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Jan 23 at 11:43am

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Regarding "Being Human" - Richard Harper, et al.

Brilliant article.  Just brilliant.  

I always get excited when I think of augmenting human reasoning, though the reading didn't really take the direction that I thought it would.  Always looking for theNTZ (Links to an external site.)that will keep me in the game when strong AI outperforms humans in a mainstream fashion. 

In section 2.6, (p. 49), Harper, et al, points out that, "increasingly sophisticated tools to augment our human capabilities speaks strongly to the human values associated with our desire for productivity and industriousness in our lives."  And certainly, the examples of creative collaboration, such as GitHub and "smash-ups," are huge enhancements on the way that I learned when I was in college in the early '90s.  Yet, isn't there a more obvious track to human reason augmentation?  And why is it that we are all so afraid of AI that we continue to make Terminator and SkyNet allusions?  

What if we simply join with the AI?  I've been saying "chip me" for years. And now there's a brilliant, wealthy entrepreneur named Bryan Johnson (Links to an external site.) out in California working on just that.  His company in called Kernel (Links to an external site.).

What does "enhancing human intelligence" actually mean? (Links to an external site.)

Johnson proposes speeding up the human operating system by giving us more RAM.  That's certainly an oversimplification, but doesn't that just sound right at this point?  

The authors of "Being Human" do point out, and we are all aware, of how physical augmentation has been (read pace-makers) and will be changed by machines.  What better way to take the next step and speed up our neurological processes than by implanting a device that increases our internal storage capacity - that with which we all compare each other on intelligence scales (read memory).  And of course, that device will interface with the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as the World Wide Web.  If the global super highway of information is flowing through your brain- as Larry Page (Links to an external site.), founder of Google, suggested at TED - rather than simply at your finger tips (how obsolete), all knowledge is available just-in-time.  Think how this will change education.

I think that kind of interfacing will be a natural human evolution. I love the article and all of it's brilliant moral and ethical philosophizing.  I know I sound Transhuman (Links to an external site.).  But the plain truth is, as we begin to adopt VR and AR based on economic viability - among other huge exponential innovations, such as machine learning - we will simply go more in the feared direction that "Being Human" suggested was so uncouth - like the cavalier student who sends email in SMS-speak with emoticons for excuses on tardy assignments.  Yes, I've received those from my adorable college students, as well.  (They're not uncultured swine - we are just getting old and grumpy ;))

The "balance" is embracing what's coming, rather than resisting.

Exercise Vis-iologist, anyone?

My obsession into VR really fuels everything I write and think about now.  No, relief here.  

The VR startup I am building was initially concerned mostly with the idea of creating a VR UI that would enable users to capitalize on that elusive state great athletes have been able to reproduce intuitively for years:  visualization.  Virtual interaction with avatars, human and computer controlled, within the HTC Vive, among other head-mounted displays, has shown me that it is, indeed, possible.  Certain VR interactions cause some serious biofeedback.  

Most people are aware of the nausea caused by prolonged exposure to this immersive interface.  I thought we could really use that to our advantage.  Rather than looking at increased heart-rate or sweating as negative externalities of the VR experience, I see a great future where, because of the  evolving efficacy of VR applications, humans will no longer need "exercise."  Rather, they may confer with VR-knowledgeable "Vis-iologists" rather than personal trainers to seek the ideal physique.  

Several brilliant examples exist that have augmented my own initial enthusiasm and intuition in the matter.  They include Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) (Links to an external site.) and elite VR athletic training innovator STRIVR (Links to an external site.).  Stanford has shown that exercise habits can change by witnessing our more fit virtual selves (Links to an external site.), for an exhilarating example. The strides(pun intended) these to endeavors have made showing that training in the "Virtual" world can greatly impact our experience and our physical abilitieswith the "real" world is nothing short of remarkable - something right out of Total Recall (Links to an external site.) science fiction.  

By interacting with computer generated models of reality and a verisimilar avatar, humans will become more intimate and facile with their own physical form.

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