminate,

you know, a lot of the things

that we're dealing with now

and make things efficient and make things

a lot easier to work with, but

it's going to be

we're at a fork in the road,

and it's going to be interesting

to see which direction we go.

All right.

So in the last little bit here

we have a great season coming up for you.

It is season eight and it is our I think

we're going to do our 14th year now.

Absolutely amazing.

It's you guys that have created this.

We love getting the feedback again.

User friendly knows where to send it.

Until next week.

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