Humans 2.0

PART 1

We're going to move quickly, and if you are not disturbed by the end of this post then I have done something wrong.

See this girl?

She happens to be Tan Le, CEO of Emotiv; a company that creates headsets that read your mind.
It looks like this:

I'm not kidding. It records your signals when you think of the concept "up" for example, or "down" or "right" or "left". It takes 8 seconds to record the pattern. Then you command virtual objects in games as well as remotely controlled physical objects around you.
Check out her Ted Talk HERE, and skip to 8 min 19 seconds if you want to see the accelerated mashup of examples it has been used for.
Selling price? $300.00. Here is the web site (and all the AWESOME applications you can buy along with it!): http://emotiv.com


NEXT.

See this guy?

His name is Pierpaolo Petruzziello.

The European Union spent 3 million dollars connecting his nervous system with a robotic hand. The Lifehand Project took 5 years to complete. They connected it to his nervous system and he used nothing but his mind to move the hand and the fingers as if they were his own! The Project was successfully completed in 2009, and they have further ambitions extending beyond a hand...

If you have 3 minutes, I highly recommend you check out this Discovery Report! VIDEO

So connect the dots...

Emotiv technology combined with the LifeHand developments...what are the possibilities?

....Further down the rabbit hole...

NEXT:

This is Scott Summit.

Founder of Bespoke Innovations.

They create Custom Designer Limbs. Let me repeat that: Designer Limbs. For amputees. Would you like a Motorcycle theme? How about a soccer theme, or a henna theme? The designs are beautiful; check out the gallery when you have a chance: GALLERY

They use a 3D printer to print the limbs. Consumer 3D printers are being sold today for as low as in the hundreds of dollars (Just google "3D printers" to have a taste of what's out there now). Here's a short 3min video on how it's done: VIDEO!

Hmmm...are you connecting the dots yet?

mind controlled software and objects, including limbs, designer limbs...

"Ok now hold on" you might say to me, "I am not missing any limbs so you're losing my interest here".

Ok then, let's go further...

NEXT up is our friend Eythor Bender.

(Don't worry, I will clearly connect the dots in a moment)..

His company Ekso Bionics happens to make exoskeletons.

That's right: Exoskeletons. Not only for the disabled, but for soldiers. Want to carry 200 Pounds without tiring? Check. Want to do it without impeding your range of motion at all? Check. Here's a video of the demo: VIDEO.

It is now under military development with Lockheed Martin, while Eythor has focused on exoskeletons that allow quadriplegics to walk.

So let's add ALL of these technologies together...and what do we end up with?

Exoskeletons that can carry superhuman weight (already exists) through mind control (already exists). What other ideas come your mind? Speed, flight, strength...

The separate technologies already exist. It's just putting it all together, which we will be seeing in the coming decades.

This is happening now. This is real. Not science fiction. And it would not have been real even just a few years ago.

MIND BLOWN yet?

No?

Ok, let's move on to inner body technology.

This is Dr. Anthony Atala

His lab with the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina prints organs.

PRINTS ORGANS.

It takes 7 hours to print a Kidney. It looks like this:

There it is in his hand.

They take cells from the patient and the printer just organizes them into the appropriate organ.

They created a bladder for Luke Masella in 2001. He was suffering from Spina Bifida, a birth defect that paralyzed his bladder...at the time they had to use an empty membrane and fill it with cells...now they're upgrading to just printing them.

Here is Luke, perfectly healthy 10 years after the surgery

Pretty cool eh? They're still figuring out the Heart, since it's much more complex, but they're getting there...

And this is Dr. Stephen Oesterle, SVP at Medtronic.

He's working with the Scientific Research team to finish developing an Injectable Pacemaker.

It is this small:

Hint: It's the thing that's both smaller and on top of the Penny

Neural implants already exists for several conditions. Remember, our body functions through Electricity. Chemically-induced electricity through the nerves. 

Parkinson's Disease, epilepsy, dystonia, and even Depression are now being treated with neural implants that activate certain parts of the brain with electric stimulus, or blocking.

This exists now. And it's not science fiction.

...And last but not least, there is Google Glasses.

For those not caught up on the news: It's basically the internet. And phone. And Video. On glasses. Already in development,  it will be available for consumer purchase in 2013.

...How long will it take before it comes in this?

With the information appearing or going in front of you, all dictated by your mind whenever you need it. Instant wikipedia, anyone? (For the doubtful, check out the Apps at Emotiv that allow you to type, move around and control your desktop with your mind. One of them is even a free download. Yes, I am not kidding. Go to the link now).

