The need for the “Deep”

The 1977 film, “The Deep”, starring Jacqueline Bisset, created quite a stir among us school going children. While this film was a realistic portrayal of the deep oceanic underworld, we find that the word “deep” seems to gather in and encompass a lot more aspects of the world of current technology.

We first heard of “deep” packet inspection which presented more useful information about potential network threats and attacks. Then there is the “deep web”, that part of the Internet that you cannot reach with conventional search engines. We find that “deep learning” now seeks to move traditional machine learning closer toward artificial intelligence. Of late, with the advent of digital transformation, “deep content” seems to be more useful than just vanilla files, where content is organised in some complex manner to render it processable by both humans and computers effectively. There is also “deep sequencing” which represents the next generation advancement in the sequencing of DNA and provides better coverage.

Finally, it all seems to be coming together under the banner of “deep technology”. Deep technology start-ups are defined as those based on some technology innovation or scientific discovery rather than the “fluffy” ones that proliferate (e-commerce being typical case?).

So where does all this lead to? Perhaps the answer lies in this wired article

“deep technology” would emphasise how technology extends human insight, bringing us closer to nature, whose mysteries we will never fully understand.”

Author: Atul Prakash Agarwal
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