Category / Evolution

We Are Links

None of us work in isolation. Each of us builds on the work of those that came before. The work we complete will be built on by those that follow.

We are a chain. Each link important to the strength of the whole.

On the day, in the moment, it may seem like we stand alone, unsupported. We don’t. There may be no one with us but we are not alone. We have the support of the fullness of history. The tools we use are there because the past has provided them. The knowledge we have is there because the past discovered it.

No piece of work is less important than another. Today’s work may not have the scale of yesterday’s but without it tomorrow’s work could not happen. Without it tomorrow’s work could only build on the work of yesterday. Without it tomorrow’s work would be a step behind. Or perhaps today’s work is at the largest scale. But don’t forget that without yesterday, today would not be possible.

We are a chain, with each of us a link. Don’t break the chain.

by Colin Brosnan

Outsourced Brains

I’ve said before that we are all cyborgs. Our evolution from Homo sapiens to Homo machina is already underway.

One way this evolution could develop is that people start to get brain chips. Brain chips would help make people better and smarter.

You’re in an interview and you get asked a question. Your brain chip instantly connects to the web and searches for the best way to answer the question. Initially, there might be some lag in getting the info but over time this would become less and less noticeable.

You could argue that this is already happening. We rely on our own memory less as we can Google it. We don’t need to know how to do things anymore. We just need to know how we can find out how to do something. Don’t know the appropriate HTML code to use in your project? There’s no need to work it out. Just look it up!

This is of course nothing new. People have always been outsourcing their brain function. We’ve used books and libraries to store information so we don’t have to forget it.

Outsourcing brain function is not confined to technology. We also outsource to other people. You see this most evidently with couples. Over time one in the partnership takes on certain roles. It might be that one always looks after the passports on holidays. It might be that the one always looks after the finances.

Society is simply an expansion of this. None of us need to know how to do everything. We can rely on others to know how to do things we don’t. They rely on us for other things. We humans outsource so many things so that we don’t have to take up brain space with them. It allows us as a species to do so many more things than any individual.

Outsourcing to Google is a natural extension.

 

by Colin Brosnan

We Are Already Cyborgs

I’m a cyborg. You’re a cyborg. We are all become cyborgs.

It’s our mobiles. We can’t do without them. Lose your phone or break it and you’ll feel like you’re missing an arm. We rely on our phones as extra limbs. Our phones augment our abilities and make us more capable than a normal human. Instead of needing to recall every piece of information we can outsource our memory to Google and others. Without effort we can search for information we never had.

To be a cyborg in the strictest sense the technology would need to be embedded in our bodies. We are not yet at that stage but for many our phones may as well be surgically attached.

This is the first step to humankind’s evolution to cyborg. The next is wearable technology. Then we will implant the technology we already use.

Our transformation from Homo sapiens to Homo machina is well underway.

by Colin Brosnan