Category: Person Digital Twin

The Future of the Digital Ecosystem – Part 3: How?

Each digital twin has a reality theater with a stage on which to perform in collaboration with other digital twins (persons, organizations, things, …). A theater is an instance of the OtterServer that applies OWL DL for consistency in shared knowledge and a common language dialogue for interoperability across the internet.

The semantic web provides OWL DL as a common language for knowledge definition. Knowledge definitions in OWL DL are verified by reasoners for logical consistency. Reasoners are computer code designed to efficiently uncover any inconsistency. For example, it would be inconsistent to classify a shape as both square and a circle since a square and a circle are mutually exclusive.

The diagram above shows the four theater operations of the OtterServer: lights, camera, action and perform. The arrows in read indicate how the OWL class expression is applied by the OtterServer where it defines a graph.  

The class expression is the formal language for querying and updating the OtterServer graph database. It is also the formal language for defining Service Component Architecture (SCA) dialogue and the parts played by the actors (digital twins).

Lights – A logical composition of a subset of knowledge. The composition is selected from the Digital Tree of Knowledge by a person. In DL (Description Logic) lights are the terminological knowledge; abbreviated in ontology as the TBox.

Camera – Captures points in time of the named objects and stores them in a graph database. The data stored is referred to in DL as assertions with the name ABox.  The storage model is derived from the TBox and queries and updates are defined by class expressions. In IT terms, the logical model is defined by the Abox and the physical structure of the database is determined by the actual content in the ABox.

Action – The structured communications between actors; the scripts they follow. Scripts are the procedural statements that define the actions of components that may contain one or more scripts. These actions include providing services and requesting services. Component scripts include functions, conditionals, parallelism, and query / update of information maintained in the ABox.

Perform – The real-time performance in the ecosystem. Service requests and database requests are received and processed in a multi-thread environment.

The “How” is 100% OWL DL. It does not use a separate language for database query and update, nor does it use a separate language to define Service Component Architecture. This makes it easier for individuals and organizations to contribute to the Digital Tree of Knowledge. They need only to learn one language for data definition, database, and interoperability.  One language where its content can be verified for consistency with existing library content.

Part 3 of this article introduces the concepts of the functionality implemented in the OtterServer prototype. This introduction is very high level and does not attempt to cover the foundation of technical standards on which it is based and how these standards are applied. This information can be found in other articles found at http://OtterServer.com.

The future offers great opportunity for every person to use their talents, time, and resources to serve others. It will come in the form of a person digital twin for all those who would like to have a personal advisor to help them find their true north.

The digital ecosystem will change. This article covered the “What”, “Why”, and “How”. So, the next question is “When?”. The answer is simple; like all other recent technology changes, this one will take place very rapidly.

The Future of the Digital Ecosystem – Part 2: Why?

Each person enters the world with the gifts of time, talents, and resources to use to serve others. The digital twin offers a person a positive personal experience by calibrating their true north, providing guidance, and monitoring their success. 

As shown in the diagram above, those that are seeking purpose and want a fuller life will find great personal benefit in having a digital twin to guide them on their journey. A personal “Wheel of Life” is a true north compass formed uniquely for each person. “A compass provides the ideal metaphor. Just as a compass points toward a magnetic field, your personal “true north” directs your path and pulls you forward.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/rodgerdeanduncan/2018/09/01/discover-your-true-north/#1a93fac76988

Although the concept of a balanced life is probably thousands of years old, Paul J. Meyer is credited with applying this concept in the very successful organization he founded, Success Motivation Institute. He developed a model for guiding others in personal growth, development, and success. “Meyer held the firm belief that all people, regardless of their gender, personality, social standing, or level of education, could develop the necessary characteristics to achieve and live a lifetime of success.” Paul J. Meyer (Follow this link to learn more about his amazing contributions.)

The digital twin will be equipped with the capabilities that Meyer envisioned and taught. Through the application of AI, a digital twin will match goals to reality and identify alternative paths. Computing the effort and risk of each step in the path helps an individual to navigate and stay true north. Although much less complex, is like the navigator software used to find the best route from one location to another.

