Is Computing Entering a New Cognitive Era?

Digital disruption has been hitting industry after industry like a freight train at an ever-increasing speed for a while now. As new technologies, such as smartphones, Netflix, Uber and others, change how we live, work and play, we seldom stop to think about how cloud computing and the virtualization of software, hardware and services have transformed both small and large businesses in a relatively short space of time.

Suddenly, the world’s most advanced technologies became available to anyone with an internet connection. Cloud solution providers even begin their sales pitch with “You don’t even need an IT department.” Almost anyone could pick up the phone and get their hands on the latest tech without the lengthy process the IT department would have to design and implement.

Ultimately, cloud-enabled virtualization has provided both services and technology that had never existed before. While the headlines concentrate on our world being dominated by digital disruption, I always ask  whether they are thinking big enough. An emerging technology category called quantum computing I first identified as a future game-changer back in the mid-1990s is now starting to become viable and is close to taking things into a whole new ballpark.

IBM recently offered a glimpse into the future with the first quantum platform delivered via the IBM cloud. Having access to a quantum computer in the cloud for anyone to use is just the beginning of a brand new journey in computing.

Currently, our computers use bits that can only be represented in either 1s or 0s (binary). Through a mechanism called superpositioning, this next generation of computing uses quantum bits, or "qubits," to calculate values of one, zero or both at the same time. IBM believes that four to five qubits are the minimum number required to support quantum algorithms and applications.

To put this level of exponential change into perspective, a traditional computer with four bits can represent 16 different states. However, a 300-qubit computer would have more states than atoms in the universe. When pondering the possibilities and opportunities this level of technology could deliver, it’s easy to see why Einstein famously labeled it spooky.

On the downside, this technology is incredibly volatile, with the game-changing qubits being both unpredictable and unreliable. But with the likes of Google and the Pentagon joining forces to deliver quantum computers, I am confident that this growing Hard Trend will increasingly become impossible to ignore.

This groundbreaking technology has the power to deliver unprecedented progress that will transform our world once again. For example, the production of personalized drugs in the health care industry is notoriously expensive and time-consuming. So much so that many potential cures do not even make it to market.

Currently, chemists wade through tons of molecular combinations in a laborious process to discover what has the properties needed to fight disease. This process takes years while also costing millions of dollars to produce. Alternatively, quantum computers would have the ability to map out trillions of molecular combinations, dramatically reducing both time and cost.

If you think that buzzwords such as machine learning and automation are yet another fad that will quickly pass by, you are sadly mistaken. We are standing on the foundations of a new computer era that is highlighted by cognitive computing and advanced machine learning that is rapidly evolving to what we call deep learning, and together they will teach us more about ourselves, business and the universe than we could comprehend right now.

A world filled with new opportunities beckons where many major diseases are prevented, and we find new ways to feed and clean-power a hungry planet. Throughout time there has always been a dark side to every advance humans take. The processing of vast amounts of data in real-time will enable those in power to manipulate the online preferences of global audiences to sway popular opinion.

Learning to identify and use Hard Trends to anticipate the future provides the biggest competitive advantage to businesses of all sizes and allows us to actively shape the future and turn change into opportunity. Far too often we only get to read about the downside of technological advancements, which just promotes fear and distrust. Ask yourself why. The answer, of course, is that bad news sells, but good news does not.

It’s time to stop looking at the future with yesterday's eyes and prepare for an incredibly exciting journey ahead. What opportunities are you and your business going to create?

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Thanks for reading. You can find my previous Linkedin articles here, and you can also connect on Twitter at @DanielBurrus

DANIEL BURRUS is considered one of the World's Leading Futurists on Global Trends and Innovation, and is the founder and CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology driven trends to help clients understand how technological, social and business forces are converging to create enormous untapped opportunities. He is the author of six books including New York Times & Wall Street Journal best seller Flash Foresight.   

Daniel Burrus is also the creator of  The Anticipatory Organization™ Learning System–named a Top 10 Product of 2016.

The AO Learning System is a training process for executives and their teams to develop the skills to accurately foresee and take critical actions before disruption strikes.

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