What's Next For Humanity?

Aaron #125 Mon, Aug 18th 2003 7 [ Read: First / Last ]

I keep wondering what is going to happen to us, as a species. Assuming we don't annihilate ourselves, which seems more and more likely these days, where do we go from here? Our species has always strove to communicate, to share ideas. This need to communicate is probably one of the major reasons we’ve advanced as far as we have. We started with grunts, moved on to language, written word, radio, television, the Internet, cell phones, and I don’t think we’re going to stop there.

I think that we are moving towards a singular human consciousness, and I don’t think that it’s very far away. We have cell phones, and wireless Internet connections. We have people working on ways to draw electricity from our own blood, and people interfacing displays and controls with the human body. At this point in time, these devices are large and cumbersome, but as technology always does, these things will get smaller, better, and cheaper.

And so I think it’s just a matter of time before you can access the Internet anytime you want to, simply by wanting to.

It’s not as crazy an idea as it sounds. Think of cell phones in the early eighties. They were the size of briefcases, and that was mostly just the batteries. Now, almost everyone has one, even kids and some poor people.

Many people have seen the commercial with the guy yelling stock trading orders at a bunch of pigeons, only later to realize he was yelling commands at his hands free, heads up display computer with a wireless Internet connection. That kind of technology is available now, if you’re willing to pay for it. Even if you’re not, there are moderately priced cell phones that can access the Internet, and we have kids today sending pictures and text messages each other with them constantly.

This is a generation that is going to embrace any additional connectivity that is made available for them in a way that we can’t even imagine correctly right now. Imagine a pair of glasses that combined a display, microphone, camera, speakers and high speed Internet access antenna. Imagine then, that if the user of these glasses looked down at a flat surface, that they would a computer generated keyboard and mouse that they could use simply by moving their fingers, and were therefore as connected to the Internet as you are right now. Would this change things? Would you ban these glasses in school? In the workplace? What if they became as common as cell phones are now?

What if the same functionality was implantable, and moreover, was a very popular thing to do? Do you segregate the children who were implanted?

How does this change society?

What is fundamentally different about a society that is so connected to each others thoughts, that has the ability to recall the contents of any book that has been scanned onto a website, access any music or movie file that is shared by anyone else instantly?

It changes the nature of the Internet, on the social level, as well as the physical level. You have a room full of kids with wireless network connections; they are sure going to be signaling to each other with greater speed than to a cell tower a mile away. In fact, with enough people wearing these things, the cell towers become obsolete. The people who provide the Internet to you now become irrelevant, because the Internet is now truly a web of people, whom you hop through, instead of ISPs that you dial up to.

Advancements will be made from there, of course. As the technology comes down and price, and the demand increases for it, more and more people will join the Neural Internet. Your online diary, or weblog, or whatever it will be called, may be much more than the text and pictures that now inhabit it. As we unravel the workings of our own minds, perhaps emotions, ideas in their rawest form, and your experiences will be recordable, publishable, and accessible if you want to.

If every person has access to the best thoughts every other person publishes, racism goes away. True understanding is achievable. Language becomes irrelevant. Difficult thinking tasks can truly be divided between several interested parties, and thoughts which are now impossible become possible. At this point, a singular human consciousness erupts. Some people have called this idea a Hive Mind.

Are we still human at this point? Or is it the next evolution? Have we moved from Homo-Sapien to Homo-Connectus? Does it matter?

How do you feel about this idea? Are you okay with it? Do you think the is the way things will inevitably wind up? Does it bother you? Do you think humanity is more likely to follow another path? If so, describe that path.

It’s good to start thinking about this now, in any case. I get the feeling we are going to see the beginnings of it within our lifetime whether we want to or not.

Comments: 7

Wayne - #1 Tue, Aug 19th 2003 @ 5:53 AM 244 words

To me this would be a very bad thing. This would take away all privacy that we have as individuals. It is great to share thoughts and ideas, but the should come from the individual and process by an individual and not to be shared as a hive.

A "Hive Mind" is a scary concept. The one thing I love about mankind is that we are individuals (although, sometimes there are those who just follow the masses). We have the ability to think for ourselves. I might think that the current administration is corrupt and killing the economy (and I be right). Others might think that they are doing a fine job. That is what is called individual thought. Even the ones who agree will have different opinions.

I am all for advancing technology, as long as we don't take it too far. The artificial intelligence that we are creating is a wonderful thing. We just have to be careful not to advance it to far or one day we will be made extent by a superior race of AI

The path I would want to choose for humanity is a blend of both worlds. I would love to live in a world much like Star Trek. The ability to have a world of resources at your finger tips. Hey, who wouldn't want their own holodeck? But, the human individual working as one. Not the hive.

	Aaron - #2 Tue, Aug 19th 2003 @ 7:05 AM 54 words
	Let me get this out of my system: Beavis: Heh heh, he said Homo! Heh heh. Butthead: Yeah, and then he said it again. Heh heh.

Aaron - #3 Tue, Aug 19th 2003 @ 7:08 AM 86 words

Wayne,

Yeah, it is a scary thought in some ways. On the other hand, the way I am describing it means that you don't HAVE to join. You can turn it off if you want to. I just get the feeling that many people wouldn't. Especially as the kinds of things that can be shared advances.

Consider peer to peer software now. You choose your music folder to share, not your financial managment program. It would be the same here.

	Greg - #4 Tue, Aug 19th 2003 @ 8:33 AM 45 words
	i will become a mind haxor, pirating people's neurological resources and binding them up in root scripts on other boxes (heads) and will eventually take over the world (or AOL as it is known now). I have seen the future and it is ME!

	Aaron - #5 Tue, Aug 19th 2003 @ 8:34 AM 13 words
	I would have a firewall hat (asbestos?) to keep me safe from you.

	Nick - #6 Tue, Aug 19th 2003 @ 10:16 AM 5 words
	Mind blocker here (aluminum cone)

Guest:Mark - #7 Tue, May 23rd 2006 @ 10:44 AM 9 words
	I dont think cell towers will ever become obsolete

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