Spiritual Machines Create Challenges for Project Managers

Comment: This post was originally written August 2014. I have made a few updates and posted again May 2016. What I am going to talk about originated as a discussion from my Masters in Information Technology  program. This  may seem far fetched to many people but is an upcoming debate in the not-so-distant future. Holographic technologies have the potential to cause moral dilemmas for project managers who must implement these systems when they arrive. The early technology will be inanimate and mechanical in nature. As time passes this technology will combine with neural nets and biological computing to create life-like machines that could potentially develop self-awareness. It is never too early to debate the questions and challenges these systems pose.

Spiritual Machines Create Challenges for Project Managers

by

JT Bogden, PMP

Holography was commercially exploited as early as the 1960’s with the GAF viewfinder. As a young boy, I recall placing reels with images into a stereographic view finder looking at the comic book world of Snoopy and other stories of dinosaurs. Later, I explored holography deeper in technical books learning about how data is encoded in the collision patterns between reference and data beams. Science philosophy books explored the holographic universe and how the human eye-brain organ is a holographic system that interprets our world.

Scientists have struggled with the eye-brain to mind dilemma in humans. The brain is the mechanical operation while the mind is spiritual in character. Holographic systems store information in terms of ghostly images unlike conventional storage systems that store information in terms of attributes. According to Michael Talbot’s book “The Holographic Universe” holography’s ethereal images reflect the way the human mind processes reality. The human brain can suffer trauma loosing large areas of tissue but somehow retains unfettered memories and even character. Likewise, a curious quality of holography is that all the information is stored ubiquitously throughout the storage medium defeating divisibility short of catastrophic loss. Any divisible piece contains the complete information set. (Talbot, 1991) Thus, holography has the appearance of retaining the character or essence of the information stored despite failures and imperfections of where the data is embodied.

Current robotic research is developing systems that mimic human sensory and motor capabilities. Software and processing hardware emulates or mimics human neural circuitry to cause human-like actions including those emotional or to make human-like decisions. Both actions are mechanical in character operating based on local action. For example, tracking and catching a baseball in flight or if the baseball hits the robot instead to perform specific emotional responses. The elements of surprise and creativity are more or less spiritual in character and have not yet been mastered by science since they are not local actions that science deals with.  For example, reflecting on the flight of the baseball and describing it as screaming through the air is creative and not a local actions. In fact, self-awareness maybe a requirement to achieve surprise and creativity.

Holography's creates theological concerns since its resilient retention of information is not mechanical. Instead, holographic data storage is based on waveforms or electromagnetic energy patterns also known as light waves. These are often equated to spirituality. There are theological implications for example from the Judeo-Christian Bible makes parallels between light and the absence of light to spiritual existence. For example, in the Bible, Genesis 1.4; "God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” Holographic ghostly images in storage and computational processing could depart silicon wafers and mechanical storage systems for the amino acids and proteins found in biological processing. Human tinkering could result in challenges by truly spiritual machines. If not careful these biological machines could develop a conscience and become annoyed with natural biological computers also known as humans. In the end, mankind’s technological conduct could potentially manufacture a nemesis. If for all the good in the world there is evil then the human responsibility is to dispense the good and forsake the evil. Holographic storage is the beginning of a computational era that has the potential to elevate or degrade mankind.

"The development of every new technology raises questions that we, as individuals and as a society, need to address. Will this technology help me become the person that I want to be? Or that I should be? How will it affect the principle of treating everyone in our society fairly? Does the technology help our community advance our shared values?" (Shanks, 2005).

The possibility of computational systems not based on silicone but amino acids and proteins, the building blocks of life, is clearly on the horizon and presents some puzzling questions. As these systems advance, project managers implementing these new systems could be faced with significant ethical and moral decisions. Literally, actions such as killing the 'power' on a living machine raises questions about life and the right to exist.  Will man-made biological computers perhaps through genetic engineering develop self-awareness, spirituality, and a moral code of their own? How far will this go? What other moral and ethical issues could arise from the advent of this technology?

Please feel free to comment. I would enjoy hearing from you.

References:

Lewis, C.S., August 2002. The Four Loves, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN: 9780156329309

Englander, I. (2003). The Architecture of Computer Hardware and Systems Software: An information Technology Approach. (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Kurzweil, Ray, 1999. “The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence”, Penguin Books, ISBN: 97801402822023

Shanks, Tom, 2005. Machines and Man: Ethics and Robotics in the 21st Century, The Tech Museum of Innovation Website. Retrieved 21FEB09 from
http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/robotics/ethics/index.html

Talbot, Michael, January 1991. The Holographic Universe, Harper Collins Publishers, ISBN 9780060922580

Healthcare Information Virtual Environment System (HIVES)

Comment:  This post was an outcropping of a project we worked in my Master's Program. The problem set was complex and required the project team to scope, identify, then management risks, objectives, and the projects necessary to implement the overarching project. 

