Block Chain for the shipping industry

10

October

2017

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The first introduction of the shipping containers came in 1956, the idea came from a trucking entrepreneur in the US. His idea was to ship whole truck trailers with their load still inside, on the boat. However, he realised that having one container that could be lifted of the truck and into the boat would be much easier and faster (Worldshippingcouncil, 2017). And so, the container was born. Not much has changed since then. Containers are still handled in the same way and a lot of paper work is still involved in moving the containers between different parties. Consequently, slowing down the supply chain. IBM and Maersk are tackling this problem by creating a platform for all parties (i.e. governments, freight forwarders, ports etc) to communicate with each other, share event data and documents.  This platform runs on block chain technology, which means they are able to track all data and events that are happening in the supply chain end-to-end (IBM, 2017). The benefits of block chain technology are that all data and events are verified by each party involved in the supply chain. This create transparency and traceability.  In addition, according IBM, (2017) it could also significantly reduce delays and fraud and eventually increase the volume of trade by 15%.

So, are there any drawback of block chain technology?  There certainly are, I will now name a few. The first major disadvantage of block chain is performance. Because block chain is a decentralized system, is it very complex and slow in processing information (Blockchain Technology, 2016). Furthermore, there is an uncertainty if governments will actually accept the use of block chain. Lastly, to keep block chain up and running there is a lot of computing power needed. This leave a huge carbon footprint behind (Macaulay, 2016).

In my opinion, block chain is a good development, in the way that it saves money for companies and makes the supply chain more efficient as a whole. However, steps have to be taken to make it more secure, faster and less energy consuming.

 

References:

 

Blockchain Technology, (2016) ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

https://blockchaintechnologycom.wordpress.com/2016/11/21/advantages-disadvantages/, 9 October 2017.

 

IBM, (2017) Maersk and IBM Unveil First Industry-Wide Cross-Border Supply Chain Solution on Blockchain

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/51712.wss, 9 October 2017.

 

Macaulay, T., (2016) Blockchain limitations: Is the distributed ledger technology overhyped? https://www.techworld.com/startups/what-are-limitations-of-blockchain-experts-from-odi-explain-3648881/, 9 October 2017.

 

Worldshippingcouncil, (2017) HISTORY OF CONTAINERIZATION

http://www.worldshipping.org/about-the-industry/history-of-containerization, 9 October 2017.

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The Future of Artificial Intelligence

3

October

2017

5/5 (1)

Today artificial intelligence (AI) is receiving more and more attention from a company’s perspective, as it helps organizations doing things more efficiently as well as from a customer’s perspective, because people worry and fear about the capabilities of machines with artificial intelligence. This can be traced back by an old human memory of the Frankenstein’s monster in the 1960s. People fear about ultra-intelligence which means that a machine can far exceed every human intellectual activity whatsoever. As Floridi (2017) states that ‘’because the design of the machines is one of these intellectual activities an ultra-intelligent machine could design an even better machine’’.

Because of the threat of machines taking over human activities and becoming ‘’evil’’, it is very important that when, developing artificial intelligence or machine learning, the objective x is very well defined and includes all you care about. Nick Bostrom gave a good example of this in one of his TED videos. He brings up an old myth of King Midas (see figure 2). The King wishes that that everything he touches turns in to gold. However, as Bostrom says in the video ‘’he touches his daughter, she turns into gold. He touches his food, it turns into gold’’. This is not just a metaphor of greed but also shows what happens if you create a powerful optimization process with an ill-thought-out or badly specified goal (Bostrom, 2015).

Midas_gold2

Figure 2: King Midas and his daughter 

In my opinion, we should definitely be careful about artificial intelligence and the way we control it. Important here is to put our main focus on defining the goal of what a machine should do and how to do it. Without putting our own values at risk. In addition, we should find a way of controlling the AI and always understand their motivations of outcomes.

References

Bostrom, N. (2015) What happens when our computers get smarter than we are?

https://www.ted.com/talks/nick_bostrom_what_happens_when_our_computers_get_smarter_than_we_are, 2 October 2017.

Floridi, L. (2017) Should we be worried about AI?

http://www.sciencefocus.com/article/future/should-we-be-worried-about-ai, 2 October 2017.

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