Category: interaction

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What is interface design and why is it linked to the Virtual Identity?

Interface design is the process of designing the user interface (UI) for a digital product, such as a website, app, or software program. The UI is the visual and interactive elements that users see and interact with, and it plays a critical role in the overall user experience (UX).

In the context of virtual identity, interface design is particularly important because it is the primary means through which users express and experience their virtual selves. A well-designed interface can help users create a virtual identity that is both representative of who they are and aspirational to who they want to be.

Here are some of the key considerations for interface design in the context of virtual identity:

  • Authenticity: The interface should allow users to express their authentic selves, whether they want to be creative, professional, or playful.

  • Personalization: The interface should allow users to personalize their virtual identities to reflect their individual tastes and preferences.

  • Self-expression: The interface should provide users with the tools and opportunities to express themselves creatively and meaningfully.

  • Social connection: The interface should facilitate social connection and interaction with others.

  • Immersion: The interface should create an immersive experience that allows users to feel like they are truly part of the virtual world.

  • Usability: The interface should be easy to use and navigate, even for novice users.

  • Accessibility: The interface should be accessible to users with disabilities.

By following these guidelines, interface designers can create virtual identities that are both empowering and enjoyable for users.

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Exploring the Concept of Virtual Identity: A Technical Analysis

Virtual Identity Explained

With the increasing use of technology, the concept of virtual identity has become a popular topic of discussion. Virtual identity refers to the digital representation of an individual, which includes personal information, behavior, and interactions in the online world. This article explores the technical aspects of virtual identity and its role in various digital platforms.

The Technical Aspects of Virtual Identity

Virtual identity is a complex concept that involves technical aspects such as data encryption, user authentication, and digital signatures. Data encryption is used to ensure that personal information is kept secure during transmission across networks. User authentication is the process of confirming the identity of an individual using a username and password, biometric verification, or other identification methods. Digital signatures are used to verify the authenticity of electronic documents and transactions.

Virtual Identity: The Role of Authentication

Authentication is a critical component of virtual identity, as it ensures that only authorized individuals have access to personal information and digital resources. In addition to usernames and passwords, modern authentication methods include multi-factor authentication, biometric verification, and behavioral analysis. Multi-factor authentication involves using more than one form of identification, such as a password and a security token. Biometric verification uses physical characteristics, such as fingerprints or facial recognition, to identify individuals. Behavioral analysis uses machine learning algorithms to analyze user behavior and detect anomalies that may indicate fraudulent activity.

Virtual Identity vs. Real Identity: A Comparison

Virtual identity differs from real identity in several ways. Real identity refers to an individual’s physical characteristics and personal information, such as name, date of birth, and address. Virtual identity includes this information, as well as online behavior, interactions, and preferences. Virtual identity can be more fluid than real identity, as individuals can create multiple virtual identities or change their online persona to fit different contexts.

Privacy Concerns in Virtual Identity

Privacy is a major concern in virtual identity, as personal information can be easily accessed and exploited in the online world. Individuals must be aware of the risks associated with sharing personal information online and take steps to protect their virtual identity. This includes using strong passwords, limiting the amount of personal information shared online, and being cautious when interacting with unknown individuals or sites.

Digital Footprint: Building Virtual Identity

A digital footprint is the trail of data left behind by an individual’s online activity. This includes social media posts, search engine queries, and website visits. A digital footprint can be used to build a virtual identity, as it provides insight into an individual’s behavior and interests. It is important for individuals to manage their digital footprint and ensure that it accurately represents their values and beliefs.

The Importance of Virtual Identity Management

Virtual identity management involves controlling and maintaining an individual’s online presence. This includes monitoring online behavior, managing privacy settings, and responding to negative content or reviews. Virtual identity management is important for individuals, businesses, and organizations to maintain a positive image and protect against reputation damage.

Virtual Identity and Cybersecurity

Virtual identity is closely tied to cybersecurity, as the protection of personal information and digital resources is essential to maintaining virtual identity. Cybersecurity involves protecting against unauthorized access, cyber-attacks, and data breaches. Individuals and businesses must implement strong security measures, such as firewalls, encryption, and intrusion detection systems, to protect against cyber threats.

Virtual Identity in Social Media

Social media platforms are a major component of virtual identity, as they provide a space for individuals to express themselves and interact with others online. Social media profiles can be used to build a virtual identity, showcase skills and accomplishments, and connect with others in a professional or personal capacity. It is important for individuals to be mindful of their social media activity and ensure that it aligns with their desired virtual identity.

Virtual Identities in Gaming: A Technical Discussion

Virtual identities are also prevalent in the gaming world, where individuals can create avatars and interact with others in virtual environments. Gaming platforms must implement strong security measures to protect against hacking, cheating, and other forms of abuse. Virtual identities can be used to enhance the gaming experience, as players can customize their avatars and build relationships with other players.

Virtual Reality and Virtual Identity

Virtual reality technology allows individuals to immerse themselves in virtual environments and interact with others in a more realistic way. Virtual reality can enhance virtual identity by allowing individuals to create more realistic avatars and interact with others in a more natural way. It is important for individuals to be aware of the privacy risks associated with virtual reality and take steps to protect their personal information.

The Future of Virtual Identity

As technology continues to evolve, the concept of virtual identity will become increasingly important. It is up to individuals, businesses, and organizations to manage virtual identity effectively and protect against cyber threats. By understanding the technical aspects of virtual identity and implementing strong security measures, individuals can build a positive online presence and protect their personal information in the digital world.

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How Fast Is Technology Advancing in 2022?

Almost everything we do today has an atom of technology in it. From our smart devices to advanced computers, and sophisticated engineering equipment - technology is all around us.

But this question remains - How fast is technology advancing?

Statistics that illustrate how fast technology is growing over the years have shown breakthrough technologies from all aspects of life. Experts predict that there is more to come. 

We compiled some of the most groundbreaking stats to enlighten you more on how far technology is progressing. In addition to this, we will shed more light on some of the upcoming trends, sure to leave you stunned!

Fascinating Technology Growth Statistics

The following are some eye-opening stats handpicked from the most reliable sources:

  • Globally, there are about 1.35 million tech startups around the world.
  • The number of smart devices collecting, analyzing, and sharing data should hit 50 billion by 2030.
  • The Internet adoption rate sits at 59% in 2021.
  • The computing and processing capacity of computers hits double figures every 18 months.
  • The world has produced 90% of its Big Data in the past two years.
  • Every second, 127 new devices are connected to the internet.
  • In Q1 of 2021, 4.66 billion people are using the internet.

Sounds amazing right? That’s just the tip of the iceberg - we have more in store for you. Read on to find out!

General Technology Growth Statistics

The following are some generalized statistics about how the growth of technology is influencing every sector.

1. The internet penetration rate in the world is at 59% as of January 2021.

(Source: Data Reportal)

In the last few decades, there has been a growing telecommunications implementation. This has led to an ongoing internet usage rise. 

According to technology adoption statistics, the rate stands at almost 60% as of January 2021. Compared to Q1 of 2020, the rate has gone up by 7%. 

