The above suggestion comes from Frank Diana, the principal futurist for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), who, in an interview with IT World Canada late last month, stated that it is not beyond the realm of impossibility that a technology breakthrough known as digital twins will save thousands of lives, both human and animal, in 2023. In addition, he said, a true twin of a human being will be created this year, and act as a digital representation of the body, and of behaviors such as choices around what to buy, who to vote for, and more. It is not just the rapid advances of the underlying technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), 5G, sensors, advanced data analytics, 3D modeling and the Internet of Things (IoT), that makes these breakthroughs possible, said Diana, but the “fact that as they all come together, the possibility space widens. “As the convergence of these technologies accelerates, the opportunities grow,” he said. “It’s really been an epiphany moment for me.”
That convergence is what makes digital twin technology, defined by MIT Sloan Management Review in an article that appeared last year as virtual replicas of physical entities and their interactions that consist of a combination of enabling technologies and analytics capabilities, so intriguing to Diana and others. Its authors note that “digital twins are a combination of multiple enabling technologies, such as sensors, cloud computing, AI and advanced analytics, simulation, visualization, and augmented and virtual reality. Companies can use a customized mix of technologies, depending on their needs and expectations. What distinguishes digital twins and makes them so powerful is their ability to emulate human capabilities, support critical decision-making, and even make decisions on behalf of humans.” Diana said they can be used to help deal with battling diseases – to attack cancer, for example, in ways that have never been used before – or to accelerate the ability to warehouse vaccines, not after a pandemic erupts, but before. There are, he added, a number of TCS research labs that have created “digital noses, and digital skin and brains and hearts, and using digital representations of those organs in ways that allow us to explore how to solve problems. “Also, in the context of food, digital bananas can be used to understand what causes bananas to overripe or spoil and to proactively counteract them.” This shows that digital twin technology is more than just a solution. means It can be used not only to solve food shortages, but also to solve food waste.