Have you noticed all
the new cybernetic devices coming out lately? Prosthetic legs that allow you to
run
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| star trek borg docking station (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
faster than normal, artificial eyes that see and bionic ears that hear? Add to this such things as augmented reality, and
the ability to use avatars for remote sensing and to do work and the question
is not one of, “Do we have a brave new world just over the horizon?” It’s more a question of is it here already?
If you’re wondering if there is a biological upgrade in your near future, read on
and find out what’s likely to happen once there is a Borg in every Boardroom.
Being a big Star Trek
Fan, I am always amazed at all the wonderful inventions we see coming to life
that were first envisioned in the Star Trek TV series. Recently my partner and
I wrote about how cell phones can trace their history to the communicator from
the original series and how 3D printing is the precursor to the Replicator that
also debuted on that series. But of those episodes, none were as frightening or
as exciting as the Borg episodes. These are the episodes that made the phrase “Resistance
is futile” an everyday saying!
So what does all this
have to do with internet marketing and online commerce? Plenty! The year is Star
Date 2013 and we already have hundreds of cybernetic augmentation devices currently
being peddled in retail stores as well as online.
One of the world’s largest corporations
(Google) is spearheading a new means of cybernetic communications called Glass.
Private citizens (even teen agers) are building their own cybernetic limb replacements
with 3D printers. Cochlear implants are common place. Cybernetic eyes are
already in experimental use. We have had pace makers to control heart function
for decades. Artificial Heart’s have been in use to bridge the gap between
transplant surgeries and have been around for a number of years. We regularly
replace joints (knees, hips, shoulder etc…, tendons, bones, teeth, skin, hair
and so on with their manmade counterparts. We have devised implants to
stimulate parts of the brain in order to control epilepsy, hunger, and even the
sex drive. The military is already using many types of remote sensing, defense
and augmented battle devices to help soldiers survive the fog of war.
Some of the most
amazing newcomers to cyber augmentation are: Computer controlled prosthetic
limbs which help people to walk with cybernetic legs or pick up objects with
cybernetic arms and hands all controlled by the wearers own muscle movements
and thoughts. Soldiers in the field routinely use robots and aerial drones to
scout, defuse bombs and enter dwellings.
Scientists are even working on creating a cloaking device to make the
wearer invisible.
Right now most of the
cybernetic ear implants are designed to help people regain lost hearing. But
hearing enhancement devices have been used by hunters and solders for many years.
The next step will be implanting augmented hearing permanently in your head.
Cybernetic eyes are
on their way. We have been using many forms of vision enhancements for years.
We have all kinds of telescope, microscopes, binoculars, light filtering
devices, night vision goggles and cameras
. Now Google has married a computer to
many of these of devices and create Google Glass a wearable computer that interacts
with the wearer using voice commands much just like the computer on the
original Star Trek series. We already use computers as extensions of our mind
and bodies via the internet. It won’t be long before people start implanting
cybernetic enhancements in order to expand their perception of the real world much
like the character in the Next Generation named Jordie did. In fact there is already a term for the
implantation of transhuman technology into the body. It’s called bio-hacking.
In fact there are a
number of people who have already begun experimenting with bio-hacking:
Rich Lee was a
mild-mannered salesman from St. George, Utah until one day he was bio-hacked to
have headphones installed into his head, thus increasing his ailing vision with
the sonar power of a bat while enjoying his own soundtrack through the power of
magnets. Lee is a self-described “grinder”, a group that believes in the
enhancement of the human body through technological modification – or
‘biohacking’. The Utah resident’s surgical procedure was carried out by “the
godfather of body modification,” Steve Haworth, who has been experimenting with
biohacking since 1998.
There is even a newly released Hollywood motion
picture called Elysium that stars Matt Damon in which he has a robotic
exoskeleton grafted onto his body to help him regain function lost after an
industrial accident. I won’t spoil the flick
for you, with the exception of telling you that while the movie is set in the
year 2154, the exoskeleton technology described is already being developed to
assist paralyzed people to walk.
Also known by the term Transhumanism, Wikipedia
describes the genre as an international cultural and intellectual movement with an eventual goal of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to
greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. The term itself was coined in the 1960’s by
author and futurist Fereidoun M.Esfandiary, who among other things correctly predicted
such things as invitro fertilization, teleconferencing and genetic manipulation.
He also legally changed his name to FM-2030.
While much of the
technology involved seems just as out there as changing one’s name to FM-2030,
bear in mind that everything from the Star Trek communicator (a flip phone) to
a Tricorder (smartphone) to a
Hector and Carl are the enhanced humans who manage W Squared Media Group in Jacksonville, Florida. Join them every Tuesday at 4pm Eastern as they host Working the Web to Win on Blog Talk Radio.
