From the beginning of time, we’ve been asking ourselves what makes us human. Perhaps every generation arrives at a different answer, but it might be hardest of all for the next generation. Because now, the line between technology and humanity is blurring.
In the Networked Society, we talk about a historical arc from connecting places over 100 years, connecting people in 25, and being on our way to connecting things by 2020. Now we’re looking at the added layer of combining these layers and making connected people.
I love the way the entertainment industry is tackling this question. At home, we’re addicted to the program “Humans.” The premise is that a scientist has succeeded in programming sentient robots. We find ourselves siding with these thinking, feeling robots, called “dolls” by the xenophobes in the show. Spoiler alert: there is one character on the show who is a blend. He is the perfect illustration of the blurred line, but he struggles knowing that he carries this secret, and he’s not quite sure what he is at his core – is he human or the sum of many extremely well-written lines of code? End of spoiler alert
Do we want to be smarter, better human beings? Always. The film trilogy Back to the Future showed us back in the 1980s that there might be things like home security from AT&T, and hoverboards and time travel. Director Robert Zemeckis foresaw a future with technology that improved our daily lives. But he didn’t even get around to the touchy subject of mixing humans with machinery.
I think it’s important to ask if we can become better human beings organically, or if it requires technology. Or, sometimes, drugs.
Another program that asks the question about improving humanity is “Limitless.” Based on the movie of the same name, this show is centered around a guy who takes a drug to make him super smart, super fast, and super capable. Side effects be damned, people are more impressed with him after he’s dosed up. So he continues to dose up.
Sound like a man we all know from Planet Krypton? Or like athletes who have been knocked off their pedestals?
Away from Hollywood, we are approaching this question one byte at a time. My former colleague Stanislav Kupriyanov wrote on this blog about inserting a chip in his hand that allowed him to pass into the Ericsson building in Russia. The BBC has written about a politician from the Transhumanist Party who has also implanted a chip in his hand. I’ve also read about disco-goers who come into their favorite destinations by waving a hand.
I understand the benefits. I understand the drive to want to be a cyborg, to be better, faster, and smarter. Perhaps a chip between your thumb and your forefinger makes life easier, simpler, saves the trouble of finding that particular membership card in your wallet, especially when, oh, did you change wallets and leave it at home?
I find this kind of innovation fascinating but not fascinating enough to do it myself. But like I always say about the Networked Society: it really is about choice. If you want it, the advantage is yours for the taking. If you don’t, then you can still enjoy a Networked Society with connected things that do not have beating hearts.