Caleb described the "digital divide" respecting access to the Internet. I think we are maybe a couple of decades away from yet another and deeper digital divide over the integration of computer processing and biological processing. This will first appear as a way to deal with nervous-system injuries such as to the spinal cord that makes it impossible for an injured person to walk--think, Christopher Reeve. Then it will become a matter of treating Parkinson's and maybe MND and ALS. Once we're into the brain and devising technologies for substitute-processing, how long will it be before we can offer co-processing that may enhance brain function. This might allow us to treat epilepsy and schizophrenia. But then, some will want further enhancements -- brain co-processors, in effect. This will be expensive and ... with who-knows-what consequences.
Yes, Elon Musk has suggested that our best hope of not being rendered obsolete by AI is to merge with it. This is not exactly the same as but may be adjacent to what some other Silicon Valley folks are looking forward to, with the "Singularity". However, I worry about what "we" means in these contexts. Similar to the point Caleb made, it does seem like some headstarts will be difficult to catch up from. I can easily imagine, once Ray Kurzweil uploads his consciousness to the cloud, that he slams the door behind himself.
William Gibson famously said something to the effect that the future is here now, it's just unevenly distributed.
Caleb described the "digital divide" respecting access to the Internet. I think we are maybe a couple of decades away from yet another and deeper digital divide over the integration of computer processing and biological processing. This will first appear as a way to deal with nervous-system injuries such as to the spinal cord that makes it impossible for an injured person to walk--think, Christopher Reeve. Then it will become a matter of treating Parkinson's and maybe MND and ALS. Once we're into the brain and devising technologies for substitute-processing, how long will it be before we can offer co-processing that may enhance brain function. This might allow us to treat epilepsy and schizophrenia. But then, some will want further enhancements -- brain co-processors, in effect. This will be expensive and ... with who-knows-what consequences.
Yes, Elon Musk has suggested that our best hope of not being rendered obsolete by AI is to merge with it. This is not exactly the same as but may be adjacent to what some other Silicon Valley folks are looking forward to, with the "Singularity". However, I worry about what "we" means in these contexts. Similar to the point Caleb made, it does seem like some headstarts will be difficult to catch up from. I can easily imagine, once Ray Kurzweil uploads his consciousness to the cloud, that he slams the door behind himself.
William Gibson famously said something to the effect that the future is here now, it's just unevenly distributed.