We live in technologically exponential times!
The current generation never experienced life without the Internet or cell phones.
Not too long ago, you had to use a modem to “dial in” and connect to the Internet. It sounds exactly like a fax machine screeching in your ear.
Today we live in a world of always-on-technology which took hold in the late 90’s and turn of the millenium. We are always connected and most people don’t even power off their computers. We no longer “hang up” when we are done.
This led us into smartphones which are on a quest to do just about everything possible using apps and attachments. Next there will be wearable computers becoming mainstream.
Facebook claims almost half of their billion active users access their site using mobile technologies. Some people don’t even have a PC anymore, it is all about tablets and smartphones.
People seem to have this crazy desire to be connected 24×7 and receive instant reponses. I can’t tell you the number of times I receive a phone call immediately after someone sends me a text message or email, wondering why I didn’t respond right away.
Does this technological evolution take us down a path with cybernetic implants at some point in the not too distant future?
If this was something that people could CHOOSE, then those who want it go for it. However if this became mandatory, this would be beyond scary. The potential of such a chip would allow for the tracking of our every moment. “Being connected” is not worth that. I enjoy my alone time and privacy.
I think this won’t be mandatory. This innovation will cater the needs of those who want to be ‘superbeings’. This is definitely something that people would say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to.
I think that is a big possibility, the technological evolution’s wheel is already starting to roll and nothing can stop it, people always strive for improvement and innovation and there is no other way but forward.
I agree with you. I also think that this thing can’t be stopped from really happening in the near future. Today, a lot of things are already possible. And, this thing, it sure is gonna be a booming breakthrough.But, I don’t buy it. How about you?
I am thankful that I live in a world of technology; people aren’t judged by how big and strong they were born but by how successful they have trained their brain to work (sounding a little Star-Trek like here). This allows for a more equal society and people with physical disabilities, and women, are much less discriminated against. Technology, really, is for everyone! The only thing I dislike about this sudden burst of tech is for kids these days. I was online and someone’s blog posted “3 gifts for your grandchildren this Christmas”: tablets, televisions, and cellphones. Really? If that list had been made not ten years ago, it would have said Disney coloring books, Dora backpack, and Blues Clues light-up shoes. I believe that although technology is certainly improving our world, kids still need to be taught the simple pleasures of life: imagination.
I agree with you about the children. It is worrisome that children grow up with this technology from the start. One wonders if they will still be able to develop creative capacities and intellectual curiosity.
I grew up without any of this technology. Dolls, coloring books, etc were my toys. Along with my imaginary friends. Plus I started reading vociferously at an early age. I was reading all kinds of books; I had a particular interest in biographies as I was curious about people’s life stories. I started writing stories of my own, too. All this before the age of 12. I would be a different person if I had grown up with all this technology? It’s hard to say, really.
So I wonder about the impact of all of this on young children. Will they be able to develop their imaginative powers?
There was a viral video a couple of years ago of a very young toddler who was bewildered by a print magazine. The toddler kept touching the pages as if it were an iPad and was frustrated to not get the usual response. I thought it was amusing, and yet thought provoking as well.
I think sadly we are doomed to end up being plugged into that extent if not even further as technologies like “glass” become trendy fashion tech wear. I mean we are basically a step away from it already with our phones being able to be connected to basically anything out there and we can allow others specific access to those things we connect to our cell. Like paying at Starbucks from letting them scan the screen with their app open or many of the endless apps that are going that route. Since RFID technology is booming in all areas it is only natural that it will be implanted in us or some variant there of it. With as much as people freely share on FaceBook Google Twitter and all the other social platforms, I could see us just walking up to a “friend” and our chips updates with theirs and we automatically get their status updates and so on, neurally or something.
Great thought provoking post!
Cybernetic implants are gonna make humans become more than human beings, and it sounds scary for me. In the near future, this method is gonna be possible, gonna be openly accessible to anyone who can afford it. It’s gonna transform humans into superheroes–experts on this field are going to embed major alterations to the nature of man. Let humans be just the original human beings that they have always been for the rest of this world’s mortality. I’m saying NO to this, but, I know, this thing is gonna happen real soon.
It’s good when you think about possible benefits especially health-wise. We can potentially make things much easier to people with disabilities. Not even superheroes, just normal people. Of course I still understand your concerns because if technology offers something more than what we originally intend it to do, it will be explored. It’s really a double-edged sword.
