- jane wakefield
- BBC technology journalist
image sources, Getty Images
Some experts say thinking about the digital twins of humans may only be a decade away.
Many have been told that we have a dopplegangeraangela stranger who looks a lot like us.
But imagine if you could create your own twin, an exact copy of yourself, but who has a purely digital life.
We live in an age where everything that exists in the real world is digitally replicated: our cities, our cars, our homes, and even ourselves.
And much like the much-hyped metaverse — a virtual, digital world where an avatar of yourself exists — digital twins have become a new tech trend.
A Double digital it’s an exact replica of something in the physical world, but with one mission: to help improve or otherwise provide feedback to the real version.
Initially, these twins were just fancy 3D computer models.
But artificial intelligence (AI) combined with the Internet of Things, which uses sensors to connect physical things to the network, means you can now digitally create something that’s constantly learning and helping a to improve to his counterpartand real.
Technology analyst Rob Enderle thinks we’ll have the first versions of thinking human digital twins “before the end of the decade”.
image sources, Intel Free Press
Rob Enderle says there are ethical considerations to take into account when developing digital human twins.
“Their emergence will require a great deal of thought and ethical consideration, as a thinking replica of ourselves could be incredibly helpful to employers,” he muses.
“What if the company you work for creates a digital twin of you and says ‘hey you have this digital twin that we don’t pay a salary to, why are we still employing you?'”
Enderle believes that the ownership of these digital twins will become one of the defining issues of the impending era of the metaverse.
reminiscent of science fiction
We’ve already begun the journey to human pairing, in the form of the aforementioned avatars, but they’re currently quite clunky and primitive.
For example, on the virtual reality platform of Meta (formerly Facebook), Horizon Worldsyou can give your avatar a face similar to yours, but you can’t even give it legs because the technology is still in its infancy.
Sandra Wachter, senior AI researcher at the University of Oxford, understands the appeal of creating digital twins of humans: “It’s reminiscent of thrilling science fiction novels, and right now it’s the stage at which it turns out that.”
image sources, Sandra Wächter
Wachter says digital human twins are still just science fiction at this point.
He adds that whether someone “succeeds in law school, gets sick, or commits a crime will depend on the still debated question of ‘nature versus nurture'”.
“It will depend on luck and bad luck, friends, family, your environment and your socio-economic background, and of course your personal choices,” he says.
However, he explains, AI is still not good at predicting these “unique social events due to their inherent complexity”.
“So we have a long way to go before we can understand and model a person’s life from start to finish, assuming that’s always possible.”
current uses
On the contrary, it is in the fields of product design, distribution and urban planning that the use of digital twins is currently the most sophisticated and widespread.
In Formula 1, the McLaren and Red Bull teams use digital twins of their racing cars.
Meanwhile, postal company DHL is creating a digital map of its warehouses and supply chains to help it be more efficient.
image sources, Getty Images
McLaren has a digital twin of its latest car, which has been used to help its development.
And each time more our cities reproduce themselves in the digital world; Shanghai and Singapore have digital twins, created to help improve the design and operation of buildings, transport systems and streets.
In Singapore, one of the jobs of its digital twin is to help find new ways to get around and avoid polluted areas. Other places are using technology to suggest where to build new infrastructure, such as subway lines.
New cities in the Middle East are also being built simultaneously in the real and digital worlds.
French software company Dassault Systèmes says it is seeing interest from thousands of companies in its digital twin technology.
His work so far has involved using digital twins to help a hair-care company digitally design more durable shampoo bottles, rather than endless real prototypes. This reduces waste.
image sources, Getty Images
Shanghai authorities have a digital twin of the city that they use to shape its future development.
And it allows other companies to design new futuristic projects, from jetpacks to floating wheel motorcycles and even flying cars.
Each also has a physical prototype, but the refinement of that initial model happens in digital space.
Improve health
But the real value of digital twins lies in healthcare.
Dassault Systèmes’ Living Heart project has created an accurate virtual model of the human heart that can be tested and analyzed, allowing surgeons to represent a number of what-if scenarios for the organ, using various procedures and medical devices.
The project was founded by Steve Levine, who had personal reasons for wanting to create a digital twin. Her daughter was born with congenital heart disease and some time ago, when she was in her early twenties and at high risk for heart failure, she decided to recreate her heart in virtual reality.
Boston Children’s Hospital is now using the technology to map patients’ real heart conditions, while at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, a team of engineers is working with doctors to test devices that can help children with rare and difficult to treat heart diseases.
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