QuHarrison Terry
I work at Redox, a startup in Madison, WI that provides the modern API for healthcare. I try to look at where we are currently with technology and tell the world where we’re going. I write my Quick Theories here, send out a popular weekly newsletter, and think nerdy on Twitter.
No matter how you choose to spend your time on Earth, you will inherently leave behind a legacy. This includes what you’ve created that you will pass along (wealth, assets, knowledge) and what you stood for or represented while you were alive (strong work ethic, humility, etc…). Leaving some sort of legacy to friends and family is partly what makes life worth living.
However, how do the new digital environments which we spend a large amount of our time fit into our legacies? How will one’s Digital Legacy live on?
Leaving a Digital Legacy
Back in October of 2016, I published an article on LinkedIn that spurred someone to comment some hateful things – cursing me out and telling me to stop writing.
I’ve got thick skin so it didn’t bother me. But, it was so uncharacteristic of an executive on LinkedIn (the world’s professional platform) that it got me thinking.
Every action on public platforms contributes to our Digital Legacy. These actions are recorded and archived.
Future kids and grandkids are going to be tech-savvy at a level we may not comprehend right now. A regular Tuesday night might be scraping their grandpa’s Twitter account for all his public Tweets – seeing how he spent his years online.
Tell me, how will that grandparent explain to his grandkid the time he called someone on YouTube a “fat bucket of fried chicken”?
Those precious, “gather round” story-time moments that grandchildren share with their grandparents are soon going to include the actions we take in digital environments.
My grandpa was a fairly secretive man. The few moments that someone got him to open up about his past, we all got quiet and listened because we knew there was a great story coming.
Today, digital environments record many of these great stories for us. Vacations, activities, and everyday pictures are logged on Instagram. Visual conversations are logged on Snapchat. Raw emotions are logged on Twitter rants.
The beauty of a Digital Legacy is that it’s extremely transparent. And also acts as a time capsule.
From here on out, digital environments will provide a lot of clarity to the identity of a person’s life. But, there’s more to a Digital Legacy than stories.
Inheriting a Digital Estate
Over a lifetime, we accumulate “things” and “stuff”. Some of it valuable, some useless, and some priceless. Increasingly, more of these accumulated assets are becoming digital.
You might have dozens of email, social media, and other accounts, a few digital content subscriptions (Netflix, Apple Music, etc.), and hundreds of personal media files (pictures and videos).
These are assets you may want to pass along to family or friends.
For me, I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars building a massive archive of digital music, ebooks, and online movies. No different than a box of records, a shelf of books, and a cabinet of DVDs – I want my Digital Estate to be passed along and enjoyed by others once I pass away.
Unfortunately, there aren’t simple ways of doing so. One proposed law, the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (FADA) aims to make digital asset transfer legal. But, it’s far from being passed.
Additionally, considering a Last Will & Testament eventually becomes publicly available, the last thing you want to do is bequeath your passwords over this public document.
Some of the larger online entities (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) provide options for people to memorialize the accounts of the deceased. But, it’s somewhat of an arduous process and mostly prevents others from taking over the account.
Also, this doesn’t account for the thousands or millions of other accounts out there that don’t have these options.
Nonetheless, we can agree that our loved ones’ digital assets shouldn’t pass away with them. Preserving social media accounts and other services is a way of preserving great memories.
As we accumulate more digital assets, the need for Digital Estate management will grow. We can expect to see services pop up in the coming decade that makes the process of Digital Inheritance easier.
The Collective Legacy
One of the highest behavioral motivators is wanting to be remembered, to make a lasting accomplishment in the name of society. It’s partially what fuels innovation and economy.
But, it is far from foolproof. And one of the greatest creatives of our time, Kanye West, brings up some very interesting questions:
“What makes us be so selfish and prideful… what keeps us from wanting to help the next man? What makes us be so focused on a personal legacy as opposed to the entire legacy of a race?”
The pride we take in wanting a legacy for our name often forces us to forget about the person standing next to us.
I’m a firm believer that dedicating your time to the goals of others pays huge returns for your own missions… As long as you aren’t helping others to help yourself.
Balance the time you invest in building your legacy and the collective legacy of our race because they are equally important to leading a fulfilling life.
I’ve talked previously about brain-computer interfaces and how we could use them to replace the current way of accessing the Internet – discovering new information with a simple thought.
The one place you have complete control and safety from the outside world may be under siege. From mind-readers to detectives to your everyday conversation, people have tried to gain access to other people’s thoughts and get in other people’s heads for a long time.
At face value, you might see Facebook as a social media tool turned advertising platform. Which is why the world was shocked to find out Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to harvest the data of over 50 million of their users.
Often times we take the status quo to be the standard of our actions. Fearing the consequences, we stick to this belief.
If I were to ask you right now to recall a memory, you might scramble for a minute or two and finally land on a recent trip or party.
An ugly issue exists in workplaces worldwide that is undermining people’s ability to be positive and productive at work. I’m referring to workplace harassment.
As I sat down to write this Quick Theories at a coffee shop, I accepted their WiFi’s Privacy Policy, without fully knowing what was written in the fine print.
