What would you do if given the power to predict the future?
The ability to see beyond the in-the-moment and connect the dots to see the final results of the dominos falling holds great potential. Fortunes could be made or destroyed, delicate balances preserved or torn asunder.
Oracles once viewed into the mists of burning bushes transcendent in the inebriation of said vapors and spiritual balms. The modern equivalent is far more mundane and sober.
The future of soothsaying is here and was well on display at InfoComm 2015. The rocket fuel for the coming paradigm is as old as computers themselves: databases.
Many new languages and suites have arrived into the integration world which offer flexibility and speed of application. Even with the ability to create and maintain apps and remote access, none can compare with the influence that databases will have on the future of automation.
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Databases are simple, the collection of data from phone numbers to weather history—all with the purpose of instant retrieval based on specifics or relational connections. It is this ability to tie disparate information into something new where the future is changed.
There are entire offices where doctorates in physics, formally working to resolve the Grand Unified Theory, add a bit of math to work on building predictive models of stock trading.
At InfoComm in Orlando this year this tsunami was rolling just under the surface, looking for landfall to rise up in full cycle.
There were no super-hyped proclamations; many manufactures spoke in subtle phrases about ‘increasing system efficiency’ by ‘predicting individual user expectations and actions.’ Examples range from a classroom configuring itself as the professor walks in the door, to whole building systems acting in presumptive manners to manage energy usage.
Next: Microsoft Gets It Right at InfoComm 2015
This is more than code, more than if/else statements. It is the acquisition and collation of a constant stream of input information. Like it or not we have officially become part of the data and analytics food chain.
The big analytics of this small, but constant, data will not only change how we program, it also adds a new level of moral codes of conduct. The collection of data and people’s movements creates a need to manage the people who code the systems.
What will you do with your predictive powers? How does the future look to you?
Missed InfoComm 2015? Take a quick tour with CI.
