What if your grand-kids never have to learn how to read and write? The cognitive part of reading and writing could very well be accelerated with technology inputs into the brain within the next 25 years.
We are now the only species on earth with the ability to bypass natural selection. As a result we will soon be making choices that fast-forward human evolution in a matter of decades or less, rather than centuries.
Biohacking by implanting Near Field Communications (NFC) into the body is only our initial clumsy attempt. In fact such invasive technology may well be outdated within a decade.
We’ll probably be inhaling smart dust to interface with machines by then.
Integrating technological accelerators into human biology has the potential to enhance our physical and mental prowess well beyond human limitations.
[quote type=”center”]With one embedded in each ear he can listen to music through them, via a wire coil he wore around his neck, that converts sound into electromagnetic fields, creating the first ‘internal headphones’.But his experiments go far beyond sound. “It is a sixth sense“, says Lee. “The implants allow me to detect different sensors, so I can ‘hear’ heat from a distance. I can detect magnetic fields and Wi-Fi signals, so much of the world that I had no awareness of.” – Original article on CNN [/quote]
I expect to see humankind evolve to a transhuman species within my lifetime. In fact, I may not be averse to trying some of the non-invasive (and painless) biohacks myself.
To all who say ‘never’ – were you one of those initial hold-outs who finally succumbed to smart phones or even Facebook and Twitter? Now you probably see the benefits of being connected to your cousins on the other side of the world in almost real-time.
On the other hand, whatever we have gained in terms of rapid access to information, we have probably lost elsewhere due to our dependence on technology. That is an evolutionary trend too.
As we redefine what it means to be ‘human’, the rapid pace of technological advances are almost certain to ensure that we will have even less time to wrap our heads around the pros and cons of our evolution to transhumanity.
This evolution could mean ceding over control of cherished values like privacy (as it is even now) and possibly our individuality, as we join a networked hive of transhuman neural consciousness.
Would this in fact help us realize how ‘connected’ we are, because we literally will be?
[quote type=”center”]We are as gods and might as well get good at it – Stewart Brandt[/quote]The question for now is would you deny your progeny and yourself enhanced physical and mental capabilities? This would probably mean giving up some part of what you are, weaknesses and all.
If you felt you have a choice to sit out of the next part of human evolution, would you?
