English | EN New jobs will come from Cyber-Physicalytics
Apr 2, 2014
For many of the older generation internet was synonymous for “Internet Explorer”. But our children are growing up in an internet of everything. All things digitally connected, able to register or actuate, enrich our senses, ease our lives. From the internet of screens (and the internet explorer as the mother of all screens) to something hidden inside, is a major shift. Internet not as we know it but embedded in cars, machines, doors, thermostats, fridges, airplane engines and put onto our body in all kinds of wearable devices. With the talk about computers eating our jobs, it looks like a no-brainer that new professions will arise form this new field: “System of systems” engineers, cyber-physical sociologists, IT-OT integrators and so forth. I frame it “cyber-physialitics” and it should combine engineering skills needed for connecting machines and processes, and human skills, needed to understand how new human-machine interactions could be optimized.
It’s a physical internet and we need to find out more about how it works. Let’s not pretend we know how to build this brave new world. We’ve just started a huge experiment and the skills that are needed come form a great amount of different areas. A shortlist: psychology, telematics, engineering, proces automation, big data analytics, cyber security, design thinking, politics, architecture, quantified selfers, privacy law, marketing and city planning. For obvious reasons this is a great variety, since the internet of everything is about… everything.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) together with Berkeley and the University of Virginia have created a “concept Map” of Cyber Physical Systems. When you go to the website here you can click on every icon on the map for more detailed information.
For anyone who’s afraid of loosing his job, a first course to get some of the basics comes from Berkely professor Edward Lee. “Cyber-Physical Systems: A Rehash or A New Intellectual Challenge?”
I do think it’s a new intellectual challenge. Not only from a technology perspective, but also from a societal and cultural perspective. It’s not only about connecting the parts (engineer) but also connecting the arts, the undefined and non-logical parts of the internet of everything, human beings. Maybe Cyber-Physialytics is not the right word. If you think so, please suggest an alternative.
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