Sometime in the future, we will develop the technologies to allow us to create copies of humans. But that’s probably a long time in the future. More practically, we should be able to copy the way that people think, and digitise their personas, styles, knowledge and thinking. Using Large Language Model type tech, we could make these algorithms searchable and interactive, and in that way clone their thinking.
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to the future, let’s talk about clones. My name is Graeme Codrington, this is ThrowForward Thursday, and yes, in the future, there’s no doubt we’re going to have the technology to be able to clone, not just dolly the sheep and a few smaller things, but probably the ability to clone human beings.
Now, there are a few ways that we can think about that. Probably the Hollywood version of it, which is a very long time in the future, is our ability to be able to make copies of ourselves, human clones that can actually help us out and do things for us. “Thanks”. But I don’t think that that’s coming anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be thinking about cloning. What’s more likely to happen in the near future is our ability to clone somebody’s persona, somebody’s style of thinking, somebody’s approach to the world. And maybe the language we need to be using here is your algorithm or heuristic.
Imagine in your business, there is that superstar person in some department. Let’s say the superstar salesperson who can sell anything to anyone, and they are just able to sell like nobody’s business and everybody else looks at them in awe and says, how do you know what to say every time? How do you know which answer to give to which question? How do you know how to engage in that sales process? They might be so good at it that they don’t even have an answer themselves for it. It just is naturally who they are.
But imagine we could study them, imagine we could look at them over a period of time, over years, and extract that information, turn it into an algorithm, or maybe even a ChatGPT version of them, and then make that available to other people in the business. That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Being able to take those, we call them heuristics, those decision-making processes, and turn them into an automated system that then can basically be a replica or a copy of what that actual human would be. In all essence, that is a clone of that person.
And I actually think that might be one of the very best ways in which we could use the large language models and ChatGPT-type generative AI systems that we’ve got at the moment to feed them the data of a particular person or a particular department or the history of a business, and then allow them to use that data to then give us answers and approaches and ideas for the future.
It’s not cloning as in a human copy of us, but it is cloning of the way you think, the way you see the world, and is probably the next step in this line. So no twined humans for you yet, but an algorithm that can copy your way of thinking might be coming soon.
As always, here at ThrowForward Thursday, we try and get you to improve and expand your strategic imagination and imagine what the world might be, sometimes in the far distant future, but sometimes just around the corner and then ask the most important question, what might it mean for us today?
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Otherwise, I’ll see you next week in the future again.
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Graeme Codrington, is an internationally recognised futurist, specialising in the future of work. He helps organisations understand the forces that will shape our lives in the next ten years, and how we can respond in order to confidently stay ahead of change. Chat to us about booking Graeme to help you Re-Imagine and upgrade your thinking to identify the emerging opportunities in your industry.
For the past two decades, Graeme has worked with some of the world’s most recognised brands, travelling to over 80 countries in total, and speaking to around 100,000 people every year. He is the author of 5 best-selling books, and on faculty at 5 top global business schools.