As heart pacers and neural implants and artificial organs are already parts of people's bodies today, one can argue that they are as much a part of that person now as any of their other limbs, as they facilitate their ability to function normally and better.

It all comes down to this: Imagine an individual with several organs that were printed in a lab (already exists). An Exoskeleton (barely noticeable) that enhances their strength and speed beyond normal human functioning (already exists/barely noticeable part in the works). And that physical exoskeleton is mind controlled (Not existing yet...but the technology already does). With neural implants to enhance their emotional strength and bodily functioning (already exists). And designer limbs, mind controlled, if they are amputees (technology already exists).

The question to ask ourselves is...
Is this person still human?

Claudia Mitchell, first woman to receive a bionic arm.

Where do we draw the line?


Would such a described Enhanced Person still be considered human? Is it fair that they be identified like everybody else? In the workforce, in the olympics, in the military, in intelligence tests...
Or should they be considered bionic individuals, with different rights that acknowledge their differences?

These questions, as well as many others, are things we are facing now. None of this existed a decade ago. Scared yet?

The answers are up to us, and will become increasingly relevant in the coming decades.



Personally, I think it's awesome, exciting and pretty cool; not something necessarily to be scared about! And it's clear that we've only barely scratched the surface...





...Food for thought.

-Frederic Limon

Stay Tuned for Part 2, where we cover a completely different aspect of the Human 2.0...with the (very) recent developments in the fields of genomics and synthetic biology!

Mars Wars

What would happen if Russia, China, or India, sent a manned spacecraft to another planet and then planted a flag on it declaring it to be their land and property?

Way back in the day, a conquering nation could just go into uncharted territory, and if it wasn't necessarily claimed by another nation or tribe, they could just plant their flag on it and claim it as theirs.

But since pretty much all of the land on planet earth is claimed for (except for Antarctica & the North Pole), then we are left with space!

Admittedly, you could make the argument that you could claim a spot on the ocean, which would go something like this: Convince a group of people to go live with you in pods or ships; take with you technology that would allow you to extract valuable resources available in that area; become a strong economic presence as a people over the decades; create a sort of self-government; creep up on receiving State-like rights over little bits and pieces of legislation through the U.N. throughout the years until you finally end up being a full blown newly recognized State!

But barring that possibility, let's turn to space.

Uncharted, unclaimed, unmanned.

Virgin Territory. Which, by the way, is the serendipitously perfect tagline of Richard Branson's new venture into Space Tourism with his Virgin Galactic (with a $200,000.00 price tag and a passenger list already of the likes of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Bryan Singer, Branson and his family, Stephen Hawking, Tom Hanks, and yes-even Paris Hilton).

To come to believe that now we are at the brink of a new age of manned exploration-already there's a dutch company sponsored to send a manned mission to Mars in a little over a decade: Linky.

So the question I'd like to raise here isn't really about delving into the complicated and fascinating subject of Space Property Rights, but rather this:

Put yourself in the position of an explorer 50 years from now, with the financial backing of a private company to go and colonize another sphere in our solar system. Whether it be the moon or Mars. And you have complete autonomy on how to organize the social, political, religious, cultural, and economic order of your new colony.

You can model it after Nation-States here on earth, or try something completely different. Would you meld it into the global currency, or would you strive to become an independent economic identity?
Will enterprise be private? What will your Charter look like-what rights will individuals have? Will you continue to grant corporations the same status as a "Person"? How will you tax? What qualities of leadership will you look for in individuals for establishing functional governmental agencies overlooking everything from agriculture to immigration? What will your justice system look like? Will there be prisons, modelled after the increasingly privatized of prisons in the U.S., or will they have no fences or large walls modelled after the Finnish system?

Think of it: the ultimate laboratory! All the technology to establish a new world, while skipping the millions of years of evolution to get there!

(You've got the whole world, in your hands!)

So there you have it, Boys and Girls. A thought-provoking question, and a subject that will increase in its relevance over the next few decades. How do you think we should go about Space Property Law? Can any country claim a planet in the future if it establishes a base there, or do we make Space purely scientific territory? Even then, scientific inquiry is never fully divorced from politics through the organization or country it's being sponsored by. McGill University currently offers an innovative program on Air and Space law: Linky.

Nonetheless, it seems like the insatiable drive of capitalist economy will pivot the private sector to become the eventual major player in the exploration, and perhaps even ownership, of alien property.
And regardless of the complicated issues, the possibilities in experimentation on such a global scale for testing different social orders and constructs may lead to a new generation of explorers, adventurers, and colonizers.

...anyone interested?

-Frederic Limon