And when I say "changing us," I mean our physical bodies and physical spaces. (We've already got enough people talking about how Facebook has changed our social lives.)
Have you ever heard of the transhumanist movement? Wikipedia it real quick and you'll find that there are a bunch of individuals out there who are looking for ways to modify their bodies and become more mechanical. Think of it as taking your own step in evolution. You know those medical leaps and bounds in prosthetic limbs? Some transhumanists believe that we'll start engineering limbs superior than our "real" ones. Once this happens, able-bodied people may elect to swap their limbs with man-made ones. I mean, there are already debates about whether prosthetic legs give athletes an unfair "advantage."
Pretty trippy stuff huh? I know if they invent amazing digital eyes, I'll definitely get rid of my yucky nearsighted ones.
The transhumanists even have a webzine called h+ (which stands for "human plus," duh!). Before you dismiss these ideas as purely abstract, you should know that some people are already taking measures to modify their bodies and interface them with technology.
Just check out Professor Kevin Warwick at the University of Reading in England, who installed a chip into his arm that interacts with his university environment. The CNN article describes how doors automatically open for him, personalized messages flash on computers as he passes, and how his cells will begin to grow onto the chip if he doesn't remove it within a few days of the implant.
Even our physical environments are changing. Stepping away from the transhumanist movement, let's look at something more mainstream and closer to home: Facebook Places. This new feature allows us to graft the virtual world onto the physical. Almost any physical landmark is now accompanied with comments, photos, tags, and links from people who have frequented that area and are tracked by GPS on their smartphones. Think of how history is being written now: You'll be able to look at a Places page 30 years from now and see what everyone was doing at a particular instant.
This semester, I've stumbled on the treasure trove of computer geek courses at UH Manoa. I'm currently enrolled in ENG 384: Literature and Technology with Prof. John Zuern and ICS 110: Intro to Programming through 3D Animation. Ever since I went through a William Gibson kick this summer, I've been thinking quite a bit about our immersion into digital culture. How are we changing ourselves to fit technology, and how are we interfacing with Places? Will we become more isolated or will these advances help connect us?
Once I get my new eyes installed, I'll let ya know what I see.
Wow, now I wish I still went to school, just for those classes.
ReplyDeleteFacebook Places and Foursquare is a start in our locative evolution, but what do you think about visual augmented reality like William Gibson described in "Spook Country?" Do you think it'll ever catch on? There are cell phone applications like Layar and Google Goggles that try, but they're clunky.
Also, I think people are so obsessed with telling everyone where they are in RL as a by-product of spending so much time in cyberspace. Maybe our generation is losing touch with our physical environment, thus the need to record it virtually...?
-Tracy