Becoming A Virtual Cyborg

“As the Internet of things advances, the very notion of a clear dividing line between reality and virtual reality becomes blurred, sometimes in creative ways.”

            -Geoff Mulgan

Virtual worlds.  Uploading minds.  In my recent studies it has come out that in time it will be possible for people to upload their minds via technology.  What does this mean in the long run for sustaining human life?  Is it now possible to outlive when our bodies simply melt away? 

Dr. Ken Hayworth works with brain mapping…which should in turn lead to the only logical conclusion: mind uploading.  Now if mind uploading will actually work, has yet to be seen as we’re still in the process of mapping out the actual logistics of becoming only a biological mind. 

This brings to mind the concept of cyborgs.  One cannot think of the possibility of being virtual without thinking about cyborgs.  According to Donna Haraway in A Cyborg Manifesto, “a cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism…” of course with cyborgs then one follows the road to Artificial Intelligence.  Will these machines that we create one day be able to think for themselves? 

In one part of Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto, she gives a chart that she entitles The Informatics of Domination.  This is a chart that she uses to describe how we as a society are moving from “comfortable old hierarchical dominations to the new scary networks called the informatics of domination.” 

A few pairs that stand out are:

Organism: Biotic Component

Mind: Artificial Intelligence

Public/Private: Cyborg Citizenship

It’s these few pairs from the list that remind us of the power of technology, as we move from a natural world to a world that reeks of imitation.   

Here is a link to the complete list…pgs. 10-11.

http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Haraway-CyborgManifesto-1.pdf

You might be thinking how does this relate back to the possibility of becoming virtual?

I like to believe that the concept of the virtual and cyborgs go hand and hand with each other.  Almost like one is an extension of the other, they can stand-alone by themselves but together they make a force that can change the world. 

Ciao!

Jobs and Employability

What is employability?

This term can have several different meanings; the most popular one being that is demonstrates a person’s capability for gaining and maintaining employment depending on a person’s knowledge, skills and the abilities they possess.  However, to innovators and thinkers they believe that it can transcend beyond that meaning.

What does having a job entail?  Does it mean having that feeling of security that comes with the relief that you will go to bed warm?  Does it mean knowing that you will never again be hungry…never again know what it means to sleep in the cold? 

Jobs are important, not because it gives people things to do but because it’s a necessary part of life.  Without a job, a family won’t be able to afford even the simplest of everyday needs such as food or a place to live.  In the future will it be possible that most jobs will be able to be done by robots?  If so…then where does that leave humans?  Nowadays humans are being forced to find new ways to challenge that very way of thinking, in the hopes that when the time comes they will be able to keep a job. 

I4J (Innovation for Jobs) is a non-profit company that works with innovators from around the world to explore the transition into a better working economy.  Partnering with Galactic Public Archives, we have put together a series of videos entitled: New Narratives: Innovation for Jobs.

This series focuses on investigating a behind-the-scenes look that’s headed in the direction that’s towards the future of the human working class.  Each video involves discussions that center around certain items such as education, and the economy.   

Innovation for Jobs

Let us know what you think about the future of jobs...

Ciao! 

Futurist FM-2030 Fact of The Day

Are You Transhuman? 

The Brain and the Future

Question: What is self?

The “self” is considered the subject of one’s own experience of perception, thoughts, and emotions.  What can be seen as the “object” of our self?  What controls our “self”? 

Simple…the brain.

Catherine Malabu in her book, What Should We Do With Our Brains, gives a roadmap of the process that takes place within the brain, coverted to a simple summary from the description that is given by Marc Jeannerod in his book Le Cervau InTime. 

           

“the non conscious neural signaling of an individual organism begets the proto-self, which permits core self and core consciousness, which allow for an autobiographical self, which permits extended consciousness.”

The brain is an integral part of the body system.  It controls not only our outer body, but also controls what goes on in the inside.  Without your brain, your simply…dead. 

Or are you?

There is a movement that is becoming more and more popular known as Transhumanism, which works to transform the human condition using new technology to enhance human intellectual, physical and psychological capacities.  One of the foremost leaders in Transhumanism is FM-2030, died and who placed his body in cryonic suspension, so that he could be revived at a later date.  Below is an interview with FM-2030…

What does this have to do with the brain?

Due to the cryonic suspension the idea that FM-2030 has, is to take his brain and be able to upload it in a way that he will be able to in a sense live again.  Dr. Ken Hayworth discusses where the brain is going in a series of interviews such as being able to virtually upload your brain into a computer. 

Is this the future of the brain?  If so...would you be willing to live your life as a virtual being?  Would you consider the pros/cons that can happen by handing over your life to that of technology?  

Let us know what you think.

Ciao!