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Hello, and welcome to the HORIZON weekly newsletter. Particularly warm greetings to our many new subscribers - please do forward this on to colleagues and connections in your network who would also enjoy the insights.
Below you will find some hand-picked fresh thought-leadership content, giving you an overview of recent developments, topical innovations, and what we're seeing and hearing out there towards the digital frontier.
Thank you for reading and being a part of the HORIZON community.
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Recent articles
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Schrödinger’s AI.
Everywhere and nowhere all at once is where we currently are with the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Austrian theoretical physicist Erwin Schrödinger developed many of fundamental results in quantum theory.
He is perhaps best known in common parlance for his enduring 1935 "Schrödinger’s cat" paradoxical thought experiment (designed after extensive correspondence with Albert Einstein).
Central to his scientific legacy, this hypothesis is designed to shine a spotlight on the difficulty with interpreting quantum theory.
In a nutshell the thought experiment centres around a hypothetical cat in a closed box whose fate is linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur.
Said cat may thus be considered to be simultaneously both alive and dead while it is unobserved...
Millions of individuals around the world are already actively enjoying some of the positive benefits of consumer AI services: to be more creative in their work, or even to lean on during times of personal angst.
Yet many company Boards, in such a current time of broad uncertainty, are actively questioning the state of their corporate AI initiatives today.
The majority of organisations have invested significant sums - often with the help of expensive third-party external tech partners - into AI projects, aiming to not be left behind.
Even if your firm has not yet achieved intended top-line growth or desired bottom-line profitability increases via AI innovation, take solace that your competitors are almost certainly also in the same boat right now.
A cheery conversational customer chatbot will demonstrably not move the profitability needle.
The fact is that despite countless columns, chirpy consultants, and chintzy conferences, companies are simply not realising tangible value from AI.
At least not yet.
AI in and of itself isn't bad; like every tech it naturally has limits.
Senior leaders searching for applicable use cases must ditch the short-term lens of over-hyped promise, instead taking a strategic view (centred on high-quality data) of how AI can accelerate or amplify key business levers.
History proves, per Amara's Law, that we tend to overestimate the effect of technology in the short run, and underestimate the effect in the long run.
An interpretation of Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment is that everything is possible, theoretically, until an outcome is observed or measured.
In that spirit: the future is not something that just happens to us, the future is something that we do.
Future Horizon remains optimistic that AI will - in time, long-term - form an important part of the digital fabric and landscape of tomorrow.
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Well, that's sobering...
A tiny mosquito micro-drone for military and surveillance applications.
Biomimicry is the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modelled on biological processes or entities; drones that employ flapping wings taking inspiration from nature are called ornithopters.
Whilst some things get larger with every new generation - such as cars, or people - there are just as many items getting iteratively smaller; examples include advanced high-end microchips, and also drones.
This picture is a screen-grab from a recent video posted on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
The drone was developed by a robotics laboratory at the National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) in central China's Hunan province.
Roughly 1.3cm in size, the prototype appears to have two small wings with leaflike structures on either side to provide lift, along with three hair-thin "legs" for stability once landed.
A compact handheld device such as a smartphone is for now all that's needed for control (no doubt a hardened, fully autonomous, swarm-enabled version is the ultimate goal).
Being so small, the creators believe such a drone is nearly impossible to detect (at least with the human eye), making it ideal for clandestine activities such as reconnaissance.
It could even be used for targeted assassination, using either blunt-force means or small amounts of explosive.
Nowhere to hide.
However, such tiny robotic dimensions also bring practical drawbacks: microdrones have limited battery life, payload, and range - plus are susceptible to wind and adverse weather.
Slightly larger mini-drones, approximately palm-sized, are in widespread use already for tactical armed forces tasks such as scouting out a target building in advance of personnel being put in harms way of the enemy within.
Previous post on military drones: https://lnkd.in/gxwRtkxS
More broadly, we are now close to the zenith of the "Made in China 2025" plan, a national strategic plan and industrial policy to further develop the manufacturing sector, announced back in 2015.
Research from Bloomberg last year concluded that the initiative, designed to secure China's leadership in emerging technologies, has been "largely a success".
China has largely succeeded in reducing import dependencies, local firms have gained domestic market share at the expense of established foreign companies, and in some high-tech domains PRC firms are globally competitive (if not outright leaders).
On top of this are the New Productive Forces announced in 2023; an economic model for China to "lead the development of strategic emerging industries and future industries" via innovation in advanced sectors.
As stated before, the 21st Century is and will be the Asian century.
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Brad Pitt creating a buzz with pleasurable consumer device vibrations.
An innovative form of experiential marketing is now available when enjoying the trailer for the new motorsport movie "F1" on Apple devices.
It's not just about seeing and hearing, but feeling it immersively in 4D - via haptics.
As well as significant events such as a high-revving engine whilst the car is on track at speed, the haptics exert subtle pressure as gears are changed and responsive vibrations denote curbs being rumbled over.
Film trailers were conceived in 1913, and though they have migrated from cinema screens to now be accessible on a much wider variety of digital devices they have remained largely static in form factor till now.
Today trailers are the first touch point to engage potential fans, and this novel addition delivers an extra sensory layer to surprise and delight whilst storytelling.
The enhanced teaser concept is an exclusive bonus for Apple mobiles; fans without will not be able to experience vibrations pulsing through their hands whilst being stimulated by the Hollywood heart throb.
Another example of how creative arts and tech are combining ever-closer to provide multi-sensory entertainment experiences to engage audiences; we'll likely see this become a marketing staple in the near future (especially for audio-visual advertising shorts).
Due to be released globally starting this week, the new flick has been created with the full support of the real-life Formula 1.
To try it for yourself you must have an iPhone with at least iOS 18.4; access it via the Apple TV app.
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Thank-you for reading and being part of our community - we trust you find these original pieces on frontier technology and digital innovation useful, valuable, and thought-provoking as we bridge the gap between today and what future tech might bring tomorrow in Plain English.
When you're ready, contact us to discuss how we can deliver independent, objective, and unbiased strategic foresight around the implications of emerging technologies for your organisation -
https://www.futurehorizon.digital/
Think bold.
Think broad.
Think beyond.
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