Author: Bilal Kathrada

I often wonder what the role of human beings will be in a future where computers become more capable than we ever imagined, allowing them to do many of the jobs only humans are currently capable of doing. Although things may seem bleak to most people, I tend to take a more optimistic view, and every now and again I come across something that reassures me the future is bright and holds opportunities. “A creative mindset can be a powerful force for looking beyond the status quo” David and Tom Kelley, founders of world-renowned design firm Ideo, mention a story in their book Creative Confidence that has a number of valuable lessons. The story revolves around Doug Dietz, at the time the head of design and development of high-tech medical imaging systems at GE. Doug’s division had just launched a new range of MRI machines they had been developing. The machines were well-received by hospitals and a number of units were sold. They were so good that the company had submitted them for the International Design Excellence Award, equivalent of the Oscars for designers. Doug decided to go and experience one of the machines in action at a paediatric hospital not far from his office. What he saw made his heart sink. A frail child came in for an MRI scan, and as she approached the machine, she held her father’s hand tightly and began to cry. The MRI technician called for an anaesthetist. Doug was confused. Patients did not need to be anaesthetised for an MRI scan. The technician said it wasn’t strictly necessary, but because so many children were terrified of the machine, they had no option but to knock them out before the scan. Doug decided to rethink the design of the MRI scanners. His team realised that even though they had designed a beautiful and functional machine, they had overlooked a critical aspect of design: the human element. They had not considered the typical patient experience. At this stage, changing the design of the machine would be too costly, so they came up with an alternative solution. It was a stroke of genius. They decided to make the MRI scanners resemble a theme park adventure, complete with imagery and even a narrative. A machine would be redecorated to look like a pirate ship, and as the technician readied a patient for a scan, she would tell the story of a pirate ship adventure where the child was a key character. As the machine whirred and clanked, the technician reminded the child that those were just the sounds of the ship creaking. This small change to the scanners brought about a huge transformation. No longer were kids afraid and no longer were anaesthetists required. In fact, on a subsequent visit to a hospital, Doug observed a little girl asking her dad if they could please come back to use the machine again tomorrow. Doug’s experience highlighted the importance of “Design Thinking”: a technique for designing products and services in such a way that there is a human-centric focus. In other words, there’s a focus on more than just functionality, but of delighting the user. More importantly, it highlights another very important thing: that the human touch will always be a key element in many professions. The MRI scanners were no longer terrifying when the human touch was added; that is, when the technicians became a part of the experience, rather than just being an operator by the side. In a similar fashion, when we are ill, we want to go to a friendly doctor we can relate to, not to a machine. When we send our kids to school, we want them to be met by the warm smile of a compassionate teacher, not by a machine. When we board a flight, we want to be welcomed by a friendly and comforting smile, something no machine will ever be able to do. Machines will certainly transform our world, and will take over many of the jobs we currently do; but they will never completely replace human beings. In many cases we will still continue doing our work, although our roles will differ considerably.

Local tech entrepreneur earns his place in international book Local software developer and trainer, Bilal Kathrada, has been given a rare honour of being featured in an internationally-published book. The book, entitled “Developer, Advocate!”, authored by Geertjan Wielenga, senior principal product manager at Oracle, features 32 of the industry’s most prominent developer advocates, from companies including Oracle, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. These advocates run the gamut from working at large software vendors to small start-ups, along with independent developer advocates who work within organizations or for themselves. They describe what it’s like to turn a lifelong passion for knowledge sharing about tech into a rewarding career. “It is truly an honour to have an entire chapter of the book written about me. Even to be mentioned alongside the likes of Scott Davis, Venkat Subramaniam and Matt Raibles, is a huge honour,” said Kathrada. “I am truly grateful to the author for considering me.” Bilal Kathrada has spent the past 15 years teaching, lecturing and mentoring people in the field of software development. He was the winner of the Vodacom AppStar award in 2012, and currently runs IT varsity, a startup dedicated to empowering people with software development skills. He is also a columnist for three major South African newspapers, The Cape Argus, The Daily News and The Star, where he writes about the latest trends in technology. “I sincerely hope being featured in the book will give impetus to the work we are doing in South Africa,” said Kathrada. “Our vision is to transform the tech sector in the country by producing some of the best and most innovative tech minds. ” Some of the questions answered in the book :  What exactly is a developer advocate, and how do they connect developers and companies around the world? Why is the area of developer relations set to explode? Can anybody with a passion for tech become a developer advocate? What are the keys to success on a global scale? How does a developer advocate maintain authenticity when balancing the needs of their company and their tech community? What are the hot topics in areas including Java, JavaScript, “tech for good,” artificial intelligence, blockchain, the cloud, and open source? What you will learn from the book :  Discover how developer advocates are putting developer interests at the heart of the software industry in companies including Microsoft and Google Gain the confidence to use your voice in the tech community Immerse yourself in developer advocacy techniques Understand and overcome the challenges and obstacles facing developer advocates today Hear predictions from the people at the cutting edge of tech Explore your career options in developer advocacy The book is available for purchase on Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/dp/1789138744/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_9RwQDb9182XNT , or directly from the publishers, Packt Publishing.  