2. $183.18 billion - that is how much the web hosting services marketplace is expected to have generated by 2026.

(Source: Fortune Business Insight)

In 2017, the global web hosting market had a value of $32.12 billion, and in 2018 that figure rose to $60.90 billion. By Maintaining a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.1%, experts predict that the web hosting industry will be worth more than $100 billion in a few years as a result of global tech market growth. That's why there's such a fierce battle between the best hosting providers on the market. 

3. There are 4.88 billion phone users in the world as of January 2021.

(Source: Bank My Cell)

According to technology growth statistics, 62% of the world’s population owns a mobile phone. Compared to 2020, the number of phone owners has gone up by 0.1 billion. 

That includes both smart and feature phones. 

Breaking down the number even further:

Smartphone owners are the majority here, amounting to 3.8 billion. On the other hand, feature phone owners are 1.08 billion. 

4. By 2025, there will be 75 billion connected devices in the world. 

(Source: Statista, MTA)

In 2025, the number of Internet of Things (IoT) will be thrice that of 2019. Think slow cookers, wearable technology like smartwatches, smart meters, smartphones, etc. 

The technology has become so popular that industry experts predict that every consumer will own about 15 IoT devices by 2030!

5. Google got 2.5 trillion searches in 2020.

(Source: Backlinko)

As you may know, Google continues to dominate the search engine space. 

When it comes to how fast technology is growing statistics, Google got more than two trillion searches in 2020 alone. 

Let’s have a closer look at the numbers:

There were 81,000 searches every second in 2020. That translates to about seven billion probes per month.

6. The need to reach new customers is the primary factor pioneering technological growth in the last few years (46%).

(Source: Finance Online)

Technology adoption statistics reveal that factors such as selling new business lines (38%), overall improvement of business operations (41%), improving sales and marketing (35%), improving standard internal processes (33%), are the main drivers for tech growth.

7. By 2040, 95% of purchases will be online.

(Source: Nasdaq)

Buying over the internet is so convenient because you can get whatever you need from the comfort of your home regardless of time or location. According to technology growth stats, ecommerce will have grown so much that buyers will conduct almost all of their purchases online in the next two decades.

8. There are 3.96 billion social media users in the globe as of 2021.

(Source: Backlinko)

Social media allows people to connect regardless of their geographical location and at negligible costs if you have to buy data bundles. 

Lucky for you if you’re using your office or public wifi.

You’ll only have to part with $0.

According to technology statistics, for 2021, there are almost four billion social media users globally. That’s almost twice the number in 2015.

AI and Machine Learning Statistics

Technology stats and facts show that AI remains one of the most sought-after technological advancements pioneering technological growth around the world. Read on to find out some amazing stats on how AI and machine learning are impacting society.

9. Google Translate algorithm has increased its efficiency from 55% to 85% following the implementation of machine learning into its translation services.

(Source: Finance Online)

Google Translate is a service developed by Google to help customers translate text and websites to any desired language. Before the introduction of AI, it would typically take more time to translate a series of words in a foreign language, as the process is done one text at a time. However, with the application of deep learning (a sub-function of AI), the Google Translate service is now able to interpret a whole sentence or website at once.

10. The global machine learning market is expected to reach $20.83 billion in 2024. 

(Source: Finance Online, Forbes)

Tech growth stats indicate that machine learning is currently one of the most popular and most successful sub-functions of AI.

It should come as no surprise that the market is growing in value. Worth around $1.58B in 2017, it is expected to reach $20.83B in 2024, growing at a CAGR of 44.06%.

11. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for AI will be 42.2% by 2027.

(Source: Grand View Research)

Stats on how fast technology is advancing reveal that the artificial intelligence market was worth $10.1 billion in 2018. In 2019, that value increased to $39.9.

As you can see, there has been positive growth over the years, which is likely to continue.

Giant tech firms have been pouring big bucks into research and development, the reason why technology keeps advancing every day. Examples of big names investing heavily in this sector include Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Apple. 

Industry players predict a CAGR of 42% between the period 2020 to 2027.  

12. AI will replace around 85 million jobs in the US by 2025.

(Source: Forbes)

Does automation benefit the ordinary citizen?

You be the judge.

The pandemic led to massive job losses, leaving one in every four adults in serious financial difficulty. They had issues footing their bills.

That led to 33% of Americans using their life savings to cater for their expenses. Others had to borrow loans and now have huge debts.

And it looks like the labor market hasn't seen anything yet. 

AI statistics show that its adoption will lead to job losses to the tune of 85 million by the end of 2025.

However, it's not all bad:

Experts predict that there will be 95 million job openings because of artificial intelligence. By 2025, humans and machines will strike a balance of 50-50 when it comes to working.

13. Worldwide, only 37% of organizations have incorporated AI into their business.

(Source: Gartner)

Although the figure may not be high enough, it is still a significant rise from what we had in 2015 (about 270% increase).

14. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) has a 50% chance of rising to 90% by 2075.

(Source: Zdnet) 

AGI mimics human intellect. Think cooking or styling hair with precision.

Experts predict that there are high chances that in most work environments in 2075, nine out of 10 companies will use AGI technology.

15. IT hiring was 7% lower than usual in Q3 of 2020. 

(Source: Dice)

IT job posting between August and September 2020 was virtually nonexistent. However, experts forecasted that it was only a small hitch that would go away in the coming months. 

Technology adoption stats show that 68% of large organizations created more positions than they had in the second quarter of 2020. Therefore, it appears that smaller firms were struggling and didn't have hiring budgets.

16. The fully and semi-automatic car market will be worth $26 billion by 2030.

(Source: Electronic Design)

Experts estimate that the number of connected cars in Europe, China, and the US will be about 470 million by 2025. Technology statistics show that the vehicles will generate data worth $750 billion.

While that sounds impressive, we should think about the security aspect. The information that the technology will derive could land in hackers’ hands instead of genuine parties like manufacturers or vendors. 

So:

It will be paramount for developers to come up with top-of-the-range security programs to keep cybercriminals at bay.

17. 71% of executives believe that artificial intelligence and machine learning are game-changers for businesses.

(Source: AMC Laboratories)

The world is beginning to wake up to the fact that robotics and automation powered by AI could be the future of work. However, some are more prepared than others. Those that fail to prepare may be left behind when the changes start to take effect.

18. 16% of companies in Europe believe that AI would help them counter the adverse effects of COVID-19 on labor.

(Source: IDC)

Emerging technologies and automation will be at the forefront of cushioning businesses from the effects of the pandemic. Nearly 20% of organizations say that AI will be the only solution to the current shortage of workers.

19. AI is the most significant portion of the data strategy of any business, according to 61% of marketers.

(Source: Finance Online)

Data strategy is a set of informed decisions taken from a position of insight (after careful study of available data) on how best to move a business forward. It is the job of AI to study the set of available data, and help to draw insights as to existing flaws and what needs to improve. 