A person can see their pursuit of their true north in the past and in the present. Guidance comes through the prediction of the outcomes when selecting future options. Each option may take many paths that may be examined through future time spans. These alternate paths can be experienced in digital form. A person may simply be presented with a list of probable outcomes or they may submerse themselves into a 3D world and experience multiple paths like playing a game.

Discovery of talents, measuring time, and monetizing resources is aided by monitoring Maslow transactions. In addition, talents may be uncovered by gathering data on personal areas of interest. Time may be captured from a person’s calendar, work schedule, and events. Also, resources may be determined from the personal financial data available to the digital twin.

Some possible calibration calculations might be:

  • Talents may be improved through education and time performing tasks. Job promotions and education acquired might enhance talents.  (Leveling Up)
  • Professions could have a weight for average benefit to a person served.
  • Time consumed within some professions may carry an average number of people served.
  • Corporate employees could be allocated the number of people served by a percentage of all people served multiplied by the percent defined by each department.
  • Money donated could be rated by the average percent of donations / income.
  • Number of people served by donation amounts would be provided by the receiver.

This previous list is only provided to help to get an idea of how true north calibration might be achieved by a digital twin. The actual calibration will be defined by the:

  • data captured within Maslow,
  • the projection of Maslow data to the Wheel of Life data, and
  • the knowledge given to the twin by a person’s selection from the Digital Tree of Knowledge.

So why have a person digital twin? It is simply because each person would receive great benefit from having a personal advisor to help them determine their true north and help them to achieve the best use of their talents, their time, and their resources. Having a personal advisor is the primary motivator to having a digital twin. Having personal and private data is a very positive outcome, but it is not a motivator.

With such an overwhelming value to having a personal advisor, it would seem there would already be internet services available. And, of course there are. They exist just like those shown on the left side of the diagram in Part 1. You share your most personal information and they will score you and provide “Wheel of Life” diagrams. If the service is free, then they will share your information so others may market their products directly to you based upon your interests.

To provide a truly personal digital twin, it must be a single person’s voice in the digital ecosystem. It must be able to converse with other digital twins in support of the person’s personal fulfillment. There must be consistency in language and content where players in a conversation apply the same subject matter knowledge.

Part 1 of this article described “What” and this article, Part 2, describes “Why”. Part 3 will present “How”. The “How” defines the interoperability required between players by applying semantic web standards.

The Future of the Digital Ecosystem – Part 1: What?

In the future, a person will enter the digital ecosystem through their digital twin. Their digital twin will be a portal managing all conversations with other digital twins of persons, organizations, or things.

This is a future of the democratization of the Internet where each person takes control. It represents a shift from the present, where actions are not personal nor private to a future of personal and private interaction.

A digital twin will strut upon the digital stage with a full knowledge of all the other players. It will provide a person with data privacy and internet assisted personal fulfillment. As shown in the diagram above, there are key aspects to the performance of a person digital twin:

  • Person – A single real person.
  • Digital Twin – A real person’s unique representation on the web, structured around satisfaction within Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
  • Digital Tree of Knowledge – Description logic and processes to support definitions and functions to satisfy a person’s needs.
  • Internet Servers – All servers accessed by the Digital Twin such as Education, Financial, etc.

In the theater of performance of a digital twin, the following capabilities will be provided:

  • The Digital Tree of Knowledge will be an open repository for access and contribution. Like a library, it will have a full classification system that defines the structure of the tree.
  • Only the real person can select the knowledge from the Digital Tree of Knowledge to share with their digital twin.
  • The Digital Twin performs all actions assigned by the person and stores all private information.

One current effort that closely aligns with a person digital twin is the Solid project of MIT:

“Solid is an exciting new project led by Prof. Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, taking place at MIT. The project aims to radically change the way Web applications work today, resulting in true data ownership as well as improved privacy. “ https://solid.mit.edu/

This project recognizes the need for a radical change as described in this article. Yet security and privacy, although extremely important, are not enough to motivate people to adopt a radical new change. There must be a much stronger incentive.

Part 2 of this article will describe why people will transition to this change. The “Why” is found in the personal fulfillment gained by having a personal twin, where each person discovers and lives by their true north.