Healthcare Information Virtual Environment System (HIVES)

by

JT Bogden, PMP

Healthcare information systems have a vast array of various equipment, clinics, labs, governmental agencies, manufacturers, doctor offices, and innumerable other organizations providing, collecting, and processing information. Classic issues of stove piping or 'Silos' have emerged causing inefficiencies in the industry such as multiple lab test and/or diagnostics being prescribed. The advent of a nationalized health records system increases the complexity of these networks as well. In order to gain management and control over these information systems, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) hosts the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel, (HITSP). This is one of several cooperative efforts, between industry and government to create standards. However, all too often the standards result in a highly complex architecture and system design to the chagrin of efficienies. This is because early standards and architectures often focus on resolving major issues with little forethought into the broader architecture. Many argue that little information is known or that the project is far too complex. Years later, this results in an effort to simplify and streamline the system again.

Allowing a Frankenstein architecture to emerge would be a travesty when our initial objectives are to streamline the healthcare processes removing redundancies and latencies in the current system. The planners should design the system for streamlined performance early. Large scale projects like these are not new and history tells us many good things. The evolution of complex systems such as the computer, the car, and the internet have emerged out of a democratization of design. Literally, tens of thousands of people have contributed to these systems and those models are one approach to resolving the large scale complex information systems involved in healthcare. What we have seen emerge out of the democratization of design is a standardization of interfaces in a virtualized environment. For example, the headlamps are nearly identical for every car with standard connectors and mounts even though the headlight assemblies are artfully different on each car. The computer has standard hardware and software interfaces even though the cards and software perform different functions. The virtual computer is independent of vendor product specifications. Instead, the vendor performs to a virtual computer standard in order for their products and services to function properly.

Let us take a moment to explain that virtualization is the creation of a concept, thing, or object as an intangible structure for the purpose of study, order, and/or management. The practice is used in across a breadth of disciplines to include particle physics and information science. Within the information realm, there are several different virtualization domains to include software, hardware, training, and management virtualization. My interest is not in the use of any specific virtualized technology but instead in exploring healthcare virtualization management as a practice.

I propose a need for a Healthcare Information Virtual Environment System (HIVES), Figure 1, which is essential to reducing complexity and establishing a standard for all those participating in the healthcare industry. The virtual environment is not a technological system. Instead it is a management system or space in which medical information is exchanged by participating objects within the virtual environment. Real things like clinics, offices, data centers, and equipment sit on the virtualized backplane or space.  HIVES would have a set of standards for participating equipment, clinics, hospitals, insurance agencies, data centers, etc... connecting to the environment in order to exchange information. Many may remark that these standards exist. I am able to locate dozens of vendor products and services supporting hardware, software and even service virtualization which are not a standard virtualized management of the overarching healthcare environment that is what the nationalized healthcare system is attempting to manage. I have reviewed HITSP and noted there is no clear delineation of a virtualized managed environment.

Figure 1: HIVES

In such an environment, I envision data being placed into the environment would have addressing and security headers attached. In this way, data is limited to those listening and who have authorization to gather, store, and review specific information. For example, a doctor prescribes a diagnostic test. An announcement is made in the environment of the doctors request addressed to testing centers. Scheduling software at a testing facility participating in the environment picks up the request then schedules the appointment. It announces the appointment in the virtualized environment in which the doctor's office software is listening to receive the appointment data. Once the patient arrives the machines perform the diagnostics placing the patient's data back in the environment. A analyst picks up the record reviews it and posts the assessment in the environment. In the meantime, a data center participating in the environment that holds the patient's record is listening and collects all new information posted in the environment regarding the patient then serves those records to authenticated requests. The patient returns to the doctors office which request the patient's record from the data center through the environment.

The advantages to having such an environment whether called HIVES or something else are astronomical. The patient's records are available to all participating in the environment, security levels and access can be administered in the environment efficiently to ensure HIPPA and other security compliance standards, bio-surveillance data is more readily available with higher accuracy in the data centers, the environment can be an industry driven standard and managed through a consortium, and the government could be an equal participant in the environment.  

Moreover, to be a participant, the manufacturer, clinic, lab, hospital, doctor office, data center or any others have to meet the clearly defined standards and become a consortium participant at some level. Thus, complexity of the architecture and systems interfacing can be tremendously reduced achieving the stated objectives of healthcare reform and streamlining.