20. The AI market will be worth over $15 trillion by 2030.

(Source: PWC)

AI technology is progressing, and the industry is growing pretty fast. Businesses and individuals alike love its efficiency. Logically, demand will continue to rise in the coming years. By 2030, its value will be $15+ trillion. More than ¾ of emerging technologies already planned to own foundations as early as 2021. 

Big Data Statistics

Data that has become so large and complicated for the traditional computer system to make sense of is referred to as Big Data. However, Big Data impact statistics have shown that it can become a goldmine to whoever understands its capacity. Check out the statistics that follow to discover the impact of Big Data on technology and internet growth.

21. Organizations that are data-driven are 23x more likely to acquire new leads than those without a data-driven strategy.

(Source: McKinsey)

Big Data can be a source of insight for those that care to put in the work, understand patterns in its data, and relate them to their various businesses. Facebook is an exemplary example of a company that is effectively utilizing both Big Data and AI to understand its audience better.

22. 91.6% of Fortune 1000 companies are investing more in Big Data and AI.

(Source: ZD Net)

Big Data is like the new gold for businesses. Coupled with AI, a good deal of information can be extracted from both structured and unstructured data. The Fortune 1000 companies know this. The most successful entrepreneurs also know this. For this reason, technology growth statistics tell us that these companies always have a specified budget put in place for data analytics.

23. Two-thirds of organizations that have utilized Big Data effectively have reportedly seen a decrease in operational expenses.

(Source: Datamation)

Big Data impact statistics reveal that for businesses that can do away with the junk of unuseful data, Big Data can provide direct and specific information about what works for such businesses and what does not. That way, these businesses can avoid the trouble of wasting time, effort, and resources on strategies that don't give results. Instead, it enables them to focus all of those energy and resources on what works.

24. We generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily.

(Source: Forbes)

According to tech growth statistics, we now produce data in trillions and quintillions daily. This number has been on the rise over the last few years, meaning that we should expect to produce more in the next 2-3 years.

25. Analytics and big data will bring in an income of $274 billion by 2024.

(Source: Statista)

Revenue from big data and analytics has been on an upward rise over the last few years. By Q4 of 2021, data center Internet Protocol (IP) traffic reached 19.5 zettabytes. Business Intelligence (BI) analytics will be worth $14.5 billion in 2022.

26. By increasing their effectiveness at utilizing Big Data, Fortune 1,000 companies can increase their net income by up to $65 million.

(Source: Forbes)

According to Big Data impact statistics, the ability to extract, understand, and utilize Big Data has a direct impact on both sales and revenue. With Big Data, businesses can better understand their customers, thereby channeling their efforts towards what works and increasing conversion rates.

27. 71% of companies find it difficult to protect and manage unstructured data.

(Source: Forbes)

As enticing as the idea of Big Data analytics may seem, it still requires a lot of technical and specialized kind of skillset to make sense of the large chunk of available data. Thankfully, the best data visualization software can transform huge amounts of raw data into easy-to-digest visuals. These can provide decision-makers with valuable insights quickly and easily. 

28. 83% of organizations worldwide are currently investing in various Big Data projects.

(Source: Forbes)

Given how rapidly technology is growing, and the millions of data being generated daily, top company executives are beginning to realize the usefulness of Big Data. Some even argue that failure to invest in Big Data for any business is like walking your way towards bankruptcy.

Mobile Technology Statistics

Internet traffic growth statistics tell that over the last decade, mobile usage has been on the rise, even surpassing desktop web traffic for the very first time in late 2015. Almost anything can now be achieved on mobile. Check out some of these mobile tech statistics to discover how vital technological advancements on mobile have become.

29. Over half the traffic comes from mobile phones as of Q1 Of 2021. 

(Source: Oberlo)

If you’re wondering how fast technology is growing - statistics for 2022 show phone traffic has increased by 49.47% since 2011. 

Back then, 93% of visitors came from the desktop, while mobile brought in a meager 6%. 

However, the two went head to head in 2016, when the difference was about 1%, i.e., 48.25% for mobile and 46.93% via computers. As of 2021, cell phone browsing had surpassed that of other internet-connected devices.

30. 91% of internet users in 2020 were mobile phone owners. 

(Source: Statista)

According to internet traffic growth statistics, more than half the world population was actively browsing the internet as of 2020. That translates to around four billion people. It is indeed a global village with billions of people who might have otherwise never met connecting.

31. People check their mobile phones about 150 times daily.

(Source: Business Services Week)

Call it an addiction!

The fact remains that mobile phones have become a massive part of how most of us function daily. We check our phones almost all the time for messages, notifications, time, etc.

32. Total mobile connections in 2021 amount to 10.24 billion.

(Source: Bank My Cell)

So, how's that, yet ownership is only about four billion?

Isn’t the world population 7.84 billion?

Well, there are people with dual SIM cards. Then there are those with more than one device, not forgetting integrated devices like security systems or cars. 

33. 80% of smartphone users make use of their phones during physical shopping.

(Source: Business Services Week)

This could be either to read up reviews of a particular product that they are about to purchase or to locate an alternative store where they can compare products and prices. Either way, this goes to show the impact of technology on how we live our daily lives. Smart business owners who understand this fact can begin to make adjustments towards mobile to boost their traffic and improve conversion rates.

34. 95.1% of the Facebook audience access the platform through their mobile phone.

(Source: Business Services Week)

Platforms like Google and LinkedIn have already implemented a mobile-first standard for their websites, and the reason for such a move is not far-fetched. Internet access growth statistics reveal that mobile drives the majority of the traffic on Google and other social media platforms.

35. Google Play and the Apple App Store have a combined 4.4 million mobile apps for download in 2020.

(Source: Statista)

90% of the mobile apps on Google Play and the Apple App Store are free to download. Notwithstanding, more businesses are beginning to understand the power of mobile apps and the amount of time consumers spend on various apps daily. Technology adoption stats show that mobile apps can help develop a brand image and improve customer loyalty when done right.

36. About 56% of parents who have kids aged between 8 and 12 years have purchased mobile phones for them.

(Source: NCL Net)

Statistics about how fast technology is growing show that kids are growing up in a technologically advanced society. Back in the '80s and '90s, who would have ever thought that a 12-year-old would own a mobile phone, let alone an 8-year-old. However, that is the reality of today's economy. 

That's why solutions like parental control software are becoming more and more popular.

37. 98% of Generation Z have a mobile phone.

(Source: Global Web Index)

Technology advancement rate statistics go further to reveal that Generation X has a mobile penetration of 92%, Generation Z with 52%, and Baby Boomers with 42%.

38. Mobile advertising will reach $247 billion by 2022.

(Source: Statista)

Technology adoption stats show that advertising through mobile will reach almost $300 billion by the end of 2022. That will be a $244 billion increase from 2011 figures. 

39. There were 490 million new social media users in 2020.

Source: (Data Reportal)

Social media is getting more and more engaging by the day. The number of new users almost hit the five hundred million mark in 2020. 

40. Increasing usage of mobile banking technologies could generate up to 95 million jobs.

(Source: Leftronics)

A McKinsey Global Institute study found that over 80% of adults in developing countries owned a mobile device. However, only 55% had a bank account.

