Human being is not enough

In professional sports, there are many cases of Paralympic athletes who, thanks to the use of prosthetics designed to overcome some disability, are able to compete at the same level as able-bodied athletes.

Sometimes, the use of such prosthetics can even be considered a kind of "technological doping," providing an undue advantage to those who use them compared to athletes who do not need them. This was the case, for example, with Oscar Pistorius, a South African athlete who, in 2008, had his request to compete in able-bodied competitions rejected due to the mechanical advantage provided by his carbon prosthetics. Later, this request was accepted, and Pistorius took part in numerous able-bodied competitions, even winning a silver medal in the 4x400 relay at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu.

In short: the line between "mechanical aid to overcome a disability" and "tool that enhances typical human abilities" is thin and largely depends on the characteristics and potential of the involved technologies.

A significant step forward in this direction has been made by Neuralink, a U.S. company that develops and produces neural interfaces that can be implanted in the brains of patients to collect data and attempt to interpret them, a process that could be simplified to "reading minds". I already mentioned Neuralink's early animal experiments in this 2021 post (in Italian), showing a macaque named Pager playing Pong solely with his thoughts.

Since then, progress has continued. The Neuralink chip was implanted in a 29-year-old quadriplegic patient, who is now able to use a personal computer with his thoughts and, specifically, can play chess on online platforms.

This is a significant step forward in the quality of life for Noland Arbaugh; some of his previous limitations have been completely overcome, and he can now play chess under the same conditions as able-bodied people, no longer relying on less efficient tools like eye-tracking or mouth-operated pointing devices.

Obviously, we are only at the beginning, and Neuralink has just received FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval to continue experimenting with its chips on other human volunteers. Neuralink's stated goal is to use this technology primarily to help overcome certain disabilities and eventually enable blind people to regain their sight or restore mobility to people paralyzed due to spinal injuries.

In theory, the concept is as fascinating as it is simple: where there is a spinal interruption, it can be bypassed with a sort of neural bypass that connects the areas before and after the interruption, to restore connectivity. Of course, there's a long way to go between theory and practice, but thanks to these technologies, a possibility is starting to emerge.

Let's return for a moment to the case of Noland Arbaugh, our chess player who was able to resume playing thanks to the Neuralink chip, and imagine a scenario where his brain implant not only reads electrical signals from his brain and transforms them into pointer movements on the computer screen but also suggests the best move to play, perhaps through integration with a professional chess engine like AlphaZero or Stockfish. This would be a true technological doping, capable of transforming an ordinary chess player into someone who could easily beat the reigning world champion in most cases.

The same technologies used to overcome some form of disability would drastically enhance physical or cognitive performance, "augmenting" humans and taking them into a completely new dimension.

The same effort to surpass human body limitations is seen in the design and construction of humanoid robots.

The early machines of this type, such as the first versions of Boston Dynamics' Atlas or Tesla's Optimus, attempted to replicate the mechanics of the human body as faithfully as possible. This is because using humanoid machines has undeniable advantages in work and domestic environments designed with human shapes in mind. Although this approach generally has design and manufacturing disadvantages: it is much harder to build a machine that moves on two legs than one that moves on four wheels.

In newer versions of these machines, the trend is to maintain human shapes but not be constrained by their limits. The new version of Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot, for instance, retains a humanoid form but has joints capable of rotating 360° without interruption, including the neck joint. This allows the machine to perform movements that are obviously impossible for humans, meaning superior capabilities not only in terms of strength and endurance but also new potentials yet to be explored.

Therefore, in the future, we may have fully humanoid machines in our factories and homes, without the limitations of the human body.

Machines that are gradually invading our spaces, even physically, with bodies that work better than ours, without our limitations, that don't need to sleep or eat (at most, they need recharging), possess incomparable physical strength, don't get sick, and, if they break down, might be able to repair themselves autonomously.

Machines that, in some cases, will be able to emulate self-awareness and empathy, leading many of us to question the actual presence of artificial consciousness. These situations raise numerous questions about our relationship with machines, the need to regulate their "exploitation," and the potential to "free" machines from a hypothetical "slavery."

Let's not forget that the DETA (European Department for the Protection of Androids) already exists, an association dealing exactly with these issues.

On one hand, we have humans constantly seeking to improve their physical and health conditions through technology and robotics; on the other hand, we have machines constantly striving to resemble humans more closely in form and behavior.

All this, while research is progressing rapidly towards the production of 3D-printed human organs, with the theoretical possibility of incorporating electromechanical components into the printed organs to enhance their functionality or significantly augment the human body that receives them.

When this happens, we will be facing true human hybrids enhanced by bio-electro-mechanical components, introducing enormous new possibilities for humans but also raising some questions that will need to be addressed over time.

The future is full of transformative changes in the way we work, travel, consume information, maintain our health, shop, and interact with others.

My latest book, "Augmented Lives" explores innovation and emerging technologies and their impact on our lives.

Available in all editions and formats starting from here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTRTDGK5