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We're almost done. The last episode of the Human Machine was Jane C Hu's look at cutting edge prosthetics and exoskeletons. This week, however, we're doing something a little different. It's not about any one particular part of the body, or type of technology.
Instead, I've asked experts across different fields to try their hand at a little speculative dreaming. Some of the innovations that we've covered in the Human Machine are more immediately practical than others; some are more artistic. But the question remains: Which of these technologies will become more than just a possibility, and become as inescapable a part of life as, say, smartphones and the internet have done over the last 20 years? What will be the new normal?
There's a saying, attributed to sci-fi writer Douglas Adams, that everything that's around when you're born is normal; everything that appears before you turn 35 is new and exciting; and everything that happens after that point is frightening, terrible, unethical, etc. Obviously this isn't really true—and Adams himself famously tried to get his hands on new Apple products as quickly as possible, right up until his death in middle-age.
But it still retains a grain of truth. All of us, regardless of age or experience, are occasionally guilty of a gut dislike of the new. This week is all about what the world will look like 20 years from now, a world that will be new to us but mundane to the next generation.
Check it out
As always, we're hosting discussions around this and more, including ongoing of last week’s reading club assignments, over on the Human Machine Facebook group.
Until next time,
Ian
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