Check out the above video. The hive mind will see you now.

In his post “The fourth cycle of the hive mind (and what to do about it)” Seth Godin explores how advances in computers are changing our world.

The first three of his revolutionary cycles are well established, the fourth is now arriving. Cycles one through three introduced calculation and data storage, connection, and shifting place and time.

Above all, Seth’s fourth cycle adds prediction.

“Call it AI if you want to, but to be specific, it’s a combination of analyzing information and then predicting what we would do if we knew what the computer knew.

…we’re giving those computers the ability to make predictions based on what thousands of people before us have done.

…If you’re a mediocre lawyer or doctor, your job is now in serious jeopardy. The combination of all four of these cycles means that the hive computer is going to do your job better than you can, soon.

With each cycle, the old cycles continue to increase. Better databases, better arithmetic. Better connectivity, more people submitting more data, less emphasis on where you are and more on what you’re connected to and what you’re doing.

…just as we made a massive leap in just fifteen years, the next leap will take less than ten. Because each cycle supports the next one.”

In an earlier post, I wrote about how neural networks can now quickly learn to do certain tasks better than humans with no external examples, only the rules that govern the task environment.

Seth points out that when we supply computers with the huge, rapidly growing databases of human behavior, the fourth cycle becomes even more capable.

In conclusion, Seth ends with:

“Welcome to the fourth cycle. The hive will see you now.“

Attributions: Clip of AI HR interview and poster image