A peek into the future
The world is changing at a rapid rate and PNG has the chance to jump forward decades, according to futurist Paul Burman.
In Japan, you can buy a robot dog that cruises around the house and if you need to take medication it will remind you.
The world is facing an unprecedented rate of change, according to Paul Burman, megatrends ambassador for Hewlett Packard. This creates an opportunity for Papua New Guinea to jump forward decades by taking advantage of emerging technologies.
Burman, who spoke at the inaugural Innovation PNG 2019 conference in Port Moresby late last year, believes the world has entered a new era. “We are seeing a rate of change we have never experienced in our species’ history – and it is only going to get faster. When the history books look back at us (they will see) it was us who saw the birth of the internet, which fundamentally changed our world.”
Burman says it took 75 years for telephony to reach 50 million users. With radio the equivalent milestone took 38 years, with TV 13 years, with the internet 14 years and with Facebook 3.5 years. “It only took 15 days for Pokemon Go!”
Technology provides an opportunity for less-developed economies to leapfrog the industrial era. “In rural China, communities have, in a matter of years, moved from having no electricity and infrastructure to being completely cashless.
“Many parts of Africa, much like PNG, have an electricity problem. Start-up energy companies in Africa are leasing small solar kits to homes. The kits are interconnected with your neighbours, crowdsourcing your power.”
Burman says the panels charge all batteries in a community and people pay only for only what they use. “If your panels are making more energy than you consume, you achieve credits in the form of more electricity to use, or digital currency, or even phone credit. This reduces dependence on central grids.”
Burman adds that annually there are 143,000 internet startups in emerging economies – an important development given that PNG’s internet costs, quality and speeds are all likely to improve with the connection of the Coral Sea Cable. Another megatrend, according to Burman, is the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI): computers that write their own software rather than just being programmed by humans.
AI robots can provide new types of help to humans, he argues. “We often talk about AI as: ‘humans versus robots; silicon versus carbon’. But in Japan, you can buy a robot dog that cruises around the house and if you need to take medication it will remind you. If you have a fall, then it will notify a family member.”