Mass adoption of mobile banking technologies has the potential to empower people financially. For one, technology adoption stats show that it can generate up to 95 million jobs and even increase GDP by a whopping $3.7 trillion by 2025.

Internet of Things (IoT) Statistics

Over the last few years, the concept of IoT has become a vital role player across various industries. More and more businesses now look to integrate its many benefits into their network infrastructures. The following are some of the most up-to-date statistics on the growth of IoT.

41. Every second, 127 new devices are connected to the internet.

(Source: McKinsey)

With the availability of affordable computer chips (sensors) through nanotechnology and the ubiquity of wireless networks, almost anything can now be made a part of the IoT according to statistics about how fast technology is advancing. 

42. There are 4.66 billion internet users as of the first quarter of 2021.

(Source: Data Reportal)

Just how fast is technology advancing in 2021?

The first few months of 2021 show that 4.7 billion people are using the internet. That’s almost ¾ of people in the world, looking at it from a global perspective!

43. North America had the highest internet penetration rate globally in 2020. 

(Source: Internet World Stats)

In December 2020, North America's internet access was the highest globally, at almost 90%. Europe was second with 87%, while Latin America took the third position with 72%.

Although Africa had the lowest internet penetration rates globally, it has made some significant advancements in the last few years. Its progression in the area was pretty fast that same year.

Let’s look at the numbers:

According to internet growth stats, Africa had the highest rate at 13,941%. The Middle East followed with 5,528% and finally Latin America with 2,545%.

44. Cellular IoT connections could reach 3.5 billion by 2023.

(Source: Forbes)

Cellular IoT connection is a feature that allows sensors to be able to transfer information directly to a computer or your mobile device within a region or specified distance. Health wearables that transfer the information about the state of health of a patient to a doctor or hospital is an excellent example of cellular IoT.

45. 75.44 billion IoT devices could be in existence by 2025.

(Source: Statista)

IoT statistics reveal that there were over 25 billion IoT devices around the globe at the end of 2019. Statista predicts that there could be well over 50 billion by 2023.

46. 70% of all automobiles will be connected to the internet through the Internet of Things by 2023.

(Source: Statista)

Technology statistics and findings show that the automobile industry is one of the few places where innovations in the IoT have seen significant improvements in the past few years. Aside from developing self-driving cars, research is being made to add lots of other features to the automobile industry through the Internet of Things. Soon, we could have vehicles that detect bad driving, accidents, and possibly imminent collision. In addition, cars that detect flaws in design while sending a report back to the manufacturer could also be a norm in years to come. 

47. The IoT could generate up to $11 trillion in economic value per year by 2025.

(Source: McKinsey)

Statistics that illustrate how fast technology is growing show that the global usefulness and availability of the Internet of Things is increasing at a breakneck pace. The IoT can save costs, increase productivity, create employment, and bring in billions and trillions in economic value in the process.

48. Around 44% of businesses use IoT to reduce costs.

(Source: Leftronics)

IoT statistics show that more companies are pursuing smarter systems due to the technological growth in that sector.

As of 2021, about 44% of businesses use IoT devices to reduce costs. 37% of them use it to enhance operational processes, and 30% use them to grow revenue.

Interestingly, major tech websites are beginning to follow these technology trends and have started implementing similar systems.

Global Tech Market Growth Statistics

Technology touches our whole lives and has generated trillions of dollars in revenue and market size in the process. Discussed below are some incredible milestones to help you better understand the impact of technology on businesses around the world.

49. Worldwide spending on IT will amount to $3 trillion by 2021. 

(Source: Statista)

Predictions show that consumers will spend upwards of $3 trillion by 2021. 33% of this budget will go to hardware, while the rest will be for apps and related software. It will be a positive growth from 2020 data which showed a slow down due to Corona when most businesses aimed at cutting costs.  

50. By 2025, the wearable AI market is going to be worth $180 billion.

(Source: Semrush)

AI statistics reveal that as of 2018, the wearable AI market was already worth $35 billion. Growing at a CAGR of 30%, that figure is expected to surpass the $100 million mark by 2025.

51. Big Data could attain a market size of $77 billion by 2023.

(Source: Statista)

Big Data volume statistics have shown that I cannot overemphasize its importance. This follows as hundreds of organizations around the world are already investing directly and indirectly into its befitting features. Insights from Big Data analytics can pioneer a small startup into becoming a multinational organization within the shortest possible time.

52. Income from AI hardware will be worth $234.6 billion in 2025.

(Source: Statista)

Products in this category include storage devices, network products for Graphics Processing Units (GPU), and Central Processing Units (CPU). Forecasts show that in 2025, their market value will have surpassed that of 2018’s by around $22 billion. 

53. Successful companies like Netflix have been able to save up to $1 billion monthly following the adoption of a machine learning algorithm.

(Source: Finance Online)

Netflix’s AI algorithm can accurately recommend which movies will get the attention of each user based on their interaction with the website. That way, user engagement is significantly increased, and the cancellation rate reduced, thus increasing the potential of having a user around for a more extended period. Without a doubt, Netflix's machine learning algorithm is one of the essential elements that make it one of the best streaming services out there.

54. Up to $657.31 billion would have been invested into the IoT by 2025.

(Source: Analitics Insight)

As of the end of 2019, the IoT market was already worth 193.60 billion. It could grow even further with a CAGR of 21% yearly if the technology growth rate is anything to go by.

Internet Growth Statistics

Initially designed only to interconnect government-owned research laboratories, the internet has expanded at an exponential rate over the last three decades

55. Internet users around the world spend an average of 6 hours, 42 minutes online daily.

(Source: Digital Information World)

The most recent data presented by statistics that illustrate how fast technology is growing places the average time spent online at above six hours. Countries like the Philippines and Brazil have the highest amount of time spent online daily, with 10:02 hours and 9:20 hours, respectively. The US falls a little short of the global average, clocking in at 6:31 hours daily internet time. Others like Japan and France spend the least amount of time online daily with 3:45 hours and 4:38 hours, respectively.

56. The median social media usage between 2019 and 2020 was 143 minutes daily.

(Source: Statista)

How fast technology is growing statistics show that two hours and 23 minutes is the amount of time that social media users spent on their favorite networking sites in 2020. When it comes to the country whose citizens spend the highest amount of time on the sites, the Philippines came first with about 3 hours. 

57. Over 4.54 billion people are active internet users out of the 7.76 billion people in the world.

(Source: Statista)

According to statistics that illustrate internet growth, the internet is growing at a pace of 11 new users per second - that is about 1 million unique users daily. Between the fourth quarter of 2018 and that of 2019, 366 million new users were added to the total number of internet users, bringing the final figure for 2019 to 4.39 billion users. However, between the end of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020, that figure has risen to more than 4.54 billion.

58. There were 1.83 billion websites in January 2021.

(Source: Web Hosting Rating)

Websites began getting popular in 2012. That year alone, businesses and individuals alike launched about one billion websites. Growth of the internet statistics indicates an upward trend, and the number has increased by approximately 800 million as of 2021. 

