Due to an application I was filling out, I have recently been musing on the future of human evolution. It is only fair to acknowledge that I am not a scientist. But I must insist that evolution was my favorite subject in Biology and the first class I took in undergrad, if that grants me any degree of credibility. Regardless, like a man with a hammer, I inspected the issue of human evolution and declared it a nail and, in summary, came up with this State of Humanity Address:
The conversation on evolution sometimes borders on the absurd. The term “evolution” has been so stretched and mangled that amateur scientists discuss it in terms of a day’s biological evolution of an individual rather than the extended evolution of a species. It is doubly absurd when logically considering the current state of our species. How can we evolve when we are constantly engineering new shelters from the forces of natural selection? We construct clothing to protect ourselves from the elements. We design weapons to kill predators. We build heaters and air conditioners to control our temperature. We concoct vaccines to combat illness. All are defensive acts that suppress natural selection as a force of evolution. Yet, the mechanism which supposedly has removed us from such evolutionary forces can also be one to advance us: technology
While we cannot significantly biologically evolve within a single generation we can apply technology to extend our biological capabilities within a technologically mediated evolution. Instead of the genetics of F0, F1, F2 we expand to 0.1, 0.2, and 1.0. We use technology to extend our consciousness and awareness through intimate technological augmentation. These forms of technology physically but unobtrusively connect us with sensors, micro controllers, and mechanisms that allow for the subtle processing of input and output—be it accentuating sounds or revealing colors of the spectrum concealed to the naked eye.
Now that technology is relatively small and affordable, it can be intimately integrated into our very clothing as wearable technology. With wearable technology, we extend our sense of touch with pressure sensors, our sight with cameras, our auditory functions with microphones. We also gain new senses such as a prescience of things around us without seeing or hearing them. We do not gain biological senses. Rather, we extend those we already have with range sensors integrated unobtrusively throughout our garments and accessories.
I see technology as a means of expansion, as an accelerate of advancement, as an elevator of a species to the levels of insight, intelligence, and perception that confound even the creators of science fiction.
Explore, strive, and inspire. Wonderful things await us.
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2 Comments
1. After coming across the reference to Conway’s Game of Life in your posts, I went to http://www.math.com/students/wonders/life/life.html and found the following statement:
“Exploring the galaxies would be easier if machines could be invented that could build themselves. Imagine sending a probe to Mars that could build a copy of itself. Although this is theoretically possible, it hasn’t been invented yet!”
This reminded me of a website where they claimed to have made a start on such a project, called RepRap. This is what they say on one of their site pages (http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/SocialPage), thus:
“RepRap is a form of Universal Constructor. A Universal Constructor is a machine that can copy itself. The idea was originally von Neumann’s.”
2. Other interesting projects are described in an eminently readable article at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3341045/How-to-breed-robots.html. Here’s a teaser:
Now a team led by Dr Hod Lipson has used smart bricks to build a real-world version of von Neumann’s machine at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. “Although the machines we have created are still simple compared with biological self-reproduction, they demonstrate that mechanical self-reproduction is possible and not unique to biology,” said Dr Lipson.
3. See also http://legoofdoom.blogspot.com/
I’m hoping to supply some sort of catalyst for your next project! You are obviously going places and I wish you all the best in your future endeavours.
4. I also wonder if you had ever considered writing a novel? Here’s an excerpt (http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1006) from “The Mechanical Mice”:
“With a sigh of relief, I strolled toward the door. A high whine of midget motors drew my startled attention downward. While Butman and I stared aghast, a golden shuttle slid easily through one of the rat holes, sensed the death of the Robot Mother and scooted back through the other hole before I could stop it… ”
Well, that’s your challenge – to produce something even better!
Oh, I love this. Thank you so much. As soon as I get all my ducks in order (there is a lot of duck herding to be done right now, similar to cat herding) I think I have some reading to do!