Life in Techtopia: Part IV

This series is an effort to describe the Techtopia, short for Technological Utopia, to look forward to and work towards. My hope, is to accelerate our journey in that direction. By the end of this series, I intend to compile all the parts into an eBook, for free distribution, in PDF format. While each part is written as a standalone rather than as a continuation, you can read the previous part by clicking on the following:

Life in Techtopia: Part I

Life in Techtopia: Part II

Life in Techtopia: Part III

A Morning at The Conference

John leads an extermination company. Done with breakfast, he enters a conference held in the virtual world today, that he is scheduled to present his company's latest offering at.

The conference is held is simulated lounge setting with a strict suit and tie dress code. While John is physically dressed in his casuals, seating in his armchair, in his home, in the simulated setting his avatar appears in a black suit, with a blue shirt, and dark stripped tie. His hair appears neatly combed to his fellow delegates, as he takes his virtual seat on a cushioned chair.

It is a "closed door" conference today for industry insiders, bridging prospective government buyers and private sector sellers. The organizer presents a welcoming speech. Then there is an Opening Keynote speech. This is immediately followed by John's product presentation.

John greets his fellow delegates in attendance. They see his lips moving and hear his voice. However, John is not actually speaking. A software is artificially simulating his voice in the virtual space, to relay the words as he thinks them up in his head, which are picked up in real time by the Brain Computer Interface system embedded in his smartglasses.

After greeting his fellow delegates, John allows them to experience a simulation of his company's latest product at work. As part of the simulation, the conference delegates experience the point of view perspective of tiny nanobots, that move through drainage systems, hard to reach spaces under furniture and other spaces that rats typically move through. The nanobots take cues and directions from the Internet of Things beacons or nodes that detect rat movements, to track down live moving rats. Once a group of nanobots close in on a live rat, together, they discharge remote electrical charges in synchrony, in sufficient voltage, to cause an instantaneous death of the rat.

After the extermination, different methods are used, for the disposal of the dead rat, depending on where the rat has been killed.

If it is in the sewage or a drainage system or somewhere underground, a roving incineration drone is activated to reach the spot where the dead rat is. The drone pulls the rat carcass into itself, and safely but quickly it, at high temperatures, down to ashes. The ashes are then discharged into the drain or sewage system to flow away with other waste.

If a rat has been killed above ground or in reachable space, a flying drone is deployed, to pick up the carcass with a safe and enclosed containment unit attached to it. Before flying off, the drone discharges powerful disinfectants and cleans up the spot where the rat has been exterminated. As the drone flies off, the rat carcass is incinerated within the containment unit. The ashes are then appropriately disposed off before the drone is deployed to the next extermination point, for the next clean-up.

The nanobots and the drones are constantly powered by thermal energy, tapping on heat from the ground or the atmosphere. When they are in sunlight, they are also powered by solar energy.

After an applause as the demonstration ends, John speaks about the safety and security measures that ensures that the system will not cause any harm to human beings or other animals, such as domestic pets, despite being fully automated and autonomous.

The primary intended buyers for the extermination product, as a service, that John is pitching are municipal organisations, building management companies and estate management organisations.

John ends his presentation slot by fielding a couple of technical and cost queries from interested prospective buyers. His presentation is followed by that of a private security vendor, looking to pitch an anti-terrorism service to representatives government agencies responsible for state security and law enforcement.

Representing the security company is Haruto. Haruto does not speak a word of English, for he hardly uses the language himself offline in his surroundings, though he was schooled in it as an additional language decades ago. However, the delegates present hear his greetings and speech and perfect British English, as his thoughts are directly translated, and relayed in the virtual space, in the likeness of his voice, in real time.

As did John earlier, Haruto commences the simulation of his product demonstration, for the delegates to experience. The get a 360-degree perspective of the simulated events. As the simulation begins, an internet user is seen attempting to access and disseminate content that communally divisive in nature, with a high propensity to inspire or instigate motivations for hate as well as violence. The content is disparaging, and condescending in nature, towards religions other than that, of the internet user himself. This activity is detected and tracked by artificially intelligent autonomous virtual bots.

As the system assesses and deduces the intentions and motivations of the internet user, the activity is relayed to the nearest local police authorities with prerogative over the matter. The user is blocked from accessing the material he is trying to access. Also blocked, are his attempt to disseminate messages to others, with potential or propensity for incitement. A voice message is dispatched and played to the internet user through his devices, advising him to cease his divisive activity, warning him that he is threatening societal peace, order and that he is breaking the law. He is informed that police officers have been dispatched to speak with him.

The user is defiant. He turns off his devices. As he does so, an aerial unmanned drone scans through his home past the windows, and the curtains, to detect his movements, forming visuals from heat signatures. The internet user is packing his bag. It seems that he is intending to run. The drone crashes into his window to shatter the glass, and blasts an audio message telling him to remain within his premises and remain calm, just as a second drone has flown underneath it, springing open a canvas to collect and prevent the shatter glass from falling onto passersby along the building, on the ground floor. The user does not comply. He rushes for his front door and opens it. Waiting for him there is another flying drone that discharges a remote electrical charge at a voltage that is not lethal for the target but temporarily stuns and paralyses him, long enough to be incapacitated for the police to pick him up.

As soon as the internet user's nefarious activity was detected, the system had already tapped his medical history, to determine an appropriate electrical voltage to incapacitate him without killing him.

The police arrive, and cut open the grills on the now terrorism suspect's apartment windows. A large aerial drone flies through with an enclosed stretcher. The drone safely lifts him with robotic arms, onto the stretcher, without the police personnel having to touch him. The suspect is safely strapped in, and the drone relays him to a safe hospital facility where he will undergo a medical examination, before being taken into police custody for detention.

The deliverable of Haruto's product offering means, nothing that is a threat to society, with potential to escalate into an armed insurgency, militancy or use of weapons to carry out terrorist attacks or trigger divisive violence goes undetected online, and it is immediately addressed at the very start of such a possibility developing. The state authorities, by using such an outsourced service will be bogged down with the monitoring and tracking workload. The vendor would maintain the hardware in the forms of drones for physical offline enforcement, that the state actors would not need to worry about. It would also mean safety to police personnel, and diminished chances of potential terrorists getting away, before the police could reach them.

Haruto then fields questions after his simulated demonstration ends, on legalities and issues of privacy. There are a good number of questions raised on ethics. Given that the product minimizes risks of death and injury to all parties, Haruto gains a good buy in from the delegates representing government agencies. One of the government delegates present comments that it would be a game changer in efficiency, in deterring and countering homegrown terrorism. The most important draw, is to detect, deter and contain potential terrorists, before the acquire capabilities or resources to cause physical harm to others.

At the end of Haruto's presentation, the conference delegates break for lunch.

To be continued....keep a lookout for for Part V

Harish Shah is Singapore's first local born Professional Futurist and a Management Strategy Consultant. He runs Stratserv Consultancy. His areas of consulting and Keynote Topics include EmTech, Industry 4.0, HR, Digital Transformation, Product Development, X Reality, Marketing, Strategic Foresight, Systems Thinking and Organisational Future Proofing. In an Open Letter in 2019, Harish has called on fellow Futurists around the world to emphasize in their course of work, on the need for Environmental Salvation.