As of 2020, there were 20 million domain registrations. That was close to a 5% increment from the last quarter of 2019. 

59. 63% of 2021 internet surfers prefer Chrome.

(Source: Oberlo)

As of 2021, six out of every 10 people visiting the internet do so via Chrome. Safari, the second most popular browser, doesn’t even come close. It only has about 19% of regular users. Mozilla Firefox and Samsung Internet tie at number three, with 3.61%. 

60. The global ecommerce market is set to hit $6.54 trillion by 2022.

(Source: Forbes)

As of the end of 2019, the ecommerce market already had $4.2 trillion in sales. That number is expected to grow even further given that ecommerce is becoming the most preferred form of buying and selling around the globe.

61. More than 92% of internet users now consume video content online monthly.

(Source: Data Reportal)

Online video platforms like YouTube get massive traffic on a per-second basis every day. According to statistics, up to 500 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Also, the platform has up to 1.9 billion users.

62. The number one YouTube channel had 51.36 billion views.

(Source: Statista) 

Like Nastya’s - Anastasia Radzinskaya, has slightly over 51 billion lifetime views in January 2021. Technology facts show that users find videos more entertaining and memorable. So keep that in mind, marketers!

When it comes to future technological trends that will rule the world shortly, a few inventions come to mind. They include Blockchain, cloud computing, AR/VR, robotics, and automation. The stats that follow will expose you to some of these future technology trends.

63. There will be 8.4 billion voice assistants by 2024.

(Source: Statista)

In 2020, there were about 4 million virtual assistants. That number will double by 2024 and will be close to 8.5 billion units. The world’s human population is 7 billion, so let’s hope it’s not the dawn of the Matrix.

64. By 2025, 500 million Virtual Reality headsets would have been sold.

(Source: Forbes)

An increasing smartphone adoption rate, the automobile industry, military and law enforcement training, the gaming industry, and growing technology awareness are some of the significant factors influencing the increasing need for VR headsets. 

65. 94% of the internet workload will be processed on the cloud by the end of 2021.

(Source: Network World)

Since its introduction to the mainstream market, the cloud computing trend has shown massive year-over-year growth. Experts believe that it will soon cause traditional data centers to go obsolete. As of 2018, the cloud was already housing 45% of the internet workload, and that number will rise even further in a few years.

66. The Blockchain technology industry’s revenue is predicted to hit $20 billion by 2024.

(Source: GlobeNewswire)

Experts predict that as time goes on, blockchain will find usefulness across multiple industries due to its secure and sophisticated network. Currently, there are ongoing successful experiments to combine Blockchain and Big Data to ensure uniformity and accuracy of results, especially in the insurance sector, and many more will follow in the years to come.

How Is Technology Affecting Our Lives?

There is no doubt about how vital technology has become to how we live our lives each day on earth. The technology process has made life both more comfortable and efficient for the average human. The following stats will expound more on how technology is influencing our lives in general:

67. Technology has made communication easier.

(Source: Thrive Global)

The younger generations won't remember the days when there were no mobile phones. Today, anyone can pick up the phone and place a phone call to loved ones, irrespective of their location in the world. Plus, the coming of the internet and social media has made staying connected even cheaper.

68. Technology has improved advertising.

(Source: Thrive Global)

Billboards are becoming outdated, and door-to-door advertising is said to have gone extinct. With the internet, businesses can now reach their targeted audience with ease and still obtain better conversion rates than the old system of advertising.

69. Learning is now more efficient and more comfortable to carry out with technology.

(Source: Thrive Global)

In the past, you had to scourge the library for books on specific subjects that you intend to study. Today, there are billions of videos, podcasts, audio, and text over the internet on almost anything you wish to study, making education more accessible.

Wrap Up

Technology has sure come a long way! There are billions of inventions yet to be discovered by the upcoming generations, and many more after them.

So, if you’ve ever wondered how fast is technology growing, statistics answer - lightning fast. And it is showing no signs of slowing down.

Can you imagine what life would be without technology?

Jacquelyn Bulao
May 02, 2022

Source

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Three Laws of Robotics

 

The advanced area of robotics produces a wide variety of equipment, from autonomous vacuums to surveillance drones to whole manufacturing lines. 

The robot needs to create steps and interests depending on the present scenario and the concrete configuration of the robot.

The significance of Asimov’s three laws of robots is apparent. The amount of software that impacts us is growing behind data mining and machine education whether we are browsing the internet or assigning public infrastructure.

These advances led to a period when robots of all sorts are ubiquitous in virtually every area of life, and interactions between human-robot are growing substantially.

Three Laws of Robotics

Asimov’s gives rules to safeguard people against robotic interactions. They are:

  • A robot cannot hurt a person or enable a person to harm via inactivity.
  • A robot must obey human beings’ guidance unless such commands contradict the first law.
  • Since these security does not contradict the First and Second Laws, a robot should safeguard its existence.

In contemporary robotics, one tendency is to expand robots’ function to offer a specially built machine that works or is shielded from human tasks in a detailed description.

Instead, robots share living and working environments more with people and serve as servants, companies and collaborators. Moreover, it will make autonomous robots more complex and innovative in the ahead.

This means that its functioning must be direct by a general. Higher level of instruction to cope effectively with previously unforeseen and unexpected circumstances.

After robotic control has to deal but, standardized regulations are necessary to respond to a certain situation. 

Although these rules seem reasonable, many arguments have shown why they are insufficient. 

In Asimov’s tales, the rules are probably deconstructed, demonstrating how they fail in various circumstances repeatedly.

The Existence of Robots Affects the Life of Humans.

Most efforts to write new standards follow a similar concept, ensuring that robots are safe, compliant and strong.

One problem with robot regulations is that robots may operate in a framework with them.

Understanding the entire range and expertise of a natural speech is an extremely difficult task for a robot.

Broad behavioural objectives like avoiding damage to people or preserving the existence of a robot may imply various things in different situations.

Keeping to the rules may eventually make a robot unhelpful for its designers.

Empowerment 

Our alternative idea, empowerment, stands against impotence. Empowerment is that you can affect a condition and understand how you can.

We have methods to convert this social notion into a measurable strategic and functional language.

This would enable robots to keep their choices open and behave so that their impact on the world is better.

In trying to simulate how robots in different situations might utilize the empowerment principle, we discovered that they frequently acted remarkably “naturally.”

Normally, they need to simulate how the actual world works but do not need specific artificial intelligence software that deals with the particular situation.

But to keep humans safe, robots must attempt to preserve or enhance their own and human capabilities.

In essence, this means being safe and helpful. For example, entering a locked door would enhance your capacity.

Reducing their capacity get to a short-term loss of power. And robots may severely damage their empowerment.

At the same time, each robot has to preserve its capacity, for example, by guaranteeing that it has adequate power to function and that it is not trapped or broken.

Although empowerment provides a novel method for safe robot behaviour, we always have a bit to accomplish to enhance its productivity and apply it on any machine and maintain safety.

