Last month I pounded out a post about the implications of our seemingly inevitable immortality — when man becomes machine, or machine becomes man.
Sounds silly, but myself and expert technologists are dead-serious about that “inevitable” part.
Probably not within our lifetime (if you’re reading this in 2010), though. I’d wager at least one future generation or, even likelier, a couple of generations down the crazy road of technology.
Unless you’re as optimistic as Ray Kurzweil.
This is all to admit my ignorance: When I wrote that, I had no idea the BBC produced a fantastic show called Human v2.0 a few years ago.
The sub-1-hour special taps into the minds of visionaries and scientists alike who wake up and go to bed thinking about this stuff. When they do sleep, of course.
Matt Danzico, my pal who now works as a writer/producer at the BBC, pointed it out to me tonight. Needless to say I was sucked in for all 48 minutes and 2 seconds. (Thanks a lot, Matt.)
You may be, too, so press that play button with caution:
The show was aired in 2007, making it fairly dated by most standards. But I think it has held up very well; in fact, I’d say it’s more relevant than ever given the advances on most every front of tech mentioned.
Most impressive in my mind is the work by John Donoghue at Brown University.
As I learned at this year’s World Science Festival, Donoghue’s lab has taken the concept of the famous monkey mind control experiment a step further.
How far, thou asketh? To five paralyzed people who now have the ability to control machines with their minds, via a mind-machine interface. I’m talking robotic arms, wheelchairs, etc. Anything you can attach to a computer, really.
Craziness.
Photo courtesy of the BBC
Tags: bbc, Brain, immortality, intelligence, machine, mind control, robots