Ian Pearson is a "Futurologist". He's got some interesting predictions for human evolution. According to Ian, we'll be evolving from Homo Sapiens into more intelligent life forms:
- Homo Optimus, which are humans with modified brains
- Homo Cyberneticus, which will leverage cybernetic prosthesis with full-duplex mind-machine links
- Homo Hybridus, will bring telepathic communication with other machines and people
- Homo Machinus, where the mind-machine link becomes totally transparent
That's a bold prediction! But as Ian points out, "I usually get it right, but since the future is never totally predictable, I sometimes get it wrong too, about 15% of the time. But I specialise in doing long term stuff, so I have a lot of fun. I hope to be retired before anyone can prove me wrong."
I'll avoid the temptation to rant about "futuring"... (as I said in class, I think the most interesting predictions about the future would come from six graders).
I'll be spending more time discussing brain-computer interfaces in future posts. For now, check out this article: "The Human Brain: Should we Upgrade?"
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2 comments:
The July 25, 2008 issue of ACM TechNews has many articles on the combining of human and computer intelligence. Sharon Gaudin's Intel: Human and Computer Intelligence will Merge in 40 Years article, predictions include increased reality in virtual worlds while robots will become companions instead of remaining as machines.
Thanks for the links. I think the most interesting possibilities have to do with brain-computer interfaces... or the embedded sensors. That's where the boundaries between human and machine start to blur.
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