This presents an extremely challenging task. However, we firmly believe that empowerment must bring practical responses to strengthening mechanical behaviour and sustaining robots in the essential sense.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are the three laws of robotics flawed?

The first law is unsuccessful because of languages ambiguity and difficult ethical issues that are too hard to respond to simple yes or no. The Second Law does not exist because of the evil character of the law, which forces sentient creatures to be servants.

Are the robotics three laws real?

A robot cannot hurt humanity or enable mankind to damage through inactivity. They also impact the morality of artificial intelligence.

Will robots replace humans?

Yes, robotics will replace people for many professions as clever agricultural equipment displaced human beings and horses mostly during industrialization. 

Factory platforms deploy more and more robots powered by machine learning techniques to adapt to work with humans.

Conclusion

However, Asimov’s greatest issue is that they can only be entirely successful if every robot or computer has been thoroughly integrated with them.

The possibility of some people constructing a robot that failed to comply with the Asimov rules is of genuine worry, as is the danger for people to create another weapon of mass devastation.

But people will be humans irrespective of what anybody does. So there is no way to prevent people from murdering themselves, regardless of the means they have. 

Surely the person who tries to build a robot without those rules would have to face serious sanctions. But the issue doesn’t fix it.

A human-computer might produce a far more powerful and distorted computer much more quickly than humans can do in defence.

Grham James

 

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Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)

 
 

What Was the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)?

One of the major features of digital currencies is that they are decentralized. This means they are not controlled by a single institution like a government or central bank, but instead are divided among a variety of computers, networks, and nodes. In many cases, virtual currencies make use of this decentralized status to attain levels of privacy and security that are typically unavailable to standard currencies and their transactions.

 

Inspired by the decentralization of cryptocurrencies, a group of developers came up with the idea for a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, in 2016.1

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The DAO was an organization created by developers to automate decisions and facilitate cryptocurrency transactions.
  • In June 2016, due to programming errors and attack vectors, hackers attacked the DAO, accessing 3.6 million ETH.
  • Digital exchange currencies de-listed the DAO token in September 2016.

Understanding the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)

The DAO was an organization that was designed to be automated and decentralized. It acted as a form of venture capital fund, based on open-source code and without a typical management structure or board of directors. To be fully decentralized, the DAO was unaffiliated with any particular nation-state, though it made use of the ethereum network. 

 

Why make an organization like the DAO? The developers of the DAO believed they could eliminate human error or manipulation of investor funds by placing decision-making power into the hands of an automated system and a crowdsourced process. Fueled by ether, the DAO was designed to allow investors to send money from anywhere in the world anonymously. The DAO would then provide those owners tokens, allowing them voting rights on possible projects.

 

The DAO launched in late April 2016 thanks to a month-long crowdsale of tokens that raised more than $150 million in funds.2 At the time, the launch was the largest crowdfunding fundraising campaign of all time.

 

Criticisms of the DAO

By May 2016, the DAO held a massive percentage of all ether tokens that had been issued up to that point (up to 14%, according to reporting by The Economist).3 At roughly the same time, however, a paper was published which addressed several potential security vulnerabilities, cautioning investors from voting on future investment projects until those issues had been resolved.

 

Later, in June 2016, hackers attacked the DAO based on these vulnerabilities. The hackers gained access to 3.6 million ETH, worth about $50 million at the time.4 This prompted a massive and contentious argument among DAO investors, with some individuals suggesting various ways of addressing the hack and others calling for the DAO to be permanently disbanded. This incident also figured prominently in the hard forking of ethereum that took place shortly thereafter.

 

According to IEEE Spectrum, the DAO was vulnerable to programming errors and attack vectors.5 The fact that the organization was charting new territory in terms of regulation and corporate law likely did not make the process any easier. The ramifications of the structure of the organization were potentially numerous: investors were concerned that they would be held liable for actions taken by the DAO as a broader organization.

 

The DAO operated in murky territory about whether or not it was selling securities, as well. Further, there were long-standing issues regarding the way that the DAO would function in the real world. Investors and contractors alike needed to convert ETH into fiat currencies, and this could have impacted the value of ether.

 

Following the contentious argument over the DAO's future and the massive hacking incident of earlier in the summer, in September 2016, several prominent digital currency exchanges de-listed the DAO token, marking the effective end for the DAO as it was initially envisioned.67

 

In July 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a report, which determined that the DAO sold securities in the form of tokens on the ethereum blockchain, violating portions of US securities law.8

Future of the DAO

What does the future hold for the DAO? The DAO as originally envisioned had not returned as of mid-2020. Nonetheless, interest in decentralized autonomous organizations as a broader group continues to grow. In 2021, The Maker Foundation, an icon in the crypto industry as the original champion of DAO, announced that it was officially turning operations over to MakerDAO (creator of the DAI stablecoin) and would dissolve by the end of the year.9

 

While there are many lingering concerns and potential issues regarding legality, security, and structure, some analysts and investors believe that this type of organization will eventually come to prominence, perhaps even replacing traditionally structured businesses.

 

Dash

The popular digital currency Dash is an example of a decentralized autonomous organization because of the way it is governed and the way its budgeting system is structured. It may only be a matter of time before additional DAOs enter the field.

 

Investing in cryptocurrencies and other Initial Coin Offerings ("ICOs") is highly risky and speculative, and this article is not a recommendation by Investopedia or the writer to invest in cryptocurrencies or other ICOs. Since each individual's situation is unique, a qualified professional should always be consulted before making any financial decisions. Investopedia makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein. As of the date that this article was written, the author owns cryptocurrencies.

 

By 

NATHAN REIFF

 
Updated September 24, 2021

Reviewed by 

ERIKA RASURE

 

A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), sometimes called a decentralized autonomous corporation (DAC),[a] is an organization represented by rules encoded as a computer program that is transparent, controlled by the organization members and not influenced by a central government, in other words they are member-owned communities without centralized leadership.[1][2] A DAO's financial transaction record and program rules are maintained on a blockchain.[3][4][5] The precise legal status of this type of business organization is unclear.[6]

A well-known example, intended for venture capital funding, was The DAO, which amassed $150 million in crowdfunding in May 2016, and was hacked and drained of US$50 million in cryptocurrency weeks later.[7] The hack was reversed in the following weeks, and the money restored, via a hard fork of the Ethereum blockchain. Most Ethereum miners and clients switched to the new fork while the original chain became Ethereum Classic.

