As tools are
developed, theories invented, techno sciences elaborated, devices created, do
we risk becoming slaves of our progress? Indeed, with all these technologies
emerging around us today, everything that appeared fictional seems to become
reality and our relation to the media is being radically transformed.
Obviously, through external devices, such as iPads or smart phones, it is now
possible to be in constant contact with a medium that allows us to receive
information, through the web or otherwise, at any time. However, other new or
future technologies are very surprising, like internal devices such intra-human
chips, since it seems that we may soon become the medium ourselves.
The human space
is constantly changing. Of course, we learn to live with these changes and the
human adapts to the new operation of smart phones, for example, or other
technological advancements never seen before. We tend therefore to this so-called
"Intelligent Society", where the spread of knowledge and expertise
constantly transform our way of life. However, these changes within the
societies, for years, tend to make the human being almost at the service of
technologies, and dependent on them.
I will consider
three more or less realistic examples of technological innovations that tend to
further transform our relationship to the media, the information and thus, the
world we live in.
First, in the
continuity of smartphones, but with a much higher level of intrusiveness
between human and the real world, there would soon be, if we believe Google, glasses
allowing us to see the world through a device referring what is seen to
Internet. This topic has already been developed on the blog, but I still give
the YouTube link that shows how these glasses, almost merging the individual
with the medium, seems to isolate the human from the outside world close to
him.
A second
experiment, first developed in 1998, is to transform the human body into a machine,
so merging it with the medium, to enable it to transmit information directly to
another human. This is the experience of Kevin Warwick, the first "human
cyborg", which consists of inserting a chip into the arms of two people to
enable them to communicate with their nervous systems.
Finally, the
feats of a certain Sterlac illustrate the third attempt, even more innovative,
and therefore less realistic today, to transform man into medium; human cyborg
of modern times. He said we are in the heart of a post human generation and we
will soon be able to see, hear and connect on the web through the eyes, arms
and ears of anyone, and this, through worldwide with phones and integrated
chips directly to humans ... He therefore supports that eventually soon, all
technologies will be invisible, as they will be inside the human body to make
it more efficient. Fact or Fiction? For me, his most recent experience proves
one thing: he is not totally wrong. With the collaboration of experts in
plastic surgery and the most advanced technology, he had a transplantation of
an ear, equipped with a microphone chip, in his left arm. The experiment is a
failure, due to an infection that requires him to remove the implant, but it
would allow anyone connected to the internet to hear everything that goes
around the arm of the artist.
Imagine a few
seconds what our life might look like if we had internet access in our arms and
a cell chip in our ears constantly, 24 hours a day ... We talk about excess.
Everything is good with some moderation right? What would we become if we were
necessarily connected with all our technology consistently? We would be like
cyborgs. Yes, real cyborgs, humans with real dentures inside their bodies,
without the possibility to disconnect whenever they want. Real new organs for
the human body, but that would be artificial and would become part of the skin,
muscles and even brain...
The concept of
the cyborg is then pushed to the limit. We could already define us as a kind of
cyborg, because we use all kinds of tools, prosthetics, and sensory extensions
known for decades. However, we did not necessarily truly predict this eventual
possibility of a technology completely in symbiosis with humans, one not going
without the other. Obviously, this is not for tomorrow, but these experiments
remain an unequivocal example of the evolution of technology currently
incredibly hurried.
But is it really
for the better when the current communication we thought only possible by
computers threatens to be implemented within an "additional technological
bodies" allowing communication entirely "Visceral and
sensorial"?
Another major
disruptive to society if we were to develop these famous dentures would further
accentuate the detachment of humans to the real world. Obviously, the
technological advancements are a great wealth in our culture today and the
benefits are numerous. However, there are also negative aspects. We already
live in a society where reality is somewhat distorted and where all types of
interactions are clearly modified. But then, human relationships would be truly
affected. Staying connected 24 hours, every day, would probably result in,
creating an even larger wall between the cocoon in which we shut ourselves and
the world outside us. There might be less immediate interpersonal contacts,
because we would be completely separated from the surrounding world and we
would be concerned to walk from a cyber-universe to another.
If we continue
to transform ourselves in sort of medium for all kind of information, we would
be less available for human interactions. Moreover, we would be in constant
ubiquity, never in one place at the same time, which is already the case with
today's technologies. Maybe
these technologies are transcending the acceptable limits?
No comments:
Post a Comment