Imagine Man & Machine, becoming one.
Science fiction? Not anymore.
The premiere episode of NEOtropolis Season-3 (Western Reserve PBS) aired live on January 10th 2012. The "What's the Big Idea?" segment dipped into this provocative conversation. To view the archive the show, click HERE
image: Courtesy of Ralph Solonitz
Context:
- 5 million years ago, "technology" was about stone tools: Hunt. Eat.
- 2 million years ago, fire was discovered: Let's cook stuff.
- 5000 years ago, the invention of the wheel helped us move things around.
Bottom line, for the vast majority of human history, technology has been about things - Making things, moving things, manufacturing things. Then the printing press, telegraph, telephone, television and the Internet made technology increasingly about people, communication & information.
The industrial revolution began converging the worlds of "man and machine" - to a degree - but there's always been a clear distinction - a clear line. Now the line is beginning to blur.
How so? Imagine (links contained, within):
- Think-a-phone: Simply think about making a phone call - and your phone goes ahead and does it for you. IBM suggests that a number of mind-reading machines will come to fruition within the next five years
- Think-a-bike: "Hey, Mom - look. No-hands!"
- Contact-lens-Internet: Imagine surfing the 'net while surfing the waves of the ocean - via Internet-connected contact lenses
- Augmented Reality: Imagine driving down the street and seeing both the landscape and Internet-based information about the landscape - real time
Singularity & Transhumanism suggest that the human condition will be fundamentally transformed via technology... to the point where we may not know how to handle it. These are the real technologies coming on stream. The line is blurring.
The impact? The consequence?
You tell me.
craig arthur james 2012
Co-founder Cat-Strat.com SmartSimpleMobile and Adaptism
Contributor NEOtropolis - Episode-2: January 17th @ 9:00 PM
