Although I am not an Evolutionary Biologist, I will try to tell you a story of how Evolution thought about AI or in this case, only an I thousands of years before it was the number. 1 cool buzzword mentioned on every random blog and why it’s so relevant for the business world nowadays.

 

 

The first time our (great)^X grandparents tried to migrate from ‘Africa’ to the ‘Middle East and Europe’, they failed. Locally better-adapted Neanderthals managed to survive their presence. The next time by Cognitive Revolution upgraded, folks decided to leave sunny Africa. Not only the Neanderthals, but basically all the other species did not really stand a chance.

 

So, what was the secret sauce to such success? As the one and only Charles Darwin would say a chance variation or if you want a random genetic mutation has given us an ability to think and communicate about the imaginary things. That is it? Yep, and it was actually more than enough to help us dominate the world, create hundreds of different religions, step foot on the Moon (hope, we have no conspiracy theorists here) and build an entire global society. Fair enough, but what is the connection to the technology & business? 

 

 

If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it’s that technology will not be contained. It breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh…well, there it is. – Ian Malcon, Jurassic Park

 

I can only hope that citing fictional mathematician from Jurassic Park will completely destroy any scientific vibe this blog may have rendered. Mr. Malcon, however, said very wisely what I’m trying to express within this article.

 

You see, I believe that we, in a metaphorical sense, are part of the similar process which is significantly faster and essential. We are actually becoming part of that expanding, breakefree technology. The algorithms that primary purpose was to make our everyday choices easier are without any doubts shaping our online and offline identities. There is a remarkable daily cooperation and progressive adaptation between us & technology and the right question to ask is who the hell are the modern consumers and to what extent is the behavior just a set of choices automatized by their algorithms based identities.

 

 

I believe we are in the age of TransConsumers, whose evolution is due to technological progress in recent years faster than companies can map and whose behavior is far more complex than ever before and no longer can be contained nor described within borders of current theoretical frames. The speed of this evolution brings us back to our initial thoughts. Following the same storyline as thousands of years ago – Businesses that cannot keep up with such a fast “mutation” of this unique species and evolve accordingly will simply die.

 

 

The ones who not only understand the process but more so are willing to enhance consumers’ abilities in a transparent way, will in fact be the future winners.