Technology. What is it?
I like one of the definitions that Alan Kay has for
technology. He says “Technology is anything that was invented after you were
born”. Yeah, give it a thought. Sounds just about right. Also it sums up a lot
of what we're talking about these days. Danny Hillis actually has an update on
that ,he says “Technology is anything that doesn't quite work yet”.
The aspect of technology that I am concerned with here
is it’s capability of interfacing the digital and the physical world. The
digital world is a product of computer science and it is the job of technology
to allow humans to interact with it. For this we had started with keyboards and
mouses connected to computers. Now we have touch screens and other novel
techniques like speech/gesture control and augmented reality. Also I’d like to
clarify here that augmented reality is not virtual reality . It is more than
just a very life like rendition of videos recorded on cameras, it also involves
manipulation and extraction of important information by either human or
artificial intelligence.
Now what is the ultimate dream for technology? I think
it is that it should evolve in ways that it becomes more independent of human
input and becomes intelligent enough to do our mundane chores for us. We are
already heading towards it in the form of automated robots in manufacturing
factories, cruise control in cars, computer games like FIFA (which involve
artificial decision making to some extent) etc.
Hold that thought and think what is the current
scenario of tech use in sports? While for the broadcast of it, very new
technologies are being used but for the actual gameplay it is at a very
incipient stage. Only now has FIFA decided on allowing managers to receive real
time information like players’ fatigue, oxygen and lactic acid levels from
sensors attached to their bodies to decide on tactical substitutions . But
again this isn’t that directly involved with how the game is being played.
Now what would it be like to combine the two fields of,
artificial intelligence and human computer interaction and use them to improve
the gameplay . Well that would be one hell of a pie.
What if during a free kick the defending team players
are informed of the possible set piece routine they may be facing so they can
adjust accordingly to thwart any surprise moves by the attacking team. This
could have been done by a computer observing the positions of the attackers
through cameras and checking through its database the past set piece routines
used anywhere in the world; intelligently deciding how the attacking team might
be varying it and then informing each defender how to best position himself
through an earpiece.
There are many possibilities to its use. An attacker
can be informed about defenders catching up on him from behind when he normally
would have been blind sighted.
He could be
told which best direction to take a free kick or a shoot according to the
goalkeeper’s position.
Taking it to the next level, the player starting a
move can be informed which player to pass to and then that player would be told
whom to pass to and so on. A very fluid and unstoppable move could be managed
from its start to end by an artificially intelligent computer. Presenting all
this information in the best possible way through augmented reality is the job
of the IT department of the team. For the bad teams this is information
overload while the good teams it would be a boon.
The detractors would say this takes away the human
element from the game. But similar things are already being used in sports. In
fact in 1994 NFL teams installed radios on their quarterback’s helmet to pass
on instructions to him. The idea was similar, to aid the player to make better
decisions, only that the helper then was the assistant coach and now it would
be a computer which would obviously be faster and more accurate. Moreover it is
human tendency to do less labour, mental or physical. So the system reduces
just that extra mental load a bit. It would still require players with skill,
to act on the proposed plan.
This would make
the game faster, more accurate, more enjoyable and as a result attract more
audience. So a win win situation for all involved.
As a final thought, could technology evolve and get
refined to a level high enough to do such things?
All I can say ‘The best way to predict the future is
to invent it’.
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