“Third Thumb” Augmentation Changes the Way we Think of Prosthetics
“The actual path of a raindrop as it goes down the valley is unpredictable, but the general direction is inevitable,” says digital visionary Kevin Kelly — and technology is much the same, driven by patterns that are surprising but inevitable. Over the next 20 years, he says, our penchant for making things smarter and smarter will have a profound impact on nearly everything we do. Kelly explores three trends in AI we need to understand in order to embrace it and steer its development. “The most popular AI product 20 years from now that everyone uses has not been invented yet,” Kelly says. “That means that you’re not late.”
– TED
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS
The future of AI is a story of unfathomable change. Kevin Kelly rightfully looks at the question of artificial intelligence in terms of its relation with that of humans. As it continues disrupting industries, how might humans respond when their jobs are becoming increasingly automated? And as it accelerates in its pace of development, how might humans be able to keep up? There are some who believe that AI poses a threat. And then there are others who view it as being our liberator – not just from the shackles of wage slavery, but from the shackles of our own biological substrate as well.
In the future, there’ll come a time when humans and machines merge. We’ll begin replacing our biological substrate with more advanced technology. Some will be cybernetic prosthetics, whereas others will opt for synthetic body parts. When it comes to the human mind, many will begin embedding their brains with implants that are connected to the cloud. In other words, they’ll have a direct link with that of intelligent, online systems. By that time, there’ll be very little difference between humans and AI. Where we go from there, only time will tell.
About the author
B.J. Murphy is the Editor and Social Media Manager of Serious Wonder. He is a futurist, philosopher, activist, author and poet. B.J. is an Affiliate Scholar for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET) and an Ambassador for the robotics company Humai.
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