If the technology is available and someone with money thinks it’s a good investment, it will happen. It might take a long time due to ethical issues but I really think people will use it when it becomes widely available. Of course, I can’t say anything yet about its usage. Suffice to say, like every technology mankind has created, it will have the potential to benefit most of us (previous posters mentioned its use to make up for disabilities) or it might also create newer problems.. or both.
Science fiction becomes more and more real. All the things told in movies and books are gonna be part of everyday life in the future. On one hand that is quite amazing, fascinating and interesting, on the other hand it’s somehow scary. Mankind is seperating from its past.
This is scary technology. I saw a documentary film called Zeigeist, I learned of a conspiracy theory where people in power would require everyone to be implanted with a cybernetic implant which has all that persons information and records, Its already being done in most countries with bio-metrics in passports.I don’t know about you guys but I’m uneasy with the idea of being implanted with a “chip”.
Yes, I agree, it is scary. What is also disturbing is how incidents of violence are used to frighten people into accepting more and more of this kind of tracking and monitoring.
Mass shootings at schools would be a prime example of this. Always in the aftermath of these tragedies, there is a push towards getting understandably worried parents to agree to the constant monitoring of their children’s activities.
The use of RFID chips and retina scans in the schools — and the growing acceptance of this — serves to push parents closer and closer to accepting the “logical” conclusion that they might as well let their children have microchips implanted to really make them “safe.”
This would be a terrible mistake. I already detest the fact that cats and dogs have implants put into their backs before they are adopted. What is next, a bar code that they stamp on us? The Matrix is fast approaching. We have to hold onto our humanity.
I agree with you. It’s as if we are waking up and this time the Matrix is the reality that we can’t escape.
Along with privacy concerns — as well as the psychological and emotional impact of such technology — I am also concerned about potential health risks. Surely there would be risks with implanting foreign objects in the body, especially those that are going to be sending and receiving information electronically. I imagine there might be the same risks of radiation exposure as what we find with mobile phones and WiFi.
I know, right? It is sort of like we are characters in the book 1984 and no one bothered to tell us until it was too late. This isn’t becoming a dystopia. It actually is a dystopia. I would also be seriously concerned with the health risks. We weren’t meant to be intermingled with machinery. The furthest I would go is a pacemaker and that’s it.
Yes, I agree, it is the dystopia. It’s like that old concept of “boiling the frog” slowly that we were always warned about has come to life. The shifts have been gradual, almost imperceptible.
I see the recent hype and craze over wearable electronics such as smart watches and, of course, the infamous Google Glass, as being part of that slowly moving cultural shift towards acceptance. The next logical step is why just wear it when you can implant it? It will be seen as exciting, of course, as embracing the futuristic technology of science fiction. But what kind of future? Is it really the future we want? I think not!
Yes, I totally agree with you, this generation seems to be hooked to these gadgets all the time. The turn of millennia has been like a complete transition from the primitive age to a high tech age where people across the globe are connected 24×7. I wonder what would happen if we took all the gadgets away from everyone for a day. I’m guessing the world will burn.
I really hope it would not be too near. Personally, i don’t like the idea of implants because it just bypasses all privacy issues and I hope that I really wouldn’t need it by the time it gets here.
And I do agree with you people wanting evrything in an instant. Nobody wants to wait anymore and this what actually scares me about the technology. People are changing, and not much in a good way.
I honestly don’t think we’re doomed on a path towards cybernetic implants. Most people haven’t really heard of, or even dealt with Google Glass. There isn’t enough adoption, and those who do adopt are being ridiculed for it. Still, today, some still have problems of privacy with phones. If we were to get implants, people would just run away from the idea because they’d get creeped out by the idea of people being able to record conversations and also record video without them knowing. I’d embrace it because it opens up a whole new possibility of being connected, but we’ll probably become even more disconnected if this technology is released.
Technological advancements has spun this world around and twisted it inside and out. Our reliance on the internet and technology is baffling to say the least. It’s crazy how we feel the need to always be connected, with this source of communication and entertainment being irresistible because of how convenient and amazing it truly is.
It still doesn’t come without setbacks and that part about people expecting quick responses is a good example. I don’t know how some people expect to always have a response back so fast when there are people that have tasks in their lives that they have to get done. And if you urgently need to talk to someone, you’d just call right? Needless to say, technology will continue to grow and so will the global dependence on it.
This looks really, really cool. This is the setting of the scientific progress I hope to read on short stories of sci-fi settings. Maybe the implant will take us down a path with cybernetic implants, but will the people know what just happened. These kinds of decisions require being conscious when making them and implementing them.