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Subject:
From:
Meir Weiss <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
St. John's University Cerebral Palsy List
Date:
Tue, 17 May 2005 10:31:54 -0400
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Shortcut to:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/05/12/visionary.warwick/index.html
The fusion of man and machine
By Kevin Warwick for CNN
Monday, May 16, 2005 Posted: 1506 GMT (2306 HKT)



Kevin Warwick displays a chip implant attached to the main nerve of his
arm.

(CNN) -- By 2020 exciting advances in bio-interfacing will make it
possible for a wider range of diseases to be treated electronically.

Initially Parkinson's disease and epilepsy will be successfully dealt
with. But the effects of multiple sclerosis, paralysis and motor neurone
disease will also be much reduced as the individual is enabled to
control their environment and even drive their car, by their thoughts
alone, using implanted technology.

Other problem areas such as senile dementia and schizophrenia could
perhaps be tackled in a similar fashion.

The whole area, termed E-Medicine, will spawn a plethora of new
companies.

As well as being used for therapy, the use of implant technology for
enhancement will also become more acceptable.

Initially there will be a backlash among those who consider the prospect
of being able to "upgrade themselves" ethically inappropriate.

But once the technology has been proven and is commercially available at
relatively low cost, it is expected that the range of people making use
of it will increase dramatically.

Memory enhancement, an increased range of senses, dieting control and
thought communication will all be on the market, while technology to
allow for multi-dimensional thought will be at the planning stage.

All of these upgrades will be based on a direct link between a human and
a machine brain.

In this way the ever increasing power of machine intelligence can be
used to provide an improvement in human capabilities, rather than
allowing intelligent machines to make important decisions.

Nevertheless the use of networked intelligent computers to control all
the financial markets will present a worrying trend -- it will no longer
be clear who exactly is making the key decisions; a machine based on
human criteria, or a machine based on purely machine criteria been
learnt through market experience.

The military sector will witness some of the most dramatic changes.
Fighter planes will be completely computer controlled, without any human
intervention. Clearly it will be computers that think and learn fastest
that will win the day.

The big question, though, is whether there will still be room for human
soldiers at the frontline.

By extending their senses through networked implants military personnel
could be kept safely out of harm's way while being virtually connected
to the battlefront via a brain-network connection.

Finally, it will be interesting to witness the phasing out of the old
style printed passport. Once everyone is fitted with a Radio Frequency
ID implant containing individual data it will be difficult to imagine
how we managed without them.

It's incredible to think it was only as long ago as 1998 that the first
human tested out such an implant. Since then progress has indeed been
swift.

-- Kevin Warwick is professor of cybernetics at the University of
Reading and the author of "I, Cyborg." In 2001 he became the world's
first "cyborg" after having a chip implanted in his arm.



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