Yeah, I’d rather that didn’t happen.
But with futurists beginning to wonder if we need to augment our brains to become smarter, do we – the general public – need to worry that we might be falling behind? Or here’s another question: Would augmenting our brains make us less human? Like too many questions with futurism, this takes us back to the question or what it means to be human.
And the question of what it means to be human is tied in so many ways to the uncanny.
Neil Harbisson is widely considered to be the world’s first officially recognized cyborg. Born with a rare form of color blindness, the antenna is implanted directly into his brain and allows him to hear visible and invisible colors as sound. It also has a Wi-Fi connection. Photo from Wired.
For Neil Harbisson, an implant can help with seeing colors. Likewise, for those without the sense of sound, implants can bring the gift of hearing. This is a wonderful thing, but is there a danger that these things could get out of hand? I think of Steve Mann, and I instantly get chills.
Steve Mann. Ick.
Maybe it’s a matter of necessity. Maybe when it’s more about getting ahead than it is just helping folks feel like they’re living a more normal life that we need to worry. Because Steve, pictured above, is creepy. At what point does he become more machine than man? Is it a line that is crossed physically, or is it more about his mind? This will certainly make us feel uneasy, because we don’t know how to react.
Read more about brain hacking and brain augmentation here in wired.