Professor’s Talk Summary by Prof. Dr. Peter Cochrane, OBE, D.Sc. Binus DCS, Lecture on Philosophy of Science
Andi Sama — CIO, Sinergi Wahana Gemilang
Humanity has been watching technology changes through time; lately, it has accelerated incredibly. For example, the transition from Industry 1.0 to Industry 2.0 took about 120 years, while it was about 70 years from Industry 2.0 to 3.0. In early 1970, Industry 4.0 started by introducing the Programmable Logical Controller (PLC) that changes the mechanical relays, mechanical timers, and mechanical counters to electronics, introducing automation, especially in the manufacturing industry and other sectors.
The 2.5 hours talk on May 13, 2023, by Professor Dr. Peter Cochrane, OBE, D.Sc., on Society 5.0 during the 7th lecture session at Binus Doctor of Computer Science (DCS) program has been one of the most diverse and exciting technology updates to DCS Students (presenting and showing examples through images, videos) on how advanced science and technologies have been progressing through time with some highlights on practical and potential applications in various areas. The talk, which was delivered from the UK (GMT+00:00) to the DCS students in Jakarta, Indonesia (GMT+07:00) and the Greater area (some were onsite, some were joining online), demonstrated what humanity has been enjoying with the advancements of technologies with its challenges and opportunities for the future. The talk was part of the lecture on the Philosophy of Science led by Dr. Yosef Dedy Pradipto of Binus University.
The Industrial Revolution, which is now the 4th Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), for example, has been progressing a lot in the late decades (and especially in the late decade after the 2010s) with the significant advancements of the Internet, Bigdata, Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
We are transitioning to Society 5.0, where the interaction of the Human-Cyber Physical System is getting more transparent, powered by technologies. The current generation has been experiencing and enjoying low-cost and instant communication, online shopping, and collaboration, for example, at any time, anywhere, with no geographical limitation. In contrast, the older generation struggled even to make a long-distance telephone call. Thanks to the seamless integration of activities with technologies humans use daily. More will be coming, such as the integration of eXtended Reality (XR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR), powered by the Internet, Bigdata, AI, and mobile access.
ChatGPT (GPT — Generative Pre-trained), the application of the Large Language Model (LLM), a subfield of AI, promises to assist humans by interacting with the AI through Natural Language Processing (NLP) — As if humans can talk to the AI about anything, through text, like having access to the vast amount of the knowledge, at their fingertips. ChatGPT, the company founded by Elon Musk, was released by openAI to the public as a limited beta version in late 2022 and has been in everyday conversation since early 2023.
ChatGPT is a generative AI based on research published in 2017 (GAN — Generative Adversary Network). However, as Prof. Peter mentioned, "We are not in the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) era yet; we are still far away from the AGI in which the AI is the same level as humans." Although the signs are there.
The potentials of quantum technologies were also mentioned, which, although still in the very early stage of finding practical applications and have been in the research community for 100+ years, recent developments in algorithms, hardware, and software promise a lot of breakthroughs in the not-so-far future (next few decades) as it closely mimics how nature works — the possibility of doing the faster way (weeks or months, not years) to find the suitable molecules combination in drug development (drug discovery), for example, through complex simulation. The potential, though, at least in the beginning of initial applications, will be implemented in hybrid — combining the qubit-based quantum mechanics technologies (such as quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum cryptography) with the technologies we are familiar now, the classical mechanics that is based on bit and Bytes.
In his closing statements, Prof. Peter reminded us about Sustainability as the planet that humans live on today, Earth, has limited resources. All these technological advancements, especially chatGPT and the like, have exploited many earth resources, and the world has suffered. Below are some of humanity's questions for all of us, including scientists and politicians, to consider.
- Will the future world have enough resources for its 8+ billion people, even shortly, for the next few generations to survive? — How to prevent future resource scarcity by acting now? What should we do together?
- Is there another alternative to the current approach of doing AI? — Although it has been a human companion for some time, will other AI methods exploit less of Earth's resources? — or maybe even more?
- How many more jobs will vanish and be created along with the development of technologies? How to prepare the current and the next generations to fit and align with future jobs that do not exist? e.g., working together with intelligent AI-powered robots. What's left for humans if robots can do almost all things? — mainly all the routine activities.
- Will the dream of Elon Musk to explore natural resources outside Earth by setting a journey to Mars provide a better alternative? — or even exploit more resources on Earth?
- What is the role of regulators with the rapid advancement of technologies? How can these positively contribute and provide benefits to increase the well-being of society?
Well, time towards Society 5.0 will eventually uncover all those questions.