Background

Decentralized autonomous organizations are typified by the use of blockchain technology to provide a secure digital ledger to track digital interactions across the internet, hardened against forgery by trusted timestamping and dissemination of a distributed database.[3][4][8] This approach eliminates the need to involve a mutually acceptable trusted third party in any decentralized digital interaction or cryptocurrency transaction.[4] The costs of a blockchain-enabled transaction and of the associated data reporting may be substantially offset by the elimination of both the trusted third party and of the need for repetitive recording of contract exchanges in different records. For example, the blockchain data could, in principle and if regulatory structures permit it, replace public documents such as deeds and titles.[3]: 42 [4] In theory, a blockchain approach allows multiple cloud computing users to enter a loosely coupled peer-to-peer smart contract collaboration.[3]: 42 [9]

Vitalik Buterin proposed that after a DAO is launched, it might be organized to run without human managerial interactivity, provided the smart contracts are supported by a Turing-complete platform. Ethereum, built on a blockchain and launched in 2015, has been described as meeting that Turing threshold, thus enabling such DAOs.[3][10][11] Decentralized autonomous organizations aim to be open platforms through which individuals control their identities and their personal data.[12]

Governance

DAO governance is coordinated using tokens or NFTs that grant voting powers. Admission to a DAO is limited to people who have a confirmed ownership of these governance tokens in a cryptocurrency wallet, and membership may be exchanged. Governance is conducted through a series of proposals that members vote on through the blockchain, and the possession of more governance tokens often translates to greater voting power. Contributions from members towards the organizational goals of a DAO can sometimes be tracked and internally compensated. Inactive holders of governance tokens can be a major obstacle for DAO governance,[5] which has led to implementations of allowing voting power to be delegated to other parties.

Issues

Social

Inactive or non-voting shareholders in DAOs often disrupt the organization's possible functionality.[5]

Legal status, liability, and regulation

The precise legal status of this type of business organization is generally unclear,[8] and may vary by jurisdiction. On July 1, 2021, Wyoming became the first US state to recognize DAOs as a legal entity.[13] American CryptoFed DAO became the first business entity so recognized.[14] Some previous approaches to blockchain based companies have been regarded by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as illegal offers of unregistered securities.[6][15] Although often of uncertain legal standing, a DAO may functionally be a corporation without legal status as a corporation: a general partnership.[16] Known participants, or those at the interface between a DAO and regulated financial systems, may be targets of regulatory enforcement or civil actions only if they are out of compliance with the law.[16]

Security

A DAO's code is difficult to alter once the system is up and running, including bug fixes that would be otherwise trivial in centralized code. Corrections to a DAO require writing new code and agreement to migrate all the funds. Although the code is visible to all, it is hard to repair, thus leaving known security holes open to exploitation unless a moratorium is called to enable bug fixing.[17]

In 2016, a specific DAO, "The DAO", set a record for the largest crowdfunding campaign to date.[18][19] Researchers pointed out multiple problems with The DAO's code. The DAO's operational procedure allowed investors to withdraw at will any money that had not yet been committed to a project; the funds could thus deplete quickly.[5] Although safeguards aimed to prevent gaming shareholders' votes to win investments,[6] there were a "number of security vulnerabilities".[20] These enabled an attempted large withdrawal of funds from The DAO to be initiated in mid-June 2016.[21][22] On July 20, 2016, the Ethereum blockchain was forked to bail out the original contract.

DAOs can be subject to coups or hostile takeovers that upend its voting structures especially if the voting power is based upon the number of tokens one owns. An example of this occurred in 2022, when Build Finance DAO suffered a coup in which one person amassed enough tokens to get a vote passed, then voted to give themselves full control of the DAO, then, using this power, they drained all of the money from the DAO.[23]

List of notable DAOs

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
 
Name Token Use cases Network Launch Status
Dash DASH Governance, fund allocation [24] Dash (cryptocurrency) May 2015[25] Operational since 2015[26][27][28]
Steem STEEM Data distribution, Social media, Name services, Industrial Steem March 2016 Operational
The DAO DAO Venture capital Ethereum April 2016 Defunct late 2016 due to hack[29]
Augur REP Prediction market, Sports betting, Option (finance), Insurance Ethereum July 2018 Operational
Uniswap UNI Exchange, Automated Market Making Ethereum November 2018 Operational[30]
BitDAO BitDAO Build the future of finance in a decentralized way. Ethereum August 2021 Operational[31]
ConstitutionDAO PEOPLE Purchasing an original copy of the Constitution of the United States Ethereum November 2021[32] Defunct[33]
AssangeDAO $JUSTICE[34] Purchased Clock, an NFT artwork by Pak, to fund legal defense of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange Ethereum February 2022[35] Operational

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Depending on English dialect, it may also be spelled decentralised autonomous organisation. The terms decentralized autonomous company, distributed autonomous organization, etc., have also been used.

References

  1. ^ Prusty, Narayan (27 April 2017). Building Blockchain Projects. Birmingham, UK: Packt. p. 9. ISBN 9781787125339.
  2. ^ The Decentralized Autonomous Organization and Governance Issues Regulation of Financial Institutions Journal: Social Science Research Network (SSRN). 5 December 2017.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Vigna, P.; Casey, M. J. (27 January 2015). The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and the Blockchain Are Challenging the Global Economic Order. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781250065636.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Hodson, H. (20 November 2013). "Bitcoin moves beyond mere money". New Scientist.
  5. ^ Jump up to:a b c d "The DAO of accrue: A new, automated investment fund has attracted stacks of digital money". The Economist. 21 May 2016.
  6. ^ Jump up to:a b c Popper, N. (21 May 2016). "A Venture Fund with Plenty of Virtual Capital, but No Capitalist". New York Times.
  7. ^ Price, Rob (17 June 2016). "Digital currency Ethereum is cratering amid claims of a $50 million hack". Business Insider. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  8. ^ Jump up to:a b Wright, A; De Filippi, P. (10 March 2015). "Decentralized Blockchain Technology and the Rise of Lex Cryptographia". SSRN 2580664.
  9. ^ Norta, A. (18 August 2015). "Creation of Smart-Contracting Collaborations for Decentralized Autonomous Organizations". Perspectives in Business Informatics Research. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing. Vol. 229. pp. 3–17.
  10. ^ Pangburn, D. J. (19 June 2015). "The Humans Who Dream of Companies That Won't Need Us". FastCompany.
  11. ^ Evans, J. (1 August 2015). "Vapor No More: Ethereum Has Launched". TechCrunch.
  12. ^ Deegan, P. (2014). "Chapter 14—The Relational Matrix: The Free and Emergent Organizations of Digital Groups and Identities". In Clippinger, J. H.; Bollier, D. (eds.). From Bitcoin to Burning Man and Beyond: The Quest for Identity and Autonomy in a Digital Society. Amherst, Massachusetts: Institute for Institutional Innovation. pp. 160–176. ISBN 978-1-937146-58-0. creating an operational and autonomous Trust Framework [that can i]ntegrate with a secure discovery service in the form of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization ...
  13. ^ "Decentralized Autonomous Organizations Find a Home in Wyoming". JD Supra. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Wyoming becomes first US state to legally recognise DAO". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  15. ^ "SEC Charges Bitcoin Entrepreneur With Offering Unregistered Securities". US Securities and Exchange Commission. 3 June 2014.
  16. ^ Jump up to:a b Levine, M. (17 May 2016). "Blockchain Company Wants to Reinvent Companies". Bloomberg View: Wall Street. Bloomberg News.
  17. ^ Peck, M. (28 May 2016). "Ethereum's $150-million Blockchain-powered Fund Opens Just as Researchers Call For a Halt". IEEE Spectrum. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
  18. ^ Vigna, P. (16 May 2016). "Chiefless Company Rakes in More Than $100 Million". Wall Street Journal.
  19. ^ Waters, R. (17 May 2016). "Automated company raises equivalent of $120M in digital currency". Financial Times.
  20. ^ Popper, N. (27 May 2016). "Paper Points Up Flaws in Venture Fund Based on Virtual Money". The New York Times.
  21. ^ Popper, N. (17 June 2016). "Hacker May Have Taken $50 Million From Cybercurrency Project". New York Times.
  22. ^ Price, R. (17 June 2016). "Digital currency Ethereum is cratering amid claims of a $50 million hack". Business Insider. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  23. ^ "Democratic DAO Suffers Coup, New Leader Steals Everything - VICE". www.vice.com. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  24. ^ Duffield, Evan (22 April 2015). "Self-sustainable Decentralized Governance by Blockchain". dash.org/forum.
  25. ^ Duffield, Evan (14 May 2015). "GitHub commit adding Dash DAO feature". github.com/dashpay. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  26. ^ Duffield, Evan (28 August 2015). "Budgets Are Live". dash.org/forum.
  27. ^ Engelhorn, Philipp (7 September 2015). "First 3 Superblocks!". dash.org/forum. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  28. ^ "First Blockchain DAO payout". blockchair.com/dash. 7 September 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  29. ^ Finley, Klint (18 June 2016). "Someone Just Stole $50 Million from the Biggest Crowdfunded Project Ever (Humans Can't Be Trusted)". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  30. ^ "OpenOrgs.info". openorgs.info. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  31. ^ "BitDAO price today, BIT to USD live, marketcap and chart". CoinMarketCap. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  32. ^ Roose, Kevin (17 November 2021). "They Love Crypto. They're Trying to Buy the Constitution". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  33. ^ Fox, Matthew (19 January 2022). "Tokens of the defunct DAO that failed to buy a copy of the constitution are worth $300 million even after disbanding". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  34. ^ "Justice Token". AssangeDAO. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  35. ^ Reuters (9 February 2022). "'Cypherpunks have rallied to Assange': NFT auction raises $52m for WikiLeaks founder". The Guardian.
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VI7: Virtual Reality, Universal Life

