Are we there yet?

Life in the 21st century is one of constant radical transformation. The internet and the rapid rate of which new technologies are developed and adapted have altered the way in which we connect and live our lives. In the last twenty years internet usage by American adults has gone from 16 to 86%, with over 93% of adults between the ages of 18–49 connecting to the World Wide Web. This digital world has fostered an environment of connectivity, education and innovation. As technological breakthroughs continue to occur at an expanding rate the question remains ‘how much further can we go?’. The rate of change itself is accelerating so much that we don’t need a time lapse camera to visualise it — it’s happening in real time.

Ultimately we are changing society. We are coevolving with technology. To believe that society is what it was fifty or even one hundred years ago is a very naive and stupid thing. Because of all the innovations to date, we are more preoccupied with what the future might hold than any time in the past.

One of the paths that this exponential, technological change may lead us down is known as the Singularity. In a 1993 NASA conference, Mathematician and author Vernor Vinge forsaw a future where the arrival of superhuman intelligence would provide the spark that would alter our world beyond recognition. Whether that apex is reached through the application of technology to increase our biological limitations or through the design and construction of artificially intelligent machines is still to be determined.

One of the three revolutions laying the ground work for this new world is Biotechnology, where biological processes, living organisms and cellular components are manipulated to develop new products and technologies. Biotechnology has aided us in unlocking the mysteries of DNA — the source code for the human race. It took roughly thirteen years and three billion dollars for the human genome project to map the first human genome sequence in 2003. Barely a decade later, it’s now possible to complete this process in twenty-six hours for only a thousand dollars. Meanwhile biomimicry is borrowing from natural mechanics, perfected over millions of years of evolution to move past the existing limits of both nature and technology. The line between biology and technology will only continue to blur. As we learn more about our DNA and our bodies, we can start to manipulate things like human characteristics before they are even born.

If the potential applications of biotechnology can shape our next evolutionary leap, Nanotechnology could bring about the Singularity by shaping our physical world. In a 1959 lecture, Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman was the first person to describe the possibility of manufacturing on the nano scale through direct manipulation of individual atoms and molecules. But, it was Dr. Eric Drexler’s 1986 book — Engines of Creation that offered the first comprehensive vision of a world where it was possible for a nano assembler to molecularly manufacture the components of nearly any substance. Although nanotechnology is not guaranteed to lead us into the Singularity, the ability to manipulate the world at the monocular level is a sign of a radical breakthrough.

Nanotechnology essentially makes the physical world a programmable medium that can be shaped by thoughts and intentionality. It turns the physical world into a condensation of human imagination. Having a change at that magnitude in a single human lifetime will be a challenge both to our institutions and to us as individuals.

Although mastering both biotechnology and nanotechnology could improve upon the human condition, the Singularity will not be reached until human intelligence is somehow surpassed. So let’s look at artificial intelligence. Today, most of our critical infrastructure is run by intelligence systems. We’ve been able to create technology with the ability to listen and understand language, we’ve fashioned machines with spacial understanding, like a GPS that guides us to our next destination, we’re on the verge of creating autonomous weapons that can kill without any help from humans… While these tools are somewhat beneficial is it possible to one day build genuine artificial intelligence?

A 1965 article by Mathematician I.J. Good introduced the prospect of an ‘intelligence explosion’. Dr. Good stated that the creation of an intelligent machine capable of surpassing human intelligence would become the last invention that man would ever need to make. Our everyday tasks would be performed faster, at a greater length and be way more consistent than any human could ever be, unhindered by the limitations of our human physiology. And so could come the day where these machines could produce new machines, even more intelligent than themselves.

The ‘unimaginable’ world post Singularity may come sooner than we think. Ray Kurzweil believes this defining moment will occur by the year 2045. Whether or not it transpires, the seeds blurring the lines between technology and nature have already been planted. Forget about sharing your record collection or your fries with your hot date, very soon you’ll be able to share the inside of your mind.