Is this the real life? Or is this a sci-fi story?
The tech world is becoming increasingly hard to keep up with. Generative AI products are now the hottest topic of discussion. Recently, there were two stories which made me question whether the timeline that I’m living is real life. Have sci-fi fantasy’s caught up with us?
Take, for example, Scientist at Carnegie Mellon University. They have developed technology that uses wi-fi signals to detect people inside rooms. This is possible by machine learning and using existing AI models on pose estimation. The result: The ability to use any wi-fi router as a security camera. Or, alternatively, as a spy device. There are obvious advantages to using this technology in law enforcement:
- You wouldn’t need to install cameras.
- You could (depending on router security) access any wi-fi router in the world.
- Light would not be necessary to see. (People are mapped by radio waves)
In The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne does just this. He takes sonar technology, developed by Lucius Fox, and applies it to every cellphone in Gotham city. Essentially, this is the same idea developed at Carnegie Mellon. Is this our future?
“Beautiful. Unethical. Dangerous. You’ve turned every cellphone in Gotham into a microphone.” Lucius Fox, adamant that this technology is too much power for any one person, destroys the system at the end of the film. You have to wonder whether Fox is right. Who will get control? What will they do with it?
Even more recently, Apple came out the gate swinging with a strong right hook in the VR/AR space. Introducing the Vision Pro headset. In typical Apple fashion, they are not first to market. However, their entrance has certainly helped bring the metaverse back into the mainstream.
To relate it back to sci-fi, Apple’s WWDC keynote had a surprising likeness to Ready Player One. In the introduction film, there is a shot of an actor putting on the headset. As they put it on, the camera pans around inside the headset to reveal what the user would see. This is a direct rip-off from the movie.
And, if you’ve seen the film, or read the book, you know that this story is not exactly a happy one. It is a dystopian where humans don’t connect in real life anymore. Instead, work and play primarily exists in the ironically named, Oasis. So is Apple going to build the Oasis? I’d bet, yes.
Sci-fi has a funny habit of becoming real life. These two stories are a reminder. A reminder that humans with a goal and a good dose of commitment will find a way to make any idea a reality. This doesn’t mean we’re doomed. Society has often been afraid of new technology. Throughout history, there has always been negative press about new things. We were afraid of:
- The printing press
- Radio
- Television
- Internet
- Social media
- And now, artificial intelligence
All before we understood what it could and couldn’t do. However, as history also shows, we always find a way to live with it while making our lives better.
Ultimately, we figure out how to make it work for us, rather than against us. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to see what fictional technology is next in line to become real life. Who has the imagination to think up the next great sci-fi epic and define the future of technology?
Things worth checking out:
Center For Humane Technology discuss The AI Dilemma (features Wi-Fi sonar and many other interesting things)
Apple Vision Pro; READY PLAYER ONE (comedic comparison of Vision Pro vs Ready Player One)
The Dark Knight is worth watching many times over
Ready Player One is just okay. The book was better.