{"id":585,"date":"2018-01-12T01:20:40","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T22:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kusuaks7\/?p=190"},"modified":"2025-04-23T07:50:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T07:50:14","slug":"to-serve-man-the-internet-of-things-and-analytics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/iot\/to-serve-man-the-internet-of-things-and-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"To serve man: The internet of things and analytics"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReady to learn Internet of Things? Browse courses<\/a>\u00a0like\u00a0Internet of Things (IoT) Training<\/a> developed by industry thought leaders and Experfy in Harvard Innovation Lab.<\/em><\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe title of this article refers to a classic episode of the old TV series\u00a0The Twilight Zone<\/a><\/em>, wherein advanced creatures from outer space establish contact with Earth and we misinterpret the meaning of an alien text titled, \u201cTo Serve Man.\u201d Earthlings think the aliens have come to assist our civilization\u2019s development, but they\u2019ve actually come to put us on their menu.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhile I\u2019m not suggesting that our technology is growing an appetite for human flesh, it can sometimes feel like we are the cattle and our \u201csmart\u201d stuff is running the ranch. It\u2019s one of the reasons why doomsayer prognostications about the\u00a0destruction of mankind<\/a>\u00a0at the feet of robot overlords resonate with the masses.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJust consider how connected technology typically functions right now. Even though we\u2019ve developed a lot of cool networks and gadgets and apps, it\u2019s certainly not all sunshine and roses in our IoT-enabled world\u2026\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn theory, you can wake up and simply ask your personal digital assistant to give you the weather report and the headlines first thing in the morning, and tell it to lock up the house and turn off the lights on your way out the door. Then real-time traffic mapping software in the interactive dashboard of your car will guide you along the best route to the office (if you still travel to an office), where you can settle into your wireless workstation to peruse digestible data visualizations on the state of your business function and address pre-prioritized systems-recommended actions while tapping out a few witticisms for the old Twitter feed.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAll the technology in that description is now widely available, but it certainly doesn\u2019t yet function quite so seamlessly for any human being I know. For context, take a moment (or an hour) to count how many applications and\u00a0interfaces<\/a>\u00a0and platforms and logins and authorizations you personally have to manage even if you\u2019re not engaged in a highly technical profession or pursuit. There\u2019s still far too much user labor involved in getting technology to do what humans want it to do.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnd herein lies the crux of why analytics is so essential in IoT evolution. As computer science legend Edsger Dijkstra once said, \u201cSimplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it.\u201d Analytics is the science of training our technology to perform some of that hard work so that we can more easily access the virtue. Under a broad umbrella that covers\u00a0AI, machine learning<\/a>, complex event processing, anomaly detection, real-time automation and the like \u2014 analytics is the tool for improving our IoT tools; it\u2019s what makes our technology better at serving us.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe complexity of IoT grows exponentially each day. Our machines all have their own languages and specifications and idiosyncrasies, and we are called upon to be the great arbitrators of all those voices: thousands upon thousands of tiny devices relaying millions upon millions of tiny packets of information. But human beings don\u2019t really care about billions of discreet blips of data, nor can we possibly ingest them all in their raw state. What we want is the insight they collectively supply and we want it relayed simply. The technology that allows us to connect our cars, talk to our speakers, run data-driven businesses \u2026 This is what constitutes the internet of things. But the value of it all is determined by the human. How am I more connected, delighted, productive? It\u2019s not about a single network, application, device or chip. It\u2019s about all of it together, putting intelligence everywhere, palatable for human consumption. The\u00a0purpose of analytics<\/a>\u00a0is to digest data, translate it to insight and streamline the process by which we interact with our applications and devices universally to save us money, time and resources \u2014 and continually improve upon the human experience of how that interaction occurs.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAs we continue to unlock our technology\u2019s ability to do amazing things, we must continually strive to get those amazing things done right, automatically \u2014 or at least with less friction lest we become, as Thoreau admonished, tools of our tools. Analytics is how we train our technology to aid in this function.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt is what will save us from being figuratively devoured by our own technology and realize the purpose behind all of our \u201cthings.\u201d They are supposed to serve humanity, not the other way around.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOriginally published on TechTarget<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ready to learn Internet of Things? Browse courses\u00a0like\u00a0Internet of Things (IoT) Training developed by industry thought leaders and Experfy in Harvard Innovation Lab.The title of this article refers to a classic episode of the old TV series\u00a0The Twilight Zone, wherein advanced creatures from outer space establish contact with Earth and we misinterpret the meaning of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":3229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[93],"ppma_author":[1699],"class_list":["post-585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iot","tag-internet-of-things"],"authors":[{"term_id":1699,"user_id":168,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jim-hunter","display_name":"Jim Hunter","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Hunter","first_name":"Jim","job_title":"","description":"Jim Hunter is the chief scientist and technology evangelist for Greenwave Systems<\/a>, a leading international provider of IoT software and services. He is responsible for oversight of technology, architecture, and innovation of the company's award-winning AXON Platform. He is a highly regarded IoT educator and inventor, having created and patented several technologies that played a major role in driving the smart, connected future."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37707,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions\/37707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}