Virtual Reality, Universal Life

Kel Smith, in Digital Outcasts, 2013

Abstract

This chapter discusses the use of virtual worlds for people with disabilities, exploring the ways that immersive environments are used for education, fellowship, companionship, and therapy. It investigates the interaction models of virtual reality, examining how the body and mind respond to controlling an avatar, and includes a case study where virtual reality is used as a form of pain distraction. The chapter concludes with an emphasis on how people with disabilities and illness find communities of practice within their virtual circles of peers.

Virtual Reality and the Self

Vivian Sobchack, media theorist and film critic, once wrote that “even the most ordinary images find their value, their substance, their impetus, in the agency and investments of our flesh.” She was speaking about the concept of decorporealization—that point in which a media object, such as a photograph, depicts a persona that is at once representative and interchangeable with our identity of the self.

This is a complicated way of saying that users of virtual worlds who associate more closely with their avatars tend to have a more rewarding experience. Something takes over in the mind, which begins to show activity typical of what the avatar is doing on the screen. Digital outcasts who participate in this space identify very personally with their in-world personas and take their virtual lives very seriously. We might consider this primarily an augmentationist approach, but we find this behavior spanning all users of virtual worlds.

Digital outcasts associate very personally with their virtual identities.

Researchers at Stanford University have found that the more closely an avatar resembles the actual person, the more likely it is to psychologically inhabit the virtual body and assume its characteristics. “The remarkable thing is how little a virtual human has to do to produce fairly large effects on behavior,” said Jeremy Bailenson, director of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford. His team discovered that slightly tweaking visual characteristics of the avatar—adjusting the avatar’s appearance in weight or making the avatar “more” or “less” attractive—created social effects that seeped into real-life interactions. “What we learn in one body is shared with other bodies we inhabit, whether virtual or physical,” concluded the research team.

Virtual worlds have found a strong and enthusiastic audience among people who live with autism spectrum disorders. Predominant among this user group are those who experience mild to severe anxiety when interacting with other people—a textbook example of an immersionist. They may also have limited attention spans and difficulty controlling their emotions. The virtual world is thus used as a way to work on social skills and common etiquette practices in a relatively safe environment, where they feel they will be judged more fairly than in real life.

People who are on the spectrum are a fiercely protective group, and many of them find a sense of fellowship and community within their virtual networks. The folks they connect with every day become part of their extended digital family. There are some who believe that the relationships they form in virtual worlds are more meaningful than those in real life—they’ve overcomed their awkwardness and learned to translate their anxiety productively.

Researchers in Dallas are conducting brain-imaging and neurocognitive tests on people with autism before and after virtual therapy sessions. Subjects tend to show improvements in several areas, including social appropriateness and ability to read a person’s body language. One 35-year-old graduate student revealed that he felt more confident making small talk since practicing in virtual reality. “I’m usually not good with someone face to face,” he said. “I tend to feel awkward and put my foot in my mouth.”

The Center for BrainHealth in Dallas has picked up on this study and taken a truly futuristic approach in helping children with autism learn how to navigate social situations, from ordering something in a coffee shop to practicing for a job interview. An avatar on the screen shows facial expressions and gestures, helping the subject better understand emotional triggers. So far, the therapy is proving to be successful. “Four or five sessions in here is worth about 2 or 3 years of real world training,” says Clark Thurston, a 16 year old with Asperger’s syndrome. Thurston’s mother was astounded at how well the virtual reality therapy worked for her autistic son. “He got bullied a lot, so he carried around a lot of pain,” she said tearfully. “I never even dared to hope that [the treatment] would be this good.”

The face is the gateway to improving social interaction among people with autism spectrum disorders.

Why is this approach so successful for some people? Researcher Dan Krawczyk thinks it has to do with the bond between avatar and subject:

When you’re driving an avatar, you’re in virtual space, riding one of these characters as yourself. [But] it’s not just recognizing a face. It’s recognizing emotion. A lot of brain areas have to talk to each other and coordinate, and some of these connections are not as strong as they should be. The face is the gateway to social interaction.

What Dr. Krawczyk describes is a form of anthropomorphic realism, which is the degree to which an object or depiction is personified to represent a human form.

Operating an avatar onscreen triggers a neurological response that replicates the authenticity of a physical experience.

Studies further indicate that a kinetic response improves anthropomorphic realism, which might reveal insights into how people with limited mobility connect with their virtual selves. “A fundamental difference is you have an avatar,” says Mark Dubin. He is a professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado and designs haptic interfaces for virtual reality. He supports the notion that avatars can act as an extension for the mind and body by replicating the feel of authenticity to a physical experience, which triggers a neurological response:

You have a representative that is you and responds to you. You move, it moves. You feel like you’re there, literally. Your brain will show activity typical of what the avatar is actually doing.

Virtual Identity
0