life on the edge of the digital extreme
I love this. Although it’s rather US centric there’s some great info-viz with some fairly thought provoking questions in there. The way in which the world has changed over my short lifetime is staggering already, it’s even more amazing to imagine where it will go and be the ones to take it there…
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I was mulling over the technological progress which has been made over my lifetime so far and contemplating where it will take us in the future when it hit me that most of the “sci-fi” type developments predicted will only start to appear around the time that our generation are turning out the lights (taking into account that we live a bit longer than our parents). Will we see a person walk on Mars or have a brain transplant in our lifetime? Unlikely, but will our children? Probably. The next 60 odd years will no doubt see some amazing advances though so I wouldn’t get too depressed about it just yet - that’s assuming climate change doesn’t get us first!
I predict that much of what is to come will be driven by the deconstruction of our own physiology that we will mirror in machines/software which closely integrate with our own bodies as physical and virtual extensions of ourselves. This will redefine the notion and perception of consciousness and ultimately reality itself (is a virtual experience any less real than a physical one?). The process will not happen overnight and will be fraught with ethical issues as to how such technology should be used/controlled.
“It can also be argued that DNA is nothing more than a program designed to preserve itself. Life has become more complex in the overwhelming sea of information. And life, when organized into species, relies upon genes to be its memory system. So, man is an individual only because of his intangible memory… and memory cannot be defined, but it defines mankind. The advent of computers, and the subsequent accumulation of incalculable data has given rise to a new system of memory and thought parallel to your own. Humanity has underestimated the consequences of computerization.”
While this may seem rather far-fetched we are already only one degree of separation away from realising a physical connection between man & machine. Already devices like iPhones and Blackberries give us a constant connection to an endless sea of information wherever we may happen to be, albeit currently limited by bandwidth. In a world where being offline has become synonymous with being out-of-touch dependence has crept upon us without us even noticing. Social networks are the precursor, or virtual toe-in-the-water, to forging our digital identities and relationships between others in a world no longer constrained by boundaries or borders. Exciting but somewhat daunting at the same time.
“If a technological feat is possible, man will do it. Almost as if it’s wired into the core of our being.”
Those who yearn after “the good life” will no doubt not be particularly enamoured by this vision of the future but I would seek to put it in perspective: humans have long pushed back the boundaries of exploration, be it mapping the worlds continents or landing on the moon, and to my mind this is the next logical step in our evolution as the world homogenises and our understanding of it increases. Added to this with the inevitable increase in population and growing scarcity of resources technology becomes even more important in providing solutions.
“All things change in a dynamic environment. Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you.”
- all quotes Motoko Kusanagi & Puppet Master
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And you thought careers fairs were bad where you are. Spare a thought for our contemporaries in China:
[via]
Now that’s competition! In a country which churns out graduates by the millions every year it’s no wonder there’s a shortage of jobs. Sustainable growth? I think not. Still, I’d give anything to be back there - the feeling of excitement and energy is incredible - these kids know the future is theirs and you can be sure they’re not going to let it pass by.
Have a great weekend 
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The Japanese apparently have a saying for people who aren’t much good with technology - “Analogue Person“, literally translated. Futurologists have long predicted that eventually an underclass of people who do not have access to/do not want to use/don’t know how to use technology would evolve and some even go as far as to say that this would cause the human species to split into two sub-species of the elite and the digital underclass. Whilst this isn’t predicted to happen for thousands of years if this isn’t an early sign I don’t know what is!
Of course there is another line of thought which says this has already happened in Japan. You don’t have to look far for the evidence:
This twelfth generation android from Sony Robotics dubbed “Sony-san” is a particularly disturbing example of the future anthropomorphisation of humanity! Sony-san has appeared in music videos, variety shows, the occasional advert, and reportedly “lives” in a Buddhist temple (so much for secularity of science!).
1984 was a turning point in many ways (think Apple Computer, George Orwell, Linux, the Space Programme, Terminator, my birth…) and a mere 23 years later the world has been revolutionised by technology. But this revolution is not like it’s predecessors; it has no end. Like it or not things are not going to move at an ever accelerating pace. Don’t look back in 50 years and say I didn’t warn you!
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Why is it that the Japanese have had bullet trains (Shinkansen) for decades which can travel at over 300 km/h (186 mph) and experimental Maglev trains which have set a world record of 581 km/h (361 mph) while here in Britain our ageing trains rarely reach 130 km/h (80 mph)… are overpriced… unreliable… and overcrowded… you get my point!
Considering we invented the railways it’s a pretty depressing situation. Sometimes I wonder if we just gave up after the Industrial Revolution and decided to leave it to the rest of the world to invent the future!
This is how it should be done!
Interestingly a group called UK Ultraspeed are proposing a network of high speed Maglev trains based on the German Transrapid technology, first used in Shanghai, which would link the major cities of Britain at speeds up to 500 km/h (311mph). Sadly their website is a rather amateur affair which doesn’t add much credibility to their cause, but all the same we painfully need some like this to bring our rail infrastructure into the 21st century.
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