During a recent conference in Johannesburg, I introduced my presentation with two questions to the audience. I initially asked what single thing the new breed of smart technologies can never achieve. Several hands were raised, and I got some interesting responses. The answer I was looking for is that technology will not change basic human nature.

The second question was, what one thing can we never automate? Again, some interesting responses from the audience. But my tongue-in-cheek statement was that we can never automate stupidity. The audience was laughing, but many looked confused.