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Using Technology to Enhance Humans

Posted by Zonk on from the now-entering-transhuman-space dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "It's a well-known fact that technology can improve our lives. For example, we can reach anyone and anywhere with our cellphones. And people who can't walk after an accident now can have smart prosthesis to help them. But what about designing our children on a computer or having a chip inside our brain to answer our email messages? Are we ready for such a future? In 'Robo-quandary,' the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that many researchers are working on the subject. And as a professor of neuroscience said, "We can grow neurons on silicone plates; we can make the blind see; the deaf hear; we can read minds." So will all we become cyborgs one day?"

3 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. Better question: Will we remain human? by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Contact lenses, hearing aids, artificial limbs... tattoos, botox, piercings, breast augmentation... we've been modifying the crap out of ourselves ever since we invented clothing.

    While I doubt we'll end up in some Ghost In The Shell - like world anytime soon, the urge to improve ourselves to the point of modification and beyond is a part of our own adaptability.

    /P

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  2. We are The Borg. by Bragador · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I dont' know about you but I find this thrilling. If you do not want such technology to "enhance" humans I don't care but don't stop me from improving my abilities.

    I have always been fascinated by the notion of hive mind and I truly wish that one day, humans will have their brains connected to the net by wifi or something. Each time we have a question, instead of thinking we could access the net of minds. We could have one big hive mind with all of the knowledge or have a distributed system where the knowledge is distributed among our brains. Also, only the most advanced researchers could access the core to change the official knowledge database. We could always have a core that works like the current Wikipedia too. Who knows what's the best way to manage a hive mind?

    I'm already answering tons of queries in my job thanks to Wikipedia and Google. I just wish we could go one step further...

  3. Re:communication by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 5, Informative
    Don't think brain implant. It's a very crude method for a very advanced idea. When the time comes, the interface won't be physical (like in The Matrix). It'll be completely wireless. The technology/method behind this is called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic _stimulation

    It's still very much in it's infancy, but this is the future of the human/silicon interface. No physical device to cause problems with biological systems. No need to "upgrade" the hardware in your head. And of course, it's not permanent.

    I agree with your point that we shouldn't be accessible 24/7, but I also think that the next technological leap forward is going to be the result of increasing the data transfer rate between the brain and non-biological systems.