IF you thought computers were a 20th century idea, read on. “Computer” wasn’t even a computer before it became one. The word was first used in the early 17th century to describe a human who did calculations, AKA computation.
Then “computer” really became one. Today, everything else is becoming a computer: refrigerators, washing machines, cars, planes and humans too.
If before we had chips on our shoulders, now we have them implanted. Thus has computing become ubiquitous.
But here in Malaysia, there is a digital disconnect. If elsewhere parents have chips-embedded pampers to alert them to an impending nappy change, we Malaysians are busy exchanging soiled jokes recycled for the umpteenth time in our WhatsApp groups. You know the one about the haze: “asap tebal” and “acceptable”. That’s computing ubiquity for some! Asinine, we say.
Consider this. Malaysia produces some 800,000 head of cattle. In one media report’s calculation, that is only 27 per cent of our needs.
The rest — buffalo meat, mostly — is imported at a hefty RM1 billion plus. Call it Malaysia’s buffalo bill. Why not turn computing ubiquity to beat this beef battle? A knowledge-based economy (K-based economy), such as computerised farming, is ripe for shared prosperity. But shared prosperity won’t happen until shared learning takes place.
Cows are getting connected in Ireland, according to the Sept 14 issue of The Economist.
There, computers track the eating habits and vital signs of cows in real time. What this means is cows get to produce more milk and meat. If this knowledge is forwarded tens of thousands of times in WhatsApp groups, we would compound our shared learning.
Compounded shared learning is compounded shared prosperity. It is knowledge such as this — not recycled jokes — that is the primary engine of growth and wealth creation for our economy. If cows can get connected in such useful ways, so can we.
Knowledge doesn’t just happen. It must be caused to happen. It begins with reading materials such as the New Straits Times.
According to the Big Think website, an average human lives 25,915 days (71 years). Of this, we spend 41 per cent, or 10,625 days, looking at a technological device. Another 29.7 per cent, or 7,709 days, are spent sitting down at home or in the office.
This can be halved, with 9,167 days devoted to reading if we are serious about making Malaysia a K-based economy. A one-minute or three-minute read isn’t going to make one knowledgeable.
A knowledgeable participant in the digital economy will do well in this ubiquitous world, if management consultancy Bain & Company is right. What’s more, he will shine in WhatsApp groups and similar platforms. Because there is lots of money to be made in the market for Internet of Things (IoT), according to the consultancy.
To be exact, RM2.2 trillion by 2021. Others forecast a dizzier sum. How much of it will come our way is for us to determine.
The K-based economy’s playground will be data. Whoever can collect, aggregate and analyse them will have customers beating a path to their door. Deep expertise in analytics will count.
Not the kind that turns “asap tebal” to “acceptable”. What’s up, Malaysia?