Part 2 of the Series, “Of Monkeys, Mice and Men: From Natural Bodies to Digitized Bots”
We are living in an increasingly digitalized, sensor-laden environment, inside our homes, in our outdoor environment, and within living things, including our human bodies.
One emerging framework within the massive scope of digital transformation — riding in on the crowned Trojan horse of the Fourth Industrial Revolution — is Digital Twins (DTs). In June 2017, Ben Rossi of Raconteur, defined digital twinning as “the mapping of a physical asset to a digital platform.” In its simplest explanation, digital twins digitize the physical world. The approach of using a digital replica of its original physical representation can be applied to nearly any sector of business and society, and integrates big data (captured via embedded sensors), machine-to-machine communication, and machine-learning technology.
Digital twin technology has been practiced since the 1960s, first gaining ground by NASA in space programming. The actual terminology of “digital twin” was reportedly first mentioned in 1998, referring to a digital copy of actor Alan Alda’s voice.
In this essay, I am focusing on one small element in the field of digital twinning, involving healthcare and bioinformatics, and the merging of these two domains within the context of purported epidemics.
Continue reading “Part 2: Bits and Bytes of Digital Twins ~ Taking a Bite out of Humanity”