In the movie Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark and Dr Bruce Banner jointly created a powerful artificially intelligent being called Ultron to protect the Earth against all kinds of threats. This was in response to a massive attack on the planet a couple of years previously that left New York City in ruins. Ultron was built to be super-intelligent and extremely powerful, with enough hi-tech weapons to overthrow a small nation. He, or it, was supposed to be the Earth’s ultimate defender. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. After studying the history of the Earth and its current state, Ultron arrived at the logical conclusion that the biggest threat to the Earth’s existence was not some outside alien force, but his own creators: the human race. He saw that throughout history more people were killed by humans than by any other species. Not only that, but the destructive nature of humans extended to other species and to the planet itself. Ultron’s next conclusion was spine-chilling: the only solution was the total annihilation of the human race. This would, in his logic, save the planet and bring about efficiency. He explained his logic to his human creators: “I know you’re good people. I know you mean well. But you just didn’t think it through. There is only one path to peace your extinction.” He then set into motion a grand plan to destroy humankind. The defender became the attacker. Naturally, in the movie, the Avengers saved the day. Although Age of Ultron is fiction, the underlying philosophy is very real: any solution to the world’s problems based on a pure logic will almost undoubtedly point to an uncomfortable fact: we humans are the biggest existential threat to ourselves and the planet. So Ultron was correct: human history is filled with death, destruction and bloodshed. We are essentially our own enemies, and in our recklessness and greed, are damaging the entire planet. It won’t take an artificial intelligence (AI) system long to figure this out. Which naturally makes people wonder: how likely is it that an Ultron-like scenario will take place in the real world? This question has never been more relevant than in current times, when technology is advancing at a breakneck pace and computers are becoming more and more intelligent. The Big Question here is : Should we be worried? Some of the most respected leaders of science and industry, most notably, the late Stephen Hawking, expressed concerns that super-intelligent machines could pose a long-term threat to humanity itself. Stephen Hawking told the BBC not long before his death that “artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race”. Even tech entrepreneur Elon Musk referred to AI as threat Is there any truth to this? Yes. AI certainly has the potential to transform our lives for the better, but if we pursue a reckless path to progress without consideration for the consequences, we’ll undoubtedly build the means of our own destruction. We need to be optimistic of the future, but not naively and recklessly. AI is a relatively new field, and we know very little about its true potential. No one can accurately predict what it will be capable of. There’s a very real danger it could outsmart us and even spiral out of control. A classic example of this is when engineers at Google’s AlphaGo developed an AI system and gave it the ability to learn the game Go. They never dreamed it would teach itself to play the game just by observation. Not only did it learn to play, it mastered the game to the extent that within a couple of years it became good enough to beat the world’s reigning Go champion, Lee Se Dol, and itself become the new world champion. No one thought it this was possible. Food for thought…

Is leaving school at grade 9 the best plan to reduce dropout rates? When Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga recently announced that her department was planning to “formalise” Grade 9 as one of the exit points for school, social media went ablaze with criticisms, with people saying it is likely to worsen a situation that is already critically bad. “We want to know what the Grade 9 certificates will mean to these young people – especially given the fact that even matric certificate holders, as well as some university graduates’ qualifications, are gathering dust. And we also want to know what plans the Department has in place to assist Grade 9 school leavers in upskilling themselves to enter the jobs market.” Democratic Alliance No doubt, the youth unemployment problem has reached crisis proportions. According to Statistics SA, as of the first quarter of 2019, the unemployment rate among the 15-25 age group stood at a shocking 55.2%. As if that is not alarming enough, nearly half of the pupils entering Grade 10 do not make it through matric. Year after year, this pattern repeats itself, adding more young people to the unemployed masses – further aggravating the crippling poverty in this country. Will Minister Motshekga’s plan be the change we need? It is impossible to tell, since we haven’t been given any details yet. This much is certain: In principle, the idea of formalising Grade 9 as an exit point is being seriously considered as a viable alternative in some developed countries like the US to address issues like high learner dropout levels and critical skills shortage. Not all learners are academically inclined, and the current system of channelling everyone through a purely academic system puts the non- academic types at a huge disadvantage. Those who are not academic but might possess other inherent talents – such as creativity, artistic abilities, business acumen or technical prowess – are made to feel inferior because they are unable to compete with their academically inclined counterparts. This is perfectly summed up in a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein: “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Providing alternatives to the academic path and allowing learners to choose one they are inclined to might just be the solution for the country’s youth unemployment, poverty and school dropout problems. However, the key to the success of such a plan is in the implementation; it needs to be a part of a long-term strategic plan, and it cannot be rushed. We should start by taking a close look at the current alternatives to the academic route: the vocational and technical schools. Do they provide quality education? Do they provide skills in sectors that are currently in demand, like technology? Will learners graduate with the requisite skills for employment? Are schools mainstream enough to provide a viable alternative for youth throughout the country? A cursory study of the current status quo shows that our institutes are far from ready. What we need is to turn the existing colleges into centres of excellence and to establish many more around the country where they will become accessible to all learners. A few years ago, this might have been extremely expensive, challenging and time-consuming. The government would need to set up infrastructure and train and hire an army of new teachers to lecture at these facilities. Today, thanks to educational technology, it can be achieved at a fraction of the cost required in the past. There is a general misconception that such technology would be highly complicated and restrictively expensive. For example, inexpensive video streaming has made it possible for a single teacher to simultaneously teach to multiple classrooms. Learners can view the live lecture and interact with the teacher using a live chat like WhatsApp. This alone would transform the learning experience. Students will be drawing from the experience of highly-trained teachers and subject experts from around the country, and possibly from other parts of the world, while sitting at their local colleges. The best part of all is the technical requirements. On the teacher’s side, all that will be required is a computer with a webcam and a fast internet connection; on the learners’ side, they will need a computer with fast internet and a projector. No special software is required. The great thing about streaming services like YouTube, is that they automatically upload the lecture once it is done. This means that learners will have access to the content even after the lecture is complete. In addition to streamed lectures, there is a plethora of valuable learning content available online. Imagine a group of motor mechanics students watching a video of a mechanic taking apart and then putting together an engine, or a group of paramedic students treating a wounded person in virtual reality. Technology will not just enable the minister’s vision, but will enhance it to levels beyond anything possible in a traditional classroom setting.