Do you know Kevin Warwick? He’s a professor of computer science, who has willingly turned himself into a guinea pig. The stuff going on around him is really interesting and barrier-breaking.

Humans sense the world in a restricted way, vision being the best of the senses. Humans understand the world in only 3 dimensions and communicate in a very slow, serial fashion called speech. But can this be improved on? Can we use technology to upgrade humans?

Definitely! We are already using tech. There’s actually so much of it that we don’t see it anymore. Washing machines, cars, phones, lawnmowers, satellite TV, hospital equipment, etc. Really the amount of tech is HUGE!

Our life is kind of modern Fordism. We come out from an incubation house (hospital), followed by processes which modify us to be fit to later execute labor functions. And child-bearing. Then at some point our body says “I’m out of here” and we die.

Some want to assign religious and other meaning to our life, but if we’re dead
honest, our mission is to multiply and survive. Of course, there’s a huge number
of interesting side-effects taking place: innovations, love, having fun, building all kinds of things, having culture, etc.

What we can improve on, my guess:

* speed of neuronal activity and thus the effect on cognitive functions
* resilience of the human body
* tolerance for toxins
* the human-computer interaction (HCI)

HCI is essential. This is the whole essence of acceleration.

We could think that people do not need tech, if the body and mind itself is enhanced. But I would think that tech is often cheaper and more practical, at least in the short run.

And if there’s something available now, vs. 10 years from now, we will want to choose the short-term possibility – at least for time being.

Mobile phones were one of the first cybernetic extensions to everybody. People now have whole new ways of communicating. Take IRC, instant messaging, forums, blogs – they’re all forms of communication!