Growing up, you probably had a set of chores your parent(s) expected you to finish every day or week. Some chores paid an allowance while others didn’t.
We all have varying mixes of IQ and EQ – academic intelligence and emotional intelligence. For many years, scholars and “people-persons” have debated which is a better indicator of success in life.
We flock to concert venues and sports arenas to watch something magical happen on stage or on the field. But, the real magic is in the stands.
For the past 10-20 years, we’ve uploaded our identities to the internet without a second thought. Every day, we upload over 1.2 billion photos to Google Photos, tweet over 500 million thoughts on Twitter, send over 3 billion snaps on Snapchat, and watch over 5 billion YouTube videos.
Amazon has flourished by making it extremely easy for their customers to give them money. So much so, that over 90 million Americans are Amazon Prime members.
If you haven’t heard anything about Bitcoin the past couple months then it’s possible you are living under a rock. Cryptocurrencies have taken the world by storm making a run at a becoming a widely used currency for exchanging goods and services.
Perhaps the most frustrating part about owning technology is needing to upgrade that technology every four or five years. Many of us dread the process of transitioning old files to a new device.
We need privacy to balance our public, digital lives. I can’t go anywhere without noticing a camera staring me in the face.
The world around us is heavily impacted by technology from the cars we drive to the infrastructure of society. Yet, most of us rarely think about advancing one fundamental area of life: our garments.
Planes, trains, and automobiles. The three modes of transportation we’ve all used for the past hundred years. But, there’s a new form of travel being added to that roster, the Air Taxi.
It’s not hard to imagine the Earth before humans, but we struggle to imagine what the Earth looks like after humans.
We’d all like to think we know what a “lying face” looks like. Realistically, most of us can’t remember a face, let alone understand all the secrets a face hides.
The iPhone (and the smartphone in general) is on track to becoming the most versatile tool at your doctor’s disposal. The iPhone Doctor is a movement that brings diagnosis and treatment apps to smartphones, making the job of a Digital Doctor much more seamless.
The largest organ of our body, our skin, might become the newest technology interface. Digital tattoos fused with circuitry can be applied to the skin to replace your TV remote and other devices.
There are a plethora of problems we encounter that require audible communication. And when there isn’t someone around we trust to confide in, digital therapy and the computer therapist may soon be there to help.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a misleading term. It sounds like it parallels human intelligence, except faster, all-knowing, and non-forgetting. But, this just isn’t what it means when people attach the term to their innovation.
Some people are born with “the eye”, “the taste”, or “the ear”. Their bodies are more accustomed to a certain sense.
Video storytelling is getting repetitive. Many of the movies today are clearly spinoffs of the movies from our youth. Which is why the future of cinema may hold a new form of interactive video experience where viewers have the control to switch between different perspectives, thus altering the narrative.
There comes a time when every elderly person needs someone to help with chores and errands. While it’s nice to have family there, this isn’t always sustainable for their loved ones.
The planet must produce more food in the next four decades than all farmers in history have harvested over the past 8,000 years.
We can all agree that the legal system is out-of-date and at times very crooked. It’s a system that benefits the wealthy and powerful, while leaving little hope for those with minimal resources.
There really aren’t any professions completely safe from automation or Artificial Intelligence. Most visionaries will advise you to become resilient, moldable, and creative to ensure a job in the future of work.
Whether you like it or not, there’s a digital shadow that follows you everywhere. This digital shadow knows your behaviors, your intentions, your identity.
Creativity starts in our memories. In relating two unrelated memories, something completely new is born. With that in mind, you’d think that computers would be brilliant creatives, since they have seemingly limitless memories.
It’s hard to know the true power of something until it has exercised that power. But, when it comes to Facebook…well, I don’t think there’s ever been anything so frighteningly powerful on Earth.
From dawn til dusk, we negotiate. We negotiate with friends over what to eat. We negotiate our opinions at work. In a way, I had to negotiate to entice you to read this article.
We all want to be our best possible selves. And to do this we must push past our body’s limitations. At the root of these limitations is the brain – a complex organ that creates narratives of self-doubt and procrastination.
Have you ever heard something so absurdly crazy that you get that clenching knot in your stomach, fearing it’s actually true?
Families and friends don’t get together to watch their favorite shows like they used to. In fact, the Future of TV seems like it’ll be a one-to-one experience (one screen, one person).
Soon, there will be more surveillance cameras on the street than there are pairs of eyes! Algorithms are being put in place that turns these into smart cameras – making high-level analyses of your life.
Undoubtedly, we all want to get the most out of our lives. Whether we are working out or just plain working, we have trainers, managers, and leaders to help us achieve our highest potential.
We are about to experience the most unequal societies in human history. Economic inequality has run terror on this world for millennia, leaving the poor with little option to overcome their circumstances.
You have too many options when it comes to choosing TV shows, Movies, YouTube videos, and other video content. Video content and the future of video has reached massive production levels and yet, the time in your day hasn’t increased alongside it.
Even though your brain is the oldest piece of technology, it’s also the next frontier in computing. For decades we’ve interacted with devices through our actions.
Every time you message a friend online, you are forced to choose between dozens of different messaging apps that all serve the same purpose.
