Over at GreatVanishing.com, my friend Richard Leis is serializing a (non-fiction) book about what happens when the technological becomes biological--integrated into our bodies and Nature. Throw augmented/virtual reality and artificial intelligence into the mix of world-changing technologies. Follow his site if it interests you anywhere near as much as it does me. This topic has, I'm sure, spawned a thousand dystopian stories, but it can't be all bad, can it? Imagine being able to access, say, Wikipedia, just by thinking about a topic. Hell, imagine being able to edit Wikipedia just by thinking about it! What if, instead of ranked search terms as a measure of a topic's popularity, you could see a live aggregate view of all conscious thought on a subject?
First you need a mind-machine interface (preferably without clunky headgear). I've seen some amazing research in this area, but suffice it to say, it should be possible. Will we become Borg? Now of course the Borg were slaves to their technology, completely lacking in independent will. We will have to find a way to avoid that fate (though for Apple fans, it seems it is already too late).
Besides becoming immensely more capable, by becoming biological, our technology will also become immensely more energy-efficient. It bothers me that, while you always hear about how green technologies cannot by themselves meet the world's growing energy demands, there is no coordinated effort to reduce that growth itself. Our devices are getting better with each new generation, doing more with less power, but the number of devices has increased by a larger factor. However, there is much more room for gains in efficiency.
Would it drive you crazy if ads could be pushed into your thoughts? I guess they could just hit you at a lower level and create, say, the compulsion to buy a particular product. Given all the potential downsides, I think it is all the more important that these future technology platforms be completely open....
