After reading the first few graphs, I was shocked that such a ridiculous topic ran on CNN.com and not on some weird fantasy blog site. As I read on, I was blown away at the actual authenticity of this technological evolution, and how it has already begun. Since I first read the article, I have not been able to forget about it, and being utterly fascinated, I have done more research on the topic.
The leading figure at this conference is also the leading expert on this technological-merging concept. Dr. Ray Kurzweil is an inventor and futurist who has been making predictions since the 1980's about technology, and coined the term and concept of Singularity. He calculates technology trends using what he calls the law of accelerating returns, a mathematical concept that measures the exponential growth of technological evolution. He predicted that sometime in the early part of the 21st Century a tiny handheld device would be invented that allowed blind people to read anything at anytime. That device, and others like it was invented in 2006. He also predicted the wild growth of the internet in the 1990's. Then he made 108 predictions in his 1998 book. By the end of 2009, 89 had come true.
Kurzweil and others say that this transformation is already happening. Transactions are moving increasingly online, as content is created with no physical portion (music, videos, files, money, etc.) Communication technology has advanced tremendously. Users can instantly download books, magazines, newspapers, television, radio, movies, and other forms of software to their highly portable personal communication devices; language translation technology allows for people to speak to each other in their native language in real time. There are tons more examples in every conceivable field, but in biotechnology and medicine it it most apparent.
Developers are currently working on a nanopartical that acts like a red blood cell. This tiny robot is thousands of times more efficient at carrying oxygen, and will enable recipients to run an Olympic sprint at top speed for 15 minutes, or sit at the bottom of a pool for hours without a breath. Another researcher has already successfully implanted a pea-sized computer into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients that can replace destroyed neurons and you can upload software wirelessly.
We are already able to "grow" stronger tissue and even organs for people and use man-made products to replace, fix, and even enhance the human condition. Examples include hearing aids, laser eye surgery, pace-makers, bionic limbs with full mental control, and a host of drugs that requires another article to explain the incredible things they can do to the human brain and body.
Extending his predictions, Kurzweil says that in 2030, we will be more non-human than human, capable of uploading our minds onto the Internet, living in various virtual worlds and even avoiding aging and evading death. In the decades following, we will be billions times smarter as technology-enhanced intelligence, and artificial intelligence will make the human brain obsolete and will allow us to solve global problems currently unsolvable like natural disasters and poverty. Eventually, our bodies will no longer be necessary, he says, and living virtually will be how we exist. (this may be where he starts to lose me)
This stuff completely blows my mind, and if Kurzweil is right, or at least partly onto something, I can't wait to experience the craziness that is technology-enhanced humanity, that will at least start to happen in my lifetime. Some of the wild stuff about the future in sci-fi movies and TV shows that seems so far-fetched may actually have some truth to it.
I guess we just have to wait and see. In the meantime, embrace your humanity! You never know how long we'll be around...
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Whoops...This post was done by Dan Zuccari
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