The Coming Transhuman Era

 Transhumanism  

Transhumanism is a loaded word.  Jason Sosa, CEO of IMRSV urges for people to push humanity forward in his presentation on the subject at a TEDx event.

At this year's TEDx event in Grand Rapids, Jason Sosa spoke about the coming transhuman era. The video (above) clearly presents what the future may bring, and how the children of today will accept technology merging with their bodies as totally natural.

Sosa reviews how technology evolves to bring about results that were not initially anticipated.  The development of the cellular network has led to mobile computing, and the internet has led to cat videos. Like other transhumanists, he finds that the pace of technology will progress to a point to where biology will become the limiting factor.

Augmenting our biology has already begun, as Sosa explains.  Exponential development, made famous by Moore's Law has evolved technology to make it smaller, faster, cheaper and more powerful everyday.

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Sosa explains how his company's facial recognition software is part of this trend, and has many transhuman applications.  Among these is "for robots to develop a form of synthetic empathy; to understand human intent."

Wearables are aslo discussed.  "Further along the wearable continuum, will be things like embeddables," states Sosa, refering to sensors placed under the skin.  Combined with the Internet of Things, we will increasingly be a part of the global computational paradigm.  "The real power comes when these devices being to talk to each other."

"If this wasn't good enough for you, Body 2.0 will include artificial eyes, with zoom capabilities and infrared sensors and night vision will be possible," Sosa continues.  Prosthetic limbs will be more flexible and powerful than our biological ones. In the future, the blind will see, paralysis will be overcome and the deaf will hear.

"Body 2.0 will include artificial eyes, with zoom capabilities and infrared sensors and night vision will be possible."

Memory implants and recording will also become possible, and according to the examples Sosa provides, we are already in the early stages.  Reconstructing images in the brain has already been able to see how the brain processes YouTube videos.  These technologies may progress to allow for mind uploading brain-to-brain interfaces and more.  Sosa calls this the "brain net."

Sosa expects there to be a backlash against transhumanism, even if great benefits can be achieved.  "But that all changes with the kids of today," says Sosa.  The children today are "digital natives," born into a world that allows them to be immersed in computer technology. "To them transhumanism will seem as natural as evolution," he says.

Image Source - H+ Magazine

Sosa is the founder and CEO of IMRSV, a computer vision and artificial intelligence company and was named one of "10 Startups to Watch in NYC" by Time Inc., and one of "25 Hot and New Startups to Watch in NYC" by Business Insider. He has been featured by Forbes, CNN, New York Times, Fast Company, Bloomberg and Business Insider, among others.

From Sosa's website:

I’m obsessed with the symbiotic relationship between humans and technology. I love design, philosophy and user experience. I believe the world is entering into a hybrid reality; the merging of the virtual with the physical world, creating a digital nervous system for the planet. This concept is the focus of my work today. Over the last few years I’ve been inspired by the ideas of Ray Kurzweil, Michio Kaku, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.

SOURCE  TEDx Talks

By 33rd Square

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