The Woz predicts technology with more understanding

Steve Wozniak, known as the Woz and co-founder of Apple® Inc., shared his thoughts on the future of technology at ProMat 2015.

Steve Wozniak, known as the Woz, an inventor; electronics engineer; computer programmer; co-founder of Apple® Inc.; and developer of Apple I and Apple II, the first personal computers with keyboards, shared his thoughts on the future of technology during a keynote address at co-located shows Automate 2015 and ProMat 2015.

Automate, sponsored by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), featured over 300 exhibitors showcasing automation technologies. Over 800 companies exhibited manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain equipment and systems at ProMat, sponsored by MHI.

Thousands of expo attendees vied for seats in the packed Grand Ballroom at Chicago’s McCormick Place in March to hear the Woz recount personal and professional anecdotes from his days leading up Apple and make comments and predictions as to what’s next in the technology world. DC Velocity’s Group Editorial Director Mitch MacDonald posed questions during the relaxed, fireside-chat-style presentation.

Thoughts from the Woz:

Is technology positive? Most people judge that technology advances have been positive, especially today when we are walking around with our remote controls and have access to every bit of knowledge in the world. Most people are happy because we are building all this technology so we don’t have to do the thinking and work—it’s all kind of predone. All we have to learn is how to access information on the machines and computer.

Are there negatives to technological progress? Not as many people know the structure of what is being done because it is being done for them. We are building machines to take care of us, and that makes me think that we want to be the family pet—a well-taken-care-of dog.

What about artificial intelligence (AI)? We still don’t know how the brain is wired. We don’t have a clue but we have taken steps to get there. Our understanding will probably start with the Internet because it has as many nodes or computers as we have neurons in our brains. And as many network connections as we have synapses. It’s going to appear subtly as we build machines that get smarter and smarter.

When might AI become a reality? Based on some curves, it’s predicted that machines will have information-processing ability in 20 years. They will be thinking faster and better than us. They will be running companies better than us. Computers won’t need humans. I started thinking about this and thought there’s got to be a way this won’t happen. First there’s the law of physics—how many more little electrons can fit into electronic devices each year than the year before? How much smarter can they get? We might be near the end because of size. I’m hoping that we don’t get a fully conscious machine.

What technology do you want that is not available now? I want to live in the human world and have machines understand me. We’ve got Siri, but Siri doesn’t understand. I want to think a thought and speak with incorrect words or grammar and somehow get it understood. For example, the word table has a meaning in the dictionary, but what if there is a congressman somewhere in the world named Table. I might ask a question concerning the congressman Table and want Siri to figure out what I mean from all the human information—kind of a collective consciousness. We’re going to keep on making technology interpret human language better and better.

What technology will bring the next level of great change? Autonomous vehicles are going to be big. If I ordered something from Amazon® and could have it delivered to my doorstep in 15 minutes, I would take it. That’s drone delivery. There is going to be a big want there. Some people say self-driving vehicles for delivery alone will be a lot bigger than personal driving vehicles. That will change life a lot. And wearables. When you are in a virtual world and it goes with you--that is an emotional experience that has the potential to be huge.

What technology should everyone embrace? The smartphone, because you have access to the information of the world. It is at your fingertips, they are low-cost, and you can share the experience with others. You have to be able to communicate well.