I am a fan of technology and science fiction movies. When The Matrix movie was released in December 1999, I was finishing college and graduating with a computer science degree. Coding has always been one of my greatest passions, in fact I like to consider myself good at programming, although in reality my code hasn’t seen a productive system for a long time.
I can say that The Matrix movie is my favorite of all the repertoire and I usually see it at least once a year, if not the whole trilogy, and although I have not seen the last movie because I haven’t had the time, there is no way it can disappoint me. The plot and the subtext is something that I like the most about it, without focusing in this publication on the Christian, Buddhist or philosophical allegories found in it, the message of how the dependence of human beings on technology has been increasing and the approach of how artificial intelligence can ever surpass us, is undoubtedly a topic that interests me and I am very passionate about.
With all this as an introduction, I think I can frame the content of this publication in certain analog similarities that, reflecting last night and this morning, can make me affirm that we are living in The Matrix age.
The relevance of the network during the pandemic
The pandemic finished accelerating business models oriented to internet sales. The digital transformation ceased to be seen as one more business model within companies and became the business of companies. This was marked and demonstrated in the valuation of the companies that was obtained immediately at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic during the year 2020.
The internet has undoubtedly come to revolutionize the world, initially for purely educational purposes, and with a marked evolution towards entertainment and global intercommunication; it has changed enormously the way in which human beings interact not only with each other, but also with different models that surround us, such as the educational one.
I am very aware of an interview with Isaac Asimov where he passionately talked about how the internet would transform the way in which human beings would learn and obtain information for their own development. In this interview, the creator of the laws of robotics shares with us what for him will be an infinite source of knowledge and growth for human beings. When the interview was released, Isaac Asimov’s approaches could have been considered science fiction, however, I think he was proposing the current model.
Online education and learning
Online education and learning is a model that has existed for several years, since the possibility of acquiring knowledge through payment, or through free access on the Internet, has existed for a couple of decades. However, it was not the main option for most people, since it was considered that much of the learning was lost when interacting through electronic devices and not in person in a classroom.
The last 5 years had seen a growth in the online learning model, as it was being more adopted by the new digital generations such as millennials. However, both individuals and organizations continued to prefer in-person classes over online training.
The year 2020 came to change these paradigms of education, not because of the voluntary adoption of new technology but rather because of the need to continue developing and obtaining new knowledge from home in a safe way and at the same time that business models were transformed to the new environment that they faced.
The new technologies
During the last years, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and new technologies aimed at increasing the user experience had been developing in the technology laboratories of the main companies around the world. The rollout of these new products could not be hampered by the pandemic, and people with the knowledge and skills to implement and maintain them were and continue to be required.
These business needs and the new capabilities of online education have come together so that knowledge of new technologies and products is delivered through online learning only and no longer in the traditional classroom.
My organization’s environment
Like all companies around the world, the organization in which I work sought to react in the best way to the black swan, COVID-19. With the execution of a diversification of products and worldwide expansion in the specialized areas of banking and financial services, the need to continue increasing the technical capabilities of the team could not stop.
From the General Management, DYCSI made the right decision not only to continue, but also to increase the team’s preparation effort, but this time through the digital platforms available from SAP.
The totality of the training and certification that our collaborators achieved during the year 2020 and 2021 through online platforms such as Learning Hub and OpenSap is more than double the amount of all the certifications the collaborators got since the beginning of the company in 2003 to 2019.
And while online education models offer a series of benefits over traditional classroom education, they also pose a series of challenges and disciplines that both, the organization and the collaborator, must solve together. But once this stage is past, the benefit is clearly tangible.
These results and the approach of obtaining all the knowledge, not only through a computer but sitting in front of it, has led me to reflect and compare it with the training that the character Neo from Matrix receives during the film.
And I will make the following analogies:
- it is the person who decides to acquire knowledge
- the knowledge is previously contained in an electronic device
- knowledge flows directly to the person without human interaction
- the person is sitting
- the person wants knowledge while not doing another activity
- the person wants all available knowledge
The following fact must also be emphasized: the knowledge acquired must be put into practice and validated by an expert in a controlled environment in order to subsequently reach a productive environment.
And with all this I ask you, are we not living in The Matrix age?
The Matrix movie and all the references and images that are made about it are the exclusive opinion of Carlos González Bejarano, and it is recognized that all rights are property of the company Warner Bros. This publication is merely a journalistic article and a personal opinion.