Robot-Human Merger May Be Coming Soon
We can rebuild you. Make you stronger. Faster. And then maybe make you obsolete? Yes, that's the word from futurists and transhumanists, which are fancy words for the types of people who study the effects of technology on human life and physiology.
One noted futurist, Dr. Ray Kurzweil, has predicted something called the Singularity, which will be the "culmination of the merger of our biological thinking and existence with our technology, resulting in a world that is still human but that transcends our biological roots."
In short, we will be assimilated, and the future may be quite a bit different from 'The Six Million Dollar Man.'
Kurzweil's ideas may sound a little far-fetched, but his predictions have turned out to be right before. In the 1980s he predicted a handheld device that would allow blind people to read printed text. Wouldn't you know it, that device was introduced to the public this year. He also had a few things to say about the explosive growth of the Internet during the last decade. Something tells us he's got his finger on the pulse of future tech.
So, where does that leave us now and in the years to come? By the 2030s, Kurzweil says, we will become more machine than human, with the ability even to upload our minds to the Internet, spending our time in virtual worlds. Think of it as Second Life on steroids.
What are more advances that Kurzweil and other scientists say are likely to come?
Already in development is something called a respirocyte, a robotic red blood cell replacement that could allow you to hold your breath for 15 minutes. Specialized nanoparticles may soon be able to locate tumors and possibly destroy them.
But as with all advances, the merger between humans and machines poses risks. Some futurists warn that advanced artificial minds could make humans obsolete or subservient, something we'd like to avoid. (We like our Roombas just as capable as they are, thank you.)
As Kurzweil notes, "Technology has always been a double-edged sword." [Source: CNN.]
