Linking up in this way could allow for computer
intelligence to be hooked more directly into the brain,
allowing humans immediate access to the Internet, enabling
phenomenal math capabilities and computer memory. Will you
need to learn any math if you can call up a computer merely
by your thoughts? Must you remember anything at all when you
can access a world Internet memory bank?
I can envision a future when we send signals so that we don't
have to speak. Thought communication will place telephones
firmly in the history books. Philosophers point to language
in humans as being an important part of our culture and who
we are. Certainly, language has had everything to do with
human development. But language is merely a tool we use to
translate our thoughts. In the future, we won't need to code
thoughts into language - we will uniformly send symbols and
ideas and concepts without speaking. We will probably become
less open, more able to control our feelings and emotions -
which will also become necessary, since others will more
easily be able to access what we're thinking or feeling. We
will still fall back on speech in order to communicate with
our newborns, however, since it will take a few years before
they can safely get implants of their own, but in the future,
speech will be what baby talk is today.
Thought-to-thought communication is just one feature of
cybernetics that will become vitally important to us as we
face the distinct possibility of being superseded by highly
intelligent machines. Humans are crazy enough not only to
build machines with an overall intelligence greater than our
own, but to defer to them and give them power that matters.
So how will humans cope, later this century, with machines
more intelligent than us? Here, again, I believe cybernetics
can help. Linking people via chip implants directly to those
machines seems a natural progression, a potential way of
harnessing machine intelligence by, essentially, creating
superhumans. Otherwise, we're doomed to a future in which
intelligent machines rule and humans become second-class
citizens. My project explores a middle ground that gives
humans a chance to hang in there a bit longer. Right now,
we're moving toward a world where machines and humans remain
distinct, but instead of just handing everything over to
them, I offer a more gradual coevolution with computers.
Yet once a human brain is connected as a node to a machine -a
networked brain with other human brains similarly connected
-what will it mean to be human? Will we evolve into a new
cyborg community? I believe humans will become cyborgs and no
longer be stand-alone entities. What we think is possible
will change in response to what kinds of abilities the
implants afford us. Looking at the world and understanding it
in many dimensions, not just three, will put a completely
different context on how we - whatever "we" are -
think.
I base this on my own experience with my first implant, when
I actually became emotionally attached to the computer. It
took me only a couple of days to feel like my implant was one
with my body. Every day in the building where I work, things
switched on or opened up for me - it felt as though the
computer and I were working in harmony. As a scientist, I
observed that the feelings I had were neither expected nor
completely explainable - and certainly not quantifiable. It
was a bit like being half of a pair of Siamese twins. The
computer and I were not one, but neither were we separate. We
each had our own distinct but complementary abilities. To be
truthful, Irena started to get rather worried - jealous,
perhaps - when I tried to explain these sensations.
With the new implant, I expect this feeling of connectedness
to be much stronger, particularly when emotional signals are
brought into the equation. From a medical point of view, I
was pleased when the first implant was taken out, but I was
otherwise quite upset - I felt as though a friend had just
died. With the new implant I might find it impossible to let
go, despite the potential for long-term problems were I to
retain it.
These desires - which draw me closer to the implant - could
ultimately influence my own values and what it means to me to
be human. Morals and ethics are an outgrowth of the way in
which humans interact with each other. Cultures may have
diverse ethics, but, regardless, individual liberties and
human life are always valued over and above machines. What
happens when humans merge with machines? Maybe the machines
will then become more important to us than another human
life. Those who have become cyborgs will be one step ahead of
humans. And just as humans have always valued themselves
above other forms of life, it's likely that cyborgs will look
down on humans who have yet to "evolve."
Surprisingly, nobody has reacted to my plans by telling me,
"That's impossible" - I think because no one really
knows what will happen. When I tell others about my work,
more often they are aghast, not really comprehending what I'm
talking about. But no scientists have told me I shouldn't be
playing God or that what I'm doing is unfeasible or too
dangerous. Even so, I am certain that after Alexander Graham
Bell said, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you," the
cynics asked, "Why didn't you just walk to the next room
and speak to him?" At the time, it was difficult to see
where it all might lead. Of course, I don't put myself in the
same category as people like Bell or Charles Lindbergh or
John F. Kennedy - pioneers who were convinced we could do
things like land men on the moon. But I've been inspired by
these visionaries, these risk takers, each of whom spent his
lifetime obsessively pursuing his goals.
Since childhood I've been captivated by the study of robots
and cyborgs. Now I'm in a position where I can actually
become one. Each morning, I wake up champing at the bit,
eager to set alight the 21st century - to change society in
ways that have never been attempted, to change how we
communicate, how we treat ourselves medically, how we convey
emotion to one another, to change what it means to be human,
and to buy a little more time for ourselves in the inevitable
evolutionary process that technology has accelerated. In the
meantime, I feel like screaming when I have to do paperwork
or shop or go to sleep -it's stopping me from getting on with
what I really want to do. The next implant cannot come soon
enough.
(http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.02/warwick.html?pg=4&topic=&topic_set=)