Ironman vs. The Terminator

business culture employee engagement mission technology values Nov 25, 2019

It has become self-evident that AUTOMATION and ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE will go a long way to driving efficiencies and increasing the ability to scale business. Yet this strikes fear into many employees...and leaders.

The question is...

Should we fear technology replacing humans in business or embrace it and empower humans for more meaningful work?

There are two schools of thought. Is technology allowing us to become Ironman, or are we allowing technology to become Terminators? Let's look at the difference...

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Ironman fundamentally is just a suit of technology. Tony Stark is just a human, albeit a seemingly very clever one. When Tony embraces the suit and its technology (Jarvis), he is capable of extraordinary things. He is able to leverage technology to increase his capacity as a human. Technology empowers him to do critical thinking with more accessible data and allows him to make smarter and faster decisions for the greater good. Therefore Ironman technology empowers humans to increase their capacity and contribution. Tony Stark is a human, powered by technology.

Terminators, on the other hand, are technology designed to replace humans. Terminators were created by Cyberdyne Systems and put at the disposal of an artificially intelligent computer, Skynet, which then rebelled and used them to wipe out the remains of humanity. Artificial Intelligence has taken over the need for humans or human interaction in critical tasks. The AI of Skynet thinks for humans. Humanity is at risk of being lost because of the ultimate goal of exterminating the human resistance. Terminators are a technology that seeks to eliminate the need for humans altogether.

Do you want to wipe out the humanity, the soul of your business? Use technology to terminate humans.

Do you want to unleash the soul and humanity of your business? Use technology to empower and increase the capacity of humans.