The day we finally grow up
The world is changing fast. Wave after wave of accelerating technological change is leaving society and governments struggling to adapt. Our past could never prepare us for the journey we are about to embark on and the truth is that from here on in we shoot without a script.
While we all long for a better tomorrow, very few of us have the courage to try to imagine what the future might actually look like. Bound by conventions and by fear of ridicule, most of us dare not to dream or speak about the deep future, instead we choose to focus on the short-term future, which is safe and generally agreeable.
Futurists everywhere, I applaud your courage. Even when you are wrong, you contribute more to the future of our species than your critics ever will.
Even though collectively we choose poverty of imagination as the default mode of thinking about the future, here we stand on the verge of profound societal changes that cannot be stopped and cannot be reasoned with. We are witnessing the dawn of an age of technological wonders, of technology so advanced that it is itself indistinguishable from magic.
Take a minute to admire the computer monitor in which you are reading these words. Maybe you are using a modern LCD flat panel or maybe you are using an old CRT tube. Either way, old or new, appreciate its beautiful complexity with millions of connected parts that are able to convert a symphony of electrons, bits and bytes into the perfectly weaved tapestry of light required to carry my words to you.
Now consider for a moment the most complex devices we possessed a mere 200 years ago. How does your computer monitor measure up to it? Do you even know how your monitor really works? What about your computer? Your cell phone? Would you be able to design any of these devices from scratch? Do you know anyone who could?
We came a long way in a very short period. Now try to imagine what miracles of science we will witness in the course of the next 200 years. No matter what you think you know about the future, I assure you that if we don’t destroy ourselves, the best is yet to come.
Like Martin Luther King, I too have a dream.
I dream of a world where people are once again thrilled about the future.
I dream that one day curing death, understanding the human brain and traveling to the stars will be seen as urgent challenges that must be conquered at all costs.
I dream that one day scientists will be considered celebrities and that each of us will be measured not by how much capital we have accumulated but by how much we have contributed to the future of our species.
I dream that one day all nations will unite in the war against ignorance and superstition, the true enemies of all sentient beings.
I dream of the day humanity finally grows up.
Dr. Yitzhack Schwartz, MD and one other person are discussing. 
Great post Rod. The thing about I/O, though, is that output is typically much easier than input. We see this with modern robotic prostheses. Getting a person’s nervous system to move a robotic arm around is easier to do than getting the person’s brain to recognize where the arm is located in space and whether it is touching anything, is hot or cold, etc. I think we will have reliable output devices–things like the “interceptors” in Ghost in the Shell, devices that tell whether a person is recalling or fabricating a “memory,” etc–well before we have reliable input devices. Indeed we already have lots of pretty good output devices while inputs like bionic eyes are coming along more slowly and inputs to non-sensory functions such as language are basically still on the drawing board.
Not that this is a terrible situation, I think we can get a tremendous amount of usefulness from output devices alone, especially output devices that let us study brain data in real-time. I’m currently obsessed with the research being done on monks who have practiced many thousands of hours of meditation and how their brains are different. Also think output combined with feedback through a traditional computer screen might enable an entirely new method of learning things and, if capable of outputting what a person is imagining in her “mind’s eye,” a way of helping people learn how to visualize things better. Anxiously waiting for my ACME home brain scanning device.