History Rules My Tomorrow

By Bernt Erik Bjontegard

A question to ponder: are we as humans pre-programmed to "follow in our father's footsteps?" Is there something inherent in our heritage? Do we repeat what our forefathers and mothers did?

And if so, can we apply these inherited cross-generational learning methods as we invent the next generations of intelligent systems? Rather than creating AI that is artificial and intended to replace human work, can we create intelligent systems that AUGMENT the human's work and support him or her? Can we invent intelligent systems that learn and improve themselves with the mind of creating betterment for all humans as well?
 
Erik Bjontegard left Norway when he was 18 to study in the UK, then moved on to California. Not realizing until later in life, his actions and behavior, his quests for new discoveries, and his desire to invent followed his father and grandfather on his mother's side. Now an accomplished inventor, former NASA rocket scientist, deep sea robotics, and submarine explorer, he is now navigating the new Phygital realms connecting the physical and digital.

In this engaging and inspiring autobiography, Bernt" Erik" Bjontegard narrates his life filled with the stories of his grandparents' sacrifices during WWII, his own mistakes and discoveries, and poses important questions on how to engage the readers and their families to assist in creating and inventing better human-technology interfaces. Learning from his history, he is embarking on the journey to make his tomorrow better than today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bernt Erik Bjontegard
• Release date: Dec 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223239352

Book preview

My Journey — The Past And The Future

Chapter One — From Father To Son, Mother To Daughter

When offered a choice between what is right and what is easy, we must choose right even when it isn’t easy.

Often in life, we may encounter situations in which we must make difficult choices. Taking the easy way out may solve our problems temporarily, but if we want the solution to the problem to be effective in the long run, we may need to make a more difficult choice. Choosing to do the things that are RIGHT or having to do it the RIGHT way may be difficult, but it is always more effective in the long run.

People who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. In present-day use, the above quote supports the idea that history sets the context for the future. 

In many ways, history is a study of ourselves, who we are, and where we come from, which can potentially provide a map of where we are headed. It is important to view things from a historical perspective. It helps us to better understand ourselves and the world around us because if we don’t learn and understand things from a historical point of view, we will repeat past mistakes.

We may all have been born into a planned historical reality governed by specific standards, morals, religions, and governments managed by distinctive commercial and civil structures. This is the truth of our environment, and we all take it for granted, thinking of it as the natural course of business, nothing more or less. We tend to forget that historical events have formed our thinking and beliefs. Our policy-making and societal structures are based on the realities of the past. In many ways, what we take for granted and a law of nature is based on decisions made long before us.

We have inherited everything from our past, from our genetic makeup to the languages we speak, our behavior, cultures, customs, and faiths. As a population, we rarely try to break the chains of the past and imagine a different reality for us. In many ways, the past is already engrained into our core being. We all know the earth is round, but that was not known a few generations back. Those who first proposed this were looked upon as crazy idiots. Now, anyone disputing the earth-is-round is a crazy idiot. There are endless examples, some more evident than the earth-is-round truth.

This is proven by a famous experiment that knowledge can be inherited. A generation of male rats was subjected to low-voltage shocks when a lavender spray was sent into their cages. Not surprisingly, after a while, whenever they smelled lavender, they showed fear, regardless of any electric shocks. No surprise there. But this is when it gets interesting. Those male rats were bred with a series of female rats not exposed to this treatment. Their children all showed the same fear of lavender despite never having had any electric shocks! This was passed along to all their female and male offspring for eight generations (!) until the fear of lavender dissipated.[1]

So, in this instance, it shows that there are some elements that we are born with, a disposition that is carried forward from generation to generation. There was no way to teach the danger of lavender from first-generation male rats to their offspring since the shocks stopped before the 2nd generation was born. Even if there was, certainly not across eight generations!

Anyways, back into the human world. Times have changed and are evolving faster and faster with the distribution of technologies and mobile phones.

Language has evolved over time, and so have the ways people write and express themselves. Now, it is easy for anyone to analyze information from different sources and form their own conclusions. It helps people develop a new vision and cultivate an innovative approach to life. This is all progress, and the world has become a better place because of it.

For some of today's younger generations, history told via traditional books has become old school and thus somewhat boring. It is considered by many of the TikTok-connected world that it is a dull theme and a total waste of time. But there is more to consider if history is more important than comparing reading books versus watching short and funny videos on mobile phones. The question is, What’s so important about history, and why should we study it? History could be reviewed more around learning from yesterday than memorizing dates of battle victories. It should be fun and engaging. There are thousands of movies based on historical events, from treasure hunts to mysteries, from pirates to some of the most incredible adventures of mankind; history is full of some of the most captivating stories ever told. It should not be dull!

So, how can we turn this notion that history is for old folks, told by oldies using old-school notions and tools such as books, into exciting and vital subjects?

We can change this notion by making history interesting for the youth. History can sometimes be told from more than one perspective. There are multiple perspectives and different points of view. It can be a very layered subject and should also be taught. While facts are facts such as dates of an attack in a war, the surrounding history of why the attack happened and the potential long-term results of the attack could be presented with a variety of points of view and angles. We see examples of this today with the conflict in Ukraine. The West sees one version of the event, Russia another. History is being written as we speak; in this situation, its writing is biased by the one writing it. This is a live example of how elements of history are subjective while other elements are facts.

A personal observation here and a confession. I love history, but I have a horrible memory. When my son started playing video games, I was initially trying to monitor it and limit it. But I began to play a bit also, and soon realized that the way WWII was showcased in some games was engaging and had elements of history! And, as you will discover, this interest in WWII that my son got from his videogames started the dialog between him and my grandmother about her heroic actions. He asked her, and she shared for the first time how she was in the middle of battles with the Gestapo and SS! 

I insist on this notion of sharing history so vehemently because our world is progressing extremely fast. Events are constantly challenged and will continue to be, but facts should become even more valuable. Everyone is playing their role in working toward progress and betterment so that we can have a promising future. Unfortunately, in this race to improve our futures, we continuously neglect our past and the mistakes we made then!

Learning about certain events that took place at a certain point in time will encourage people to think critically and raise questions that might be important and helpful. If we can focus on the facts and separate the subjective, hopefully, it will be easier to learn what worked and what didn’t. My hope, in some little way, is that my ideas help others reading this book to think and observe, learn and repeat what works, and stop what doesn’t. 

When we talk about learning and teaching history, it is interesting to note that the first mode through which history was taught and learned was cave paintings.

Archaeologists have discovered and continue to discover cave paintings. Each stone carving tells a story; it depicts a big hunt or a critical battle. It is safe to assume that it was done to preserve lessons that would benefit the next generation. A painting depicting a hunting scene would act as a hunting lesson for the people who would come after them.

After cave paintings, writing was the following form of communication that was developed. The first writing was created to articulate and pass down stories from generation to generation.

The Hieroglyphs (Ancient Egyptian pictorial writing) were used in ancient tombs to depict the life of the deceased and instructions for the afterlife.

Storytelling has a huge influence on technology. It has been shaping the future for centuries, which is why we see storytelling being used increasingly in advertising and marketing.

The printing press was invented to create a new version of the greatest story ever told—The Life of Jesus, the Bible.

From the printing press to the internet and mobile phones, technology was used and created to deliver storytelling and communication of ideas. It was the ability to transfer and communicate ideas and content. Stories drove technological evolutions.

Thus, by using the latest technological advancements and software intelligence, we can build smarter and better interfaces and mechanics that our children will grow old with, but will it enhance the quality of life? Maybe it will, and maybe it won’t! Only time will tell.

Maybe we can leverage that mindset of storytelling and transferring our knowledge from one generation to another. We can build new technologies that enable the transfer of storytelling into a crucial question. Is there something embedded in us that is pre-programmed to carry forward from generation to generation?

The storytelling here should include the lessons learned, what works, and what doesn’t. What were the outcomes, and what went into the decisions to take the actions depicted in the history lessons?

While I have lived a blessed life with success and people in my world, traveled to many places, and experienced things beyond my wildest imagination, I know there is more to this life than worldly goods.

While I have touched many people with my words, technologies, inventions, and activations, I know there is much more to do.

How? Why am I so driven? Why can I not rest and chill on the beach with my lovely Courtney, knowing our kids are healthy, happy, and have turned into amazing human beings? Why is that not enough?

I have a drive, an urge, a calling to do more. I know I am only scratching the surface of what I am meant to do. By sharing my story, I am sharing some of this and hope you may be encouraged to explore new frontiers, too. And this is the fun of all explorations: if you go where no one else has gone before, you really don’t know where you’ll end up! So, as you know by now, I have this very ambitious goal—Is there a way to improve tomorrow based on yesterday? Yes, of course, there is! we will all say. But how? Can we repeat it so it becomes automatic? What if we could access the hidden elements of our core, personality, DNA, soul, intelligence, whatever it may be that is within us, to make tomorrow even better? So, I’m looking to answer such questions as: what is pre-programmed intelligence? Why am I doing what I am doing? Why do I seem destined to follow in my parents’ and forefather’s footsteps? Why this urge? This desire?

This Is My Story

I am an inventor and a recognized visionary, aiming to build the future of intelligent communications. What I do is build technology solutions. The goal is to easily bring real-time, contextually intelligent experiences to people globally. Technology supports us all to live healthier, happier, and longer lives with more wealth, away from sickness and unhealthy environments, danger, and inequity. I like to say that I make Smart things Intelligent based on contextual intelligence.

You may ask what contextual intelligence is and why should you care?

At its core, it is the ability to understand our context, who are we, what are we doing, where are we, what time and date it is, what is of interest to us, who else is there, and what else is around us? The system will then adapt that knowledge to control communication with us in the real environment. Through our understanding of NOW and HERE, with knowledge of WHO and the PAST of the WHO, the LOCATION and the ACTIVITY of the WHO, THERE and THEN, I have invented and developed a new type of technology that can do this, and have called it Spark Compass®—a Contextually Intelligent Communications™ platform for platforms. This is deployed and has driven remarkable results for healthcare, senior care, as well as operations of venues such as airports and convention centers, to improve fan experiences at sports venues and tournaments to improve in supporting the environment and growing crops and the care of the elderly in their own home.

When referring to context, we’re referring to a specific person’s current location, surroundings, activities, and, of course, time and day. Suppose you then add information such as the interaction history of the individual, all other aspects of the person’s past likes and dislikes, and the current situation the person is in. You then make this information available in a controlled system to someone offering a service to that person. It will result in creating more valuable communication with that person. Hence, having prior knowledge about customers, what they’re looking for, and what they’ve already spoken to someone else about can result in better and faster service. This is just one example where a person’s current context and knowledge of this person’s history around likes and dislikes can become very beneficial.

Contextually intelligent systems help businesses provide their team members with relevant information about their customer interaction, including their customer’s demographic data and interaction history. In short, it consists of all aspects of the customer journey. The more a business has contextual awareness, the easier it is to provide better, faster, and more relevant service to its customers. Contextually intelligent systems ultimately contribute to superior experiences. As described, this is how many online retailers serve up recommendations and ads when browsing. But in my invention, we are talking about interactions in the physical world. For example, when you are in line to buy a beer at a baseball game on a hot summer night or go into a grocery store, an airport, or even the hospital, knowledge of your complete context will help those who serve you. It is MUCH more than just sending ads or capturing data from uninformed people against their will. This is about enhancing and improving their lives at work and play, recovery, learning, and storytelling.

Powered by this contextual intelligence, AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools continue to evolve to provide better service and more relevant content and unlock better experiences. However, given the importance of the future, the question arises: is it possible to predict what will happen next? 

Artificial Intelligence is currently based on algorithms used to train the model. This machine learning is going through fast evolutions, with better and better ML (Machine Learning) used on more and more data. However, it is all based on the data. The old saying "Garbage In = Garbage Out" applies more than ever. There are numerous examples of how the training of the models has and continues to influence the outcomes in unintended ways. We will explore these later.

So, this may all sound very Big Brother and paint a 1984 Orwellian bleak future. Of course, as all technology can, this, too, can be used for bad things. Many of today’s tools we take for granted and our lives depend on are also dangerous. From cars, which kill more people than cancer, to mobile phones and social media, which are used to communicate by thieves and terrorists, to social media that is used and blocked by dictatorial governments, to surveillance and control massive amounts of people, technologies can be used by those wishing harm, applying suppression and those driven by greed for personal gains against others. And can kill.

My goal is to build technology with the intelligence to limit and/or eliminate such behavior where it enhances and supports rather than captures and suppresses.[2]This should be the natural goal of invention and something obvious. But not many have addressed this definition beyond the Law of Robots called the Zeroth Law, which commands that A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. A car would not pass this law. Nor would a mobile phone by the way it can be used. Can we make the AI of the future pass this law?

AI-Driven Discrimination

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has enabled machines to learn from tests& trials, fine-tune new inputs, and execute human-like chores. These are done by teaching the systems with learning algorithms; showcasing what a dog looks like in millions of photos will enable the machine to recognize dogs in videos. However, it can also have unintended results. Discriminatory effects can result when AI systems learn from biased human input decisions, even if unintentional. For instance, when employers try to simply mechanize and duplicate their past hiring practices into an AI algorithm, their systems are embedded with teaching from the past. Past successful hiring processes will be used as the teaching tool and repeat this since it was successful before. Some unintentional tendencies can, therefore, inadvertently be transferred. Previous successful candidates could be mostly males of a certain height, age, or race, which can be included in the learning. This will teach the AI to seek the same candidates. Even innocent teachings from companies located in certain parts of the world using successful candidates would make the system think those of that specific local race are more likely to be successful because there are so few other races in those locations. So, simple mistakes and unintended consequences can taint how the system selects and finds the prime candidates. So rather than hiring based on an extensive analysis of job-related criteria, this can propagate and further extend the historical bias.

The danger with this is that many AI-based hiring systems attempt to quickly filter through online applicants by using chatbots, résumé-screening tools, online assessments, web games, and video interviews. Employers may soon not dispute nor challenge computerized conclusions since AI conveys a perception of objectivity and scientific analysis.[3]

Similarly, government agencies already utilize AI for predictive policing or determining eligibility for pension payments, housing aid, or unemployment benefits. Banks already utilize AI to determine whether or not to lend to a particular customer based on credit score and other AI analyses to set their interest rates.

Most modern Western communities have concerns about preventing unfair treatment of individuals based on race, gender, or ethnicity. Detecting such prejudice due to decisions made by automated AI systems, on the other hand, can be extremely difficult.

However, returning to human decision-making is not the only answer to these concerns. Computers are helpful and can easily be taught to perform specific tasks by analyzing enormous volumes of data and recognizing patterns. They are powerful tools when used correctly.

Nondiscrimination and data protection laws are the most important legal tools for mitigating the risks of AI-driven discrimination. If properly used, these legal measures could aid in the fight against unintentional discrimination.

Based on the concept of cause and action, a group of researchers from Penn State and Columbia University has developed an AI tool for identifying discrimination based on protected features, such as race or gender, by human decision-makers or AI systems. This tool can assist in ensuring that such systems do not serve as tools of discrimination, impediments to equality, threats to social justice, or sources of inequity.

For example, if a tech organization predominantly has developer employees from India, the AI tool would be trained on the data primarily consisting of employees from India with darker skin tones. Therefore, while hiring employees, the organization could select dark-skinned candidates and exclude white or black candidates based on their online profile photos. This would then lead to unintended discrimination as the company could select prospects based on race and thereby omit merit or qualifications as the first selection gate. Naturally, this is not anyone’s intention, neither the programmers of the AI nor the interviewers or those installing or using the program. It would be an extension of a program that searches candidates’ online profiles and compares all aspects of these to the profiles of those the AI program is successful for the company developers from India. No harm was ever intended, and no discrimination was envisioned against whites or blacks; the program was trained to find people matching successful profiles. Similarly, if a company never hired a woman for a particular job, the AI tool will unintentionally be trained not to hire a female. It is specifically to avoid situations such as this that AI tools used to identify discrimination come into play.

One way to further assure justice and equity in recruiting algorithms and AI is to bring other subject matter experts into the AI training process. Professional experts, from lawyers to large employers, big tech developers, and computer and data scientists, are natural, but also critical are human behavior specialists, industrial and organizational psychologists, and other social scientists. When all have the chance to offer input and review beyond the typical geek AI programmer, we can spread the risk of bias. In the early days of AI programming, the typical AI developer was male, between mid-20s to high 30s, college educated with a high income. His view of the world is naturally limited. His knowledge and sphere of influence will also be limited. Bringing in experts from different disciplines, backgrounds, ages, genders, religions, and other countries should be a requirement—a must-have in my mind, before finalizing any AI and ML (Machine Learning) codes.

The fact that AI learns from data is one of its primary constraints. That means that any data inaccuracies will be reflected in the teachings of its code. Additionally, any additional prediction or analytic layers can be tainted as well. This is nothing new or unique to AI; if you use swear words around a toddler, the toddler will likely pick some up and use them. You probably have seen some of these events on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok videos. It's funny in many ways and makes me laugh every time I see it, but again, it’s garbage in and garbage out.

Luckily, most of today’s AI projects rely on various data science technologies. Thus, combining different AI techniques to achieve the best result is called composite AI. Companies implementing these analytic tools quickly can gain a competitive edge in their digital transformation.

And the future of AI isn’t the crude teaching methods used before. Now, an integrated method of neural programming with symbolic methods, such as crude teaching models, seems likely to become the future of AI. More on this later.

Chapter Two — AI: Is It Artificial Or Augmented Intelligence?

One of the aspects I am working on and starting to ask many questions about is the notion that AI (Artificial Intelligence) is just that it is artificial. It is intended to replace other intelligence, i.e., the human component of the equation. I am calling my invention a Contextually Intelligent Communication solution. It is not intended to replace anyone. Rather, it complements and enables an operator or multiple operators to perform better and do more with less effort. They will have more knowledge, and the system can be automatic. So, my solutions are what I call Augmented Intelligence, a tool to support the intelligence of us humans rather than replace us with Artificial Intelligence.

Difference Between Artificial and Augmented Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence and augmented intelligence share the same objective but differ in their approaches. The former takes on a human-replacement approach, while the latter maintains the human aspect. In the typical sense, AI refers to Artificial Intelligence, not what I call Augmented Intelligence. Hereafter, when I mention AI, it refers to Artificial Intelligence, and I will spell out Augmented Intelligence so it’s easier to distinguish the two.

AI is