http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/20/1026898931815.html
By Nathan Cochrane
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A draft government report says we will
alter human evolution within 20 years by combining what we know of nanotechnology,
biotechnology, IT and cognitive sciences. The 405-page report sponsored by the
US National Science Foundation and Commerce Department, Converging Technologies
for Improving Human Performance, calls for a broad-based research program to
improve human performance leading to telepathy, machine-to-human communication,
amplified personal sensory devices and enhanced intellectual capacity.
People may download their consciousnesses
into computers or other bodies even on the other side of the solar system, or
participate in a giant "hive mind", a network of intelligences
connected through ultra-fast communications networks. "With knowledge no
longer encapsulated in individuals, the distinction between individuals and the
entirety of humanity would blur," the report says. "Think Vulcan
mind-meld. We would perhaps become more of a hive mind - an enormous, single,
intelligent entity."
Armies may one day be fielded by machines
that think for themselves while devices will respond to soldiers' commands
before their thoughts are fully formed, it says. The report says the abilities
are within our grasp but will require an intense public-relations effort to
"prepare key organisations and societal activities for the changes made
possible by converging technologies", and to counter concern over
"ethical, legal and moral" issues. Education should be overhauled
down to the primary-school level to bridge curriculum gaps between disparate
subject areas.
Professional societies should be open to
practitioners from other fields, it says. "The success of this
convergent-technologies priority area is crucial to the future of
humanity," the report says. wtec.org/ConvergingTechnologies/Report/NBIC-pre-publication.pdf