We’ve all had that unfortunate moment when you send a playful text message that someone takes too seriously. Other times, you just can’t seem to find the words to convey what you are feeling.
Undoubtedly, we all want to see different parts of the world and connect with new people. Unfortunately, overcoming the language barrier is often too difficult.
Stressed, coffee-addicted journalists are evolving into major media brands themselves, leaving behind companies like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, to cover the news in their own way – free from the political agendas of major media.
We are just a few years away from seeing and interacting with companies that run themselves. In other words, autonomous companies (also known as RoboCorp) operated by algorithms will generate revenue all day long.
Crime investigation is an industry ripe for disruption. Shows like “The First 48” give us a glimpse into how ineffective lie detector tests and interviews can be when trying to place someone at the scene of a crime.
Will I be replaced by Artificial Intelligence? What will I do if my line of work becomes automated? How can I possibly learn new skills?
What would our computers tell us if we gave them a voice? We’ll soon find out thanks to Natural Language Generation which gives computers a written opinion on virtually anything.
Intelligence equals power. We are smarter than dogs, therefore we keep them as house pets. Computers will soon be smarter than humans, so they may keep us as house pets (at least that’s what Elon Musk believes).
The war on drugs is becoming digital and I’m not talking about online head shops, like Billowby. Literally, our relationship with the future of drugs is shifting toward digital drugs as a means for medication and recreation.
The same companies that brought you the internet (ISPs) now want to sell your information and squander any remaining digital privacy you have.
Google Home and Amazon Echo describe a future where virtual assistants powered by your voice take care of all your online interaction.
Big Data badly needs a sous chef. Someone to come in and prepare all the vegetables and meats so that the head chef can cook with ease.
Nobody wants to live in a glass house. We enjoy our privacy too much. Unfortunately, everything you do online may as well exist in a metaphorical glass house because it is monitored by Palantir Technologies.
Elon Musk is defining the future of transportation with Tesla, SpaceX…and now The Boring Company?! No, not boring as in twiddling your thumbs all day.
Automation is entering nearly every facet of our lives, but we haven’t created a robot rulebook. Robots are taking human jobs.
At times, it feels like technology is leading us toward a future in which our identities start and stop with a designated number.
Tech companies are working on giving us all a second set of eyes and they call it computer vision. The groundwork has been laid through every connected device with a camera since these will act as the eyes for the computer.
Amazon Dash is starting a wave in technology that is tearing apart your phone and making the way we interact with devices easier than ever before.
When you hear the word digital health, there’s a chance that you either conjure up dark memories of visiting the hospital, quickly reach for your wallet to protect it from unnecessary costs, or just think of the word “boring”.
There’s always a trial period that occurs when you make a change to your lifestyle. Imagine jumping behind the wheel of one of Tesla’s autonomous vehicles right now.
Perception is reality…it creates the outcome. As one of the few black founders in technology, I found it hard to stay motivated because of these perceptions.
Somehow, I get paid to wear a Power Rangers costume and this is the story of how it happened. There is an excitement that comes along with pursuing a side project because it’s the risk-free way of trying out a new idea.
In 2016, I left Facebook to put more emphasis on my personal relationships and figure out a better productivity formula. This decision couldn’t have come at a better time because one of my closest friendships was tested this year.
Learn from my mistake, that limiting your creative environment severely stagnates your ability to tap into creative inspiration. This is how I learned: My first piece of writing (by choice, not assignment) was a closure email I wrote to potential investors.
We seek creative communities (and other communities) for identity validation and protection. As far back as childhood, kids try getting noticed by the popular crowd.
You never have to decide between devoting your life to working for yourself or “giving back”. The difference between social entrepreneurship ideas, social entrepreneurship companies, and just entrepreneurs is action.
Life is a choose your own adventure book with too many choices. When deciding your path and investing in your 20s, we have too many options to spend our time.
“Follow your heart and everything else will fall into place.” But, what happens when data driven decision are contradictory to your heart’s creative process?
A creative mind doesn’t exist without the freedom to use tools and ideas, which is why patents are bad. Limiting either of these only hurts the creative output of talented creatives.
You know what’s about as believable as an underground toothbrush market? Telling you the resale market for sneakers is worth $1.2 billion annually and was launched by a sneaker convention called Sneaker Con.
The common view of sleep is we merely need it to restore our energy after a long day. But, what about its role in the creative process.
While it’s often hard to admit, we all get the shiny object syndrome when developing creativity. Constantly looking for the tool that will make our lives so much easier and our jobs feel like a breeze.
Samsung TVs haven’t changed in 5 years. Cameras look the same as they did in the times of Ansel Adams. Hardware hasn’t progressed at all in comparison to the exponential growth of software, except for the hardware of robotic arms – which a competition called the Cybathlon is fueling.
Organizing your ideas should be like making an abstract expressionist painting…messy. Unfortunately, organizing your ideas in a digital notebook is only hurting your creative process.
When fostering your optimal creative mind, you must eliminate fear. At its core, fear is a creativity inhibitor. It causes us to second guess our artwork or hold back that crazy marketing idea because we don’t know if people will like it.