Research to Date

A technological singularity would be the most revolutionary, rapid growth of technology that has ever occurred. Ray Kurzweil, certainly one of the most influential authorities on the subject, explains this change with the Law of Accelerating Returns. (1) An extension of Moore's Law, which originally described the exponential acceleration in computer hardware developments, it explains that the evolution of all human technology has followed an exponential curve. Billions of years passed before the first single-celled organism emerged, and hundreds of millions more to unintentionally create such an intelligent being as Homo sapiens. Since the development of science quite recently, human technology has come to a point that is unmatched by all technology from our past, combined. (2) This is the most basic assumption of my research, because without an exponential curve, the effects of human culture and biology would not approach the urgency it causes right now.
Anthropology must recognize these rapid changes in the light of exponential expansion of technology, as they change our mental and physical capacities by melding the brain and the rest of the body with computers, they enhance our biology by allowing us to engineer genes and neurons to increase favorable traits, and give us access to all the world's knowledge. The implications go far beyond anthropology and will necessarily be explained by interdisciplinary study and collaboration with realms outside of academia, within the internet user community that generates useful new inventions and applications.
To get a sense of just how far technology has come and how rapidly our societies have changed, take for example the progression of the internet search engine. For those who can remember, less than 20 years ago the search engine was something utilized only among an elite few, certainly not part of public consciousness. After the rise of internet search engines during the 1990's, the unlimited availability of information has become a normal part of life, embedded in every aspect of cultures affected by the internet, and accepted and perpetuated by "Generation Z" faster than any generation has latched onto a technology. The parallel with human biological evolution helps materialize this idea in one's mind: once a simple mammal evolved certain beneficial features, it builds off of every new characteristic previously attained and eventually turns into something that exceeds the original until it is so different as to become another species or genus. Transition
The term "Cyborg" (Cybernetic Organism) describes a biological organism that has been mixed with machine technology to enhance its natural capabilities. Humans are already cyborgs because of the intimate nature of their relationship with the internet. Brain-Computer Interface Technologies (BCI's) are remarkably more advanced than just 10 years ago and it is now possible to control electronic material by translating brain waves into demands in a computer. Companies such as CyberKinetics, Neurosky, and OLogic have created BCI technologies that allow a human brain to control a computer by turning brain wave signals into mathematical algorithms that evolve to "learn" the correlation between certