For thousands of years, humans have recognized patterns, gathered and analyzed data. Identifying patterns and using this information has been key to our evolution, as well as playing an important role in our pastime activities.
Whether it is making a difference between animals that want to kill us and those who don’t, categorizing plants based on their edibility, seeing patterns in the stars, or creating algorithms that know exactly which cat video we want to see next on Youtube. It’s all patterns and data.
Although data and pattern recognition have been around forever, the way we use, store and spread this information has changed drastically.
While at the beginning we had to rely on word-of-mouth and cave drawings to spread knowledge, nowadays we can store and spread trillions of gigabytes of information without much effort.
In 2016, humans collectively created 16.1 ZB (zettabytes) of data. That’s 16.1 trillion gigabytes. According to the International Data Corporation, by the year of 2025, humans will create over 160 ZB of data in one year.
Social media platforms generate millions of status updates every hour; there are over 400 hours of videos uploaded to Youtube every minute, smart-watches can gather information about your heart-rate and your daily activities, smart-fridges know your eating habits and so on.
Humans create A LOT of data, but there’s a major problem with the increasing amounts of data created: we are not able to process and secure all of this information. With our current ability, less than 20% of the data generated will be analyzed by the year of 2025, and less than half of all of the data will be secured.
The main reason behind is that data is inherently inanimate – it only becomes useful when it is used by applications that can process and categorize it. With our current solutions, we’ll, at some point, end up with a landscape littered with information and without sufficient intelligence to handle it all.
Thought Network’s patented solution for this problem
Already in 2018, even the most innovative deep learning techniques which mimic the human brain and create neural networks, still struggle to sift through the world’s information.
Thought Network is an AI and blockchain start-up backed by the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. Thought attacks the problem with the rapidly growing amounts of information by taking the focus away from traditional “big data” and centralized closed artificial intelligence platforms and instead focusing on handling data more effectively.
“Going forward, the current methods will no longer be scalable, adaptable or smart enough to cope with the massive increase of information generated by our society.” Says the founder and CEO of Thought, Professor Andrew Hacker. “Thought solves these challenges by moving artificial intelligence from the application layer to the data layer. At its core, Thought removes the intermediate application and embeds smart logic directly into every bit of data. Now, data is no longer inanimate; it becomes agile, able to act on its own, directly at the source of creation, distribution or action.”
Mr. Hacker’s unique angle on the problem has granted him and his company an US patent (US9454398 B2). His new technology, called “Smart Data," turns traditional solutions of collecting enormous amounts of data inside out.
“We’re proud of Andrew’s accomplishments and are honored to have him as a valuable member of Harrisburg University,” said Dr. Eric Darr, the President of Harrisburg University, which is one of the equity partners of Thought Network. “Mr. Hacker’s patent shows the community that the University supports local people doing great things, and it gives our students a great example of what you can accomplish in the growing field of technology.”
The technology of Smart Data takes ordinary data that would usually need applications to process them to become valuable, and gives this data intelligence on its own. This way information understands where it came from, where it needs to go, and what it needs to do, reducing the need for external applications that would otherwise become bottlenecks for all of this data over time.
The pieces of Smart Data are processed in a widespread Thought Blockchain, allowing them to make decisions and take action based on their own internal logic. In addition, data can communicate and collaborate with other pieces of data. While traditionally this could only be done with the help of applications, Thought reduces the need for these applications by bringing the communication and processing to the data level.
Each piece of Smart Data is individually encrypted by dynamic cryptography, increasing security and allowing value derived from the data to be shared while the original data is protected.
“Being able to secure individual pieces of data is the Holy Grail of cybersecurity.", says Andrew Hacker, who in addition to leading the development of the Thought Network is a cybersecurity expert in residence at Harrisburg University. “In addition, Smart Data can notify its owner if information gets stolen. It's almost like a built-in alarm, which is very appealing to people concerned with cybersecurity.”
Conclusion
Andrew Hacker knows that the technology of Smart Data holds great potential for industries like health care, manufacturing, urban planning, IoT technology and many more. But, developing this new technology is no walk in the park. It requires a highly skillful and dedicated team of developers and business, legal, operations, and marketing people.
“Building something as complicated as Thought takes a team of dedicated folks that drink, sleep and eat code. Unless you have a dedicated and brilliant team behind your project, you’ll never get off the ground.” Says Mr. Hacker, who has a well-versed and experienced team of over 15 industry experts as well as an impressive board of advisors.
“Although building Thought is a complex endeavor, we have moved at an incredible pace towards the completion of the project.” Says Mr. Hacker, whose team is on the home stretch of getting the MVP ready for the launch of their pre-ICO on the 1st of March. “Seeing the collective passion of the team as we knock down obstacle after obstacle on the path to a release is a really amazing thing to witness!"
The whitelist is open with pre-ICO starting on March 1, 2018, and main ICO starting on March 14, 2018. To participate in the Thought ICO, or join their whitelist, please visit: https://thought.live and you are also invited to join their Telegram group on https://t.me/thoughtcommunity