1. INTERVIEW
whatwozand
whatwillbeSteve Wozniak, inventor of the Apple I and II, led the
second day of the 2015 Gartner Symposium and ITXpo in
Dubai with an onstage interview that covered self-driving
cars, the relationship between man and machine, and the
future in a technology-enabled world. Wozniak sat down
with CNME Editor Annie Bricker post-keynote to discuss
the past, present and future of the digital world.
Steve Wozniak
H
ow has your view on the
concept of singularity –
the idea that intelligence
will become increasingly
non-biological and that machines
will begin to “think” like humans -
changed over the years?
When I was first introduced to the
concept of singularity I denied that
it was possible. I said that we would
never be able to make a human
brain as we don’t know how the
brain is wired. Then I was on a panel
with Ray Kurzweil in Vienna. We
discussed his methods on predicting,
based on exponential curves such as
Moore’s Law. These are an accurate
way to predict the future – you don’t
see the change until it happens. At
first things change slowly, and then
all of a sudden it happens. I became a
believer then that machines would, in
fact, achieve that level of consciousness.
I fought the concept at first, but I
eventually became a believer.
24 JUNE 2015 www.cnmeonline.com

2. to do things for us – that is why we
are creating them. The question is
whether or not the machines will
truly serve us forever. If they start
thinking with independent thought,
their main goal will probably become
to build more machines and increase
their own abilities to operate in their
machine world. Eventually they may
forget us. This is such a negative
thought that I hope that they don’t
get smarter than humans. But I don’t
know, I’m not going to be alive when
it happens. Machines still rely on
humans very heavily – to make chips
and mine ore and all the things that
they need to function – it would take a
long time replace all those functions.
You became involved in the
Internet of Things early on with
Wheels of Zeus in 2002. How has
your vision changed since then?
When I first became involved with
the Internet of Things I wasn’t
thinking about it in generalised
terms. I saw that we had embedded
sensors in all kinds of things and
devices, like microwave ovens,
that were doing all sorts of little
independent tasks. My device
would be a tag that could find cars,
briefcases, pets and other items that
got lost. At the time it didn’t involve
the Internet. It failed technically.
Though we were coming up with
clever ideas and approaches, we
failed to meet our costs, size and
power goals. Every day now I think
what can be done to make our
original dream possible.
What makes a “maker”? What do
you look for in a person who has
a vision?
A maker may not have ever been
to university, and may not have a
diploma. But what they have done is
What are the signs that we
are moving toward an era of
singularity?
These days we have things like Siri
and the Watson computer. There
are synapse chips and self-learning
neural network machines. Just by
listening to us and speaking with us
these things are learning a natural
language over time in the same way
a young baby does. This may be
the way the brain actually works.
We are still guessing and fumbling
around when it comes to knowing
how the brain functions, but we are
getting so much closer. Every year I
see signs that we are getting closer.
I’ve mentioned a machine that
learns to play games on its own. The
fact that the machine isn’t taught the
rules of the game, but it still learns
is shocking. The knowledge doesn’t
come from programming, it comes
from looking at life and judging the
way it works in the same way that
we do. I think the machines of the
future are going to be learning as
they go.
You’ve said that humans are
the “house pets” in relation
to technology – what will that
relationship look like moving
forward?
We are building all this great
technology that helps us. For instance
your smartphone is something that
you love and helps you, but the
technology makes me question if
one day we will be the “Gods” or the
“house pets.” What I mean is will it
always help us because it admires
us or will it simply take care of us?
We might get our food, our clothing
and our shelter from them. We may
be taken care of, just like house pets.
I don’t mean this in a bad way. The
machines we are creating are made
figured out what they need to do to
realise their dreams. Those people
are around, the trouble is finding
them. You find a lot of young people
with ideas, but they are all based
on reading the same sources that
we read. The maker is one that has
actually created things on their own
that are so unusual that you never
would have thought a human being
would build it.
How can companies support and
use these makers?
The first thing for a company to do
is to keep the income coming in.
They need to hire regular engineers
and people and keep the product
and marketing strong. On the side,
however, the CEO should have a
little branch of people – makers –
that they have encountered. They
should be working on product ideas
that may not have anything to do
with the company’s original product
now, but might be a whole new
company in the future. The company
has the tools and resources that
builders need. The builders should
be left to build whatever they want,
and if the company sees something
great, then they can own it, at least
in part.
Which trend in technology are
you most excited about?
Self-driving cars – which is really
a type of artificial intelligence.
Also, Oculus Rift and virtual reality
are going to emotionally take us
over when they become smoother.
Right now they require high-level
computers which is a big flaw.
When the technology becomes
portable and mobile it is going to
affect people emotionally, whether
it is for games or utility. It is going
to be huge.
JUNE 2015www.cnmeonline.com 25