Brown on Business

January 18-24, 2021

Scary tech innovations are a “black mirror’ to real life

 

By Wesley Brown
wesley@dailydata.com

 

Although there are undoubtedly many recent science and technology advances during the pandemic that make life easier for most Americans, there are other recent innovations that certainly give people the “heebie-jeebies.”

 

On the positive side, albeit sometimes annoying, the Zoom virtual platform, smartphone delivery apps, and connected wireless devices have made remote working and stay-at-home quarantines a lot easier. Also, who would have thought only a few years ago that movie theaters would be extinct, robots would clean house, and an artificial woman name Siri could assist you with daily tasks by simple voice commands.

 

In science, nanobots about an ant’s size can now program a human surgeon to carry out various surgical procedures. According to Allied Market Research, the surgical robotics market is widely accepted globally and expected to reach $98.7 billion by the end of 2024.

 

And of course, the National Institute of Health’s “science pitch” challenge to accelerate efforts to find a cure for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that began in late April has led to the successful testing, production, and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine in less than eight months, a half-year ahead of schedule.

 

Before COVID-19, it was not unusual for a typical U.S. vaccine to remain in clinical trials for 10-15 years before getting approval by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for general population use. Besides the Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. vaccines approved by the FDA to begin distribution in December to all 50 states, several other COVID-19 Phase 3 clinical trials in the pipeline are nearing completion.

 

Still, there have also been some other recent STEM developments that will make you think about the dark side of technology, especially after the mammoth Russian hacking incident in early December.

 

Last week, Verizon’s Skyward startup and UPS’s Flight Forward made a big announcement that brought their respective tech expertise back into the headlines. On Jan. 11, the two Fortune 500 companies said they were working together to soon deliver retail products with drones and partner on 5G testing and integration for delivery.

 

“We will need the ability to manage and support multiple drones, flying simultaneously, dispatched from a centralized location, operating in a secure and safe environment. To do this at scale, alongside Verizon and Skyward, we will need the power of 5G,” said Carol Tomé, CEO of UPS.

 

“We’re just beginning to see how the power of 5G … will transform the way businesses operate,” added Rima Qureshi, Chief Strategy Officer at Verizon.

 

In 2020, Verizon, UPS Flight Forward, and Skyward started testing 4G LTE in delivery drones to demonstrate cellular reliability and performance at altitude. According to Verizon and UPS, the goal is to develop a 5G-power platform that can compute and monitor air traffic in and out of a logistics hub, along with supervising a mixed fleet of autonomous vehicles like drones, trucks, and planes, said Skyward President Mariah Scott.

 

Since being certified by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2019, UPS said it has operated more than 3,800 successful delivery flights since the creation of its drone delivery startup.

 

Likewise, after several months of delay due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the Pentagon announced in October that it had finished its battery of ground test events at Michael Army Airfield in Utah on its 5GAT drones. The testing verified complete aircraft control, safety procedures, and critical performance milestones for drone takeoff and landing executed by an integrated team of Defense Department personnel and contractors. The single prototype completed 24 taxi test events in just six days with no interruptions or significant problems, DOD officials said.

 

Designed by Sierra Technical Services, a Silicon Valley tech startup firm founded by former Lockheed Martin engineers, the stealth drone system is designed to mitigate any threats U.S. armed forces could face in the future, on the ground and in the air.  Interestingly, Lockheed Martin, the nation’s largest defense contractor, is also developing another laser-guided weapons system that can accurately detect and remotely counter so-called “drone swarms” trying attack American troops and military assets.

 

“Terrorists and other militants can operate small, inexpensive drones loaded with weapons to threaten U.S. and allied forces on the ground,” said Daniel Miller, chief engineer for High Energy Laser Integration at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. “Because of their size, these drones are difficult to see, hard to catch on radar, and hard to shoot at with conventional weapons, particularly in swarms.”

 

Of course, one of the scariest sights on the internet is viral videos of an agile, human-like mobile robot and its four-legged, dog-like companion. Both robots can climb stairs, dance to music, jump hurdles, and run over rugged terrain with an ease that makes the skin crawl.

 

Developed by tech firm Waltham, Mass.-based Boston Dynamics, a subsidiary of South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motors, sales of the “Spot” robot began in September for manufacturing companies to integrate into their business operations. Recent videos on Twitter showing Spot nimbly jogging through the woods while easily traversing a suburban obstacle course brought comparisons to the cyborg assassin in the Terminator movie series.

 

What is impressive is that many of these same innovations, both good and bad, have been deftly brought to life in a new Netflix series called “Black Mirror.” That new series highlights the unintended consequences of modern technologies such as drones, robots, artificial intelligence, mobile apps, facial recognition and biometric scanners, and mind-altering video games. Unlike other similar futuristic and grim Netflix compilations and the original Twilight Zone anthology, this dark and satirical British series fantasizes about the near future, where today’s technologies have taken a sinister leap forward.

 

Watching several episodes that include drones, robots, voice-activated home appliances, and mind-altering AI technology often leave the viewer wondering if their smart devices could turn on them. Several episodes show human-like technology spying on their personal activities or causing their human owners to commit crimes or engage in other indecent behavior.

 

While Black Mirror is mostly fantasy mirroring real life, there are some recent events just as disconcerting. On Dec. 13, the U.S. Homeland Security quietly announced that a Russian government-back intelligence service was behind a massive hack earlier this year that breached nearly every U.S. government network and hundreds of computer systems of the top companies in the U.S. and globally.

 

What is troubling is that U.S. cybersecurity experts say those same hackers are embedded or still have access to those same networks, which house confidential personal and financial information for most Americans. Although not yet as scary as robots with vengeance on their minds or self-driving cars seeking to start a revolution, we may not be far away from those days if the Russians get their way. 

 

  • Wesley Brown
    Wesley Brown