Ancora Imparo

It was an honour to speak to Monash IT Graduates as they venture out to their working lifes, here is the speech and thanks to Professor John Whittle and the incredible Alumni Team headed by Carolyn Scully and Angela Taylor

Here is the Live Stream

Here is the Address.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls and people of all genders, Deputy Chancellor, Mr Yehudi Blacher , Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Copolov, Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology, Professor Jon Whittle, Members of the Faculty and especially the new graduates and your guests.

It is my honour to speak to you today about the exciting career that welcomes you as you graduate from Monash University my own Alma Mata and on country of Kulin nations who have been the traditional owners and custodians for many millennia . Together we acknowledges their cultures, and we pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

My Parents were from southern Italian and my world expanded when I choose to complete a double degree in Industrial Engineering and Computing . I entered my University career from being in all girls catholic school, where woman were both my leaders and my peers, and entering a world of 1000 men, few female professor’s, and few woman in leadership and only 9 woman in my course.

That ratio for those who can’t compute without a calculator is 1%, which an extremely positive impact on key aspect of my life, my dating. At the time I also loved the PC world, I bought my first 286 in first year, carried dozens of floppy discs around campus which is far far away from the my world today where I connect to high powered deep learning GPU’s in the cloud, carry a Mixed Reality Device like a HoloLens and at times a Drone.

At the dawn of the internet era, I witnessed the first version of the throbbing N in the Netscape browser and was so thrilled for the re-awaking of our human connection like never before, launching an Internet Café and being on air weekly on 3 RRR’s Byte Into it focused on reduce techno-fear, embracing all the new benefits that technology was bringing, interviewing some of our most famous start-ups like Seek, MSN, Ozemail and the magic of technology.

Entering the world of telco working for Telstra when the Internet was coined the Big Pond, we saw many profound changes were driven by the internet, the world wide web.

This was quickly followed by the smart phone where everything became an App, getting around staying touch, dating, banking, accommodation it is all there, and now in the post internet world we are witnessing the third wave of computing Mixed Reality, from operating rooms to classrooms, construction sites to factory floors, mixed reality, AI, the intelligent edge and cloud are changing how we work, learn, communicate and get things done. We are at the dawn of the new age of spatial computing, one in which the digital world enters three-dimension world.

Imagine a world where we can see the unseen, touch holograms, the internet of holograms, a world where holograms can be shared with others to visualise layouts and design, and see unseen objects in context, push and pull holograms, play virtual piano’s with our finger, where the interface becomes truly digital touched by our digits with an instinctual way.

As the hardware evolves becoming smaller to smart glasses, smart contact lenses our world will become augmented with data as we begin to see the unseen. It is this future that you are entering, powered by artificial intelligence machine learning and powerful edge computing. Today right now you have more power at your fingertips than entire generations that came before you and it is not about what the technology can do but about what you do with it.

Now as a Digital Advisor helping banks, telco’s, universities and governments get value out emerging technology, I wonder what does it mean to be human in a world of Smart Phones, Talking Homes Flying Drones and HoloGrams, where this year we celebrated a hotel that is staffed by Robots, and governments scoring it’s citizens on the basis of their social behaviour.

Are there things we can do and things we should ask should we do?

This week the World Economic Forum, ran a Digital Intelligence day to raise global awareness for the need for digital competencies to keep up with rapidly advancing digital technologies. I believe technology is only meaningful when it enhances humanness. Thus I believe we must all be applying our Digital Quotient(DQ) lenses to the creation and implementation technology. In the age of AI and hyper-connectivity, DQ is the set of technical, cognitive, social and emotional digital competencies that are grounded in ethics and human values. It is this new DQ (Digital Quotient) that you have the power to bring to society as you begin your careers in the world of technology.

I’m going to bring in Newton here because I can -  For every action this is an equal and opposite reaction, we must be aware that our increasing engagement with technology is creating a counter movement of desire to digitally disconnect and engaging more consciously with nature and our humanness. 

This counter movement is driving an AI for Good purpose and we see it in the protection of our animal world using AI to monitor and protect species from extinction, Water Conservation, the use of AI to reduce the impact of climate change and the drive for a more inclusive society.

It’s playing out in the corporate world to balance the structures of our working lives by including feminine attributes more meaningfully across all sectors of human endeavours.  

In medicine we see it with plant-based medicine and untapping genomics with nutrigenomics, and precision medicine, we see the same dichotomy playing out in contemporary architecture buildings that might be smart but breathe and sense and comfort us in more natural feeling environments.  

Understanding and acknowledge the deepest desires in us as humans to not lose our connection to nature - our humanity is provoking the most exciting technologist who hold a more holistic view of intersection of nature and technology. Only this can be our future. 

We have come a long way from 0’s and 1’s where classical computers store data as bits.

Quantum Computing in fact replicates nature by embracing the behaviour of particles at the atomic scale, the quantum computing equivalent, called a qubit, can store information that's part one and part zero. Nature is in fact not classical and if we want to simulate nature we need quantum. 

At the moment we are constrained to develop very specific specialised Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and as we tap into quantum this will become more generalised intelligence and more human but for technology to be truly human, it’s intelligence cannot be just the product and a reflection of the male brain.

Let’s not forget Facebook was conceived as an app to rate woman then co-opted after it’s venture injection and marketisation to a massive data gathering organisation used now to swing elections, incite violence and spread misinformation.  I would love to know what Facebook could have been if more diverse minds had been thinking about it’s model?

So all of you need to insist on the balance that the female experience and problem solving can bring to create true tech diversity to allow advancements where feminine attributes can bring the balance we so desperately need to mimic nature. Our own Australian of the Year for 2018 Dr Michelle Simmons is bringing together mathematicians, computer scientists, quantum physicists, and engineers to bring Australia into the forefront of Quantum Computing.

The focus on bringing more woman in technology is having a significant effect in making technology more human. This does not mean just the inclusion of women but the rebalance act-like-me, talk-like-me, think-like-me leadership monoculture, as this doesn’t promote the best talent; it promotes the talent that most closely resembles those already in power and it is finally being recognised that without recognising this current situation balance is impossible. I have been involved in TechDiversity Awards Celebrating leaders and champions of diversity in digital technology, this year we had the recognition of Mikaela Jade Indigenous Female Technology Leader creating cultural story telling in Mixed Reality and the celebration of RISE a program created by Victorian Department of Health and Human Services to career opportunities for people on the autism spectrum.

Woman feel inspired about the fact that the Tech Industry needs you and don’t get concerned if you are the only female in the room, and gentlemen you know the technology world will be better with balance so embrace all that is different.

This year my focus is health and I am starting by seeking to design a digital hospital. Healthcare is Artificial intelligence most urgent application and healthcare has the dirtiest of all data. Becoming more digital will change the cost of delivering medicine and drive some of the advancements that will reduce so much human suffering.

What will you do as you venture into the working world? I cant wait to hear your stories, I am excited about the world that awaits you and hope you connect with me on Social, Linked in Twitter, Instagram whatever your style. I hope you get to attend Hack’s and meetups as they are a fun way to be a life- long learner as in this industry we need to always be learning.

Latter this month I look forward to hearing Professor Jon Whittle - Dean of the Faculty of IT, here at Monash University talk on Why it's time to consider human values in software and will continue to embrace the ideas I was exposed to at Monash, the idea of thinking about the consequences of your design and embracing the complex as we seek to become a more human balanced augmented society driven by technology for good. I am so exciting about what you can achieve as you enter this exciting world of technology and harness it for good - Congratulations Graduates as you create this brave new world.