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Over the last year we’ve witnessed
the rise of a concept that centres on
the relationship between technology
and humans and the way in which this
impacts our daily lives. We call this
concept Augmented Humanity. So,
what do we actually mean by this
Augmented Humanity is what happens
when humans work in harmony with
technology and machine intelligence
to expand and enrich life, helping us to
experience more and in deeper ways, to
make better decisions and to fulfl our
potential as humans.
More and more, intelligent machines
are dramatically transforming how
we imagine our relationship with
technology. The dramatic speed of
development in areas such as AI and
machine learning means that the master
and servant relationship is shifting and
we’re increasingly moving to a point
where we as humans work in harmony
with the technology that surrounds us.
Augmented Humanity
This has impacts on everything from
how we work and play, to how we
experience art, to how we travel, shop,
spend our leisure time and engage
with our favourite brands. Crucially it
also has major implications on the time
we spend on repetitive manual tasks
that can be automated, optimised or
digitised.
These changes fundamentally impact
key aspects of our existence. As a
result we believe that this state of
Augmented Humanity is another key
stage in our evolution as humans.
We see this development as a
potentially hugely positive step for
humankind. But we acknowledge that
there are potential risks – some of
which we’re already beginning to see in
our daily lives, played out in the current
political climate and the emergence
of a backlash against technology
companies. After all, technology
amplifes the good – and the bad.
Throughout this report we aim to
highlight the benefts that technology
brings to our lives, but we won’t shy
away from the challenges.
We’ll explain why we believe that this
is an important moment in human
history, outline some of the myriad
opportunities that these developments
open up and shine a light on some
of the challenges posed by these
developments. Crucially we’ll also
highlight why businesses can’t aford
to close their eyes to change and we’ll
ofer advice on navigating this new
landscape in order to beneft in the
future.
“2018 has been another year of
enormous, constant change. With major
developments in areas like voice
technology, unattended retail, extended
reality, artifcial intelligence and machine
learning, our world continues to evolve.
Technology today plays a key role in
driving relevance, scale, and elevating
human experiences. The changes we’re
seeing have the potential to transform
fundamental aspects of our human
existence, helping us to live better lives.
It is our job to harness its wonderful
power and potential for businesses and
brands, in serving people better.
Our 2019 trends report shines a light
on key themes for the coming year –
and highlights the role that businesses
and brands can play in the age of
Augmented Humanity.”
– Jean Lin, Isobar Global CEO
3Augmented Humanity
Digital as a force for good
While the digital economy has driven growth and
brought benefts to many, technological change
also brings major challenges. As part of Dentsu
Aegis Network’s Digital Society Index Report from
earlier this year, 20,000 people from around the
world were surveyed to determine their openness to
technological change. The report found that just 45%
of respondents believe that digital will be a force for
good. A further 57% of people believe that the pace of
technological change is too fast.
Digging further into the stats revealed intriguing
diferences by country. China emerged as the most
optimistic country with 73% seeing digital as a force
for good - perhaps explaining why the country leads
much of the major advances in this area. The US on
the other hand was more cautious, coming joint 6th on
41%. The UK fnished in 8th on 40%.
Overall, the report concluded that while people are
generally confdent that the positive impacts of digital
technology will outweigh the negative over the next
fve to 10 years (65%), when it comes to the more
specifc measures of its ability to create future jobs
(29%) and to address societal challenges such as
poverty, health risks, or environmental degradation
(42%), people are more pessimistic.1
The context for change
If we look back 60 years and consider
where we thought we’d be in 2019,
it was a widely held belief that by
this stage robots would now be
rolling around our houses doing the
housework and releasing us from
domestic drudgery. Like the Jetsons.
But that didn’t happen.
Instead, it’s become obvious that a
large, multi-purpose robot isn’t as
efective as taking the components that
make a robot useful and incorporating
them into our own lives.
The features that those robots would
have ofered now become part of our
indoor environments or integrated
into everyday things. And so, instead
of a single machine that does many
things, we have many machines that
each carry out small tasks, essentially
turning our environments into their own
connected ecosystems.
This modular, mix and match approach
is much more appropriate for humans
with very individual needs and demands
– rather than a one size fts all solution.
This approach now means that as
a species we’re living in a state of
Augmented Humanity where technology
scales our most human attributes –
both good and bad.
As a result we now have faster access
to information that can help inform our
decisions. More and more, technology
also enhances our life experiences and
allows us to interact and engage in
ways we didn’t know were possible. In
the right hands, technology increases
our capacity as humans – and indeed
has the potential to redefne what it
means to be human.The evolving interface
How the intersection between humans
and technology is changing.
The human algorithm
How data can help us to better
understand ourselves and enable
better decisions.
The fuid vs the collective self
How the digital world enhances
personal and collective experiences.
The trust paradox
How technology can help – or hinder –
our understanding of the increasingly
complex world around us.
The transformed experience
How Augmented Humanity enables
us to feel and experience the world
diferently and in deeper ways.
Our fve themes for
2019
We will be exploring fve key themes
which we believe demonstrate how
the relationship between humanity
and technology is evolving. Each of
these has implications for businesses
and brands in the coming months and
years.
In each chapter we’ll cover evolving
trends and developments alongside key
learnings for businesses and brands
– and showcase some of the best
examples of these trends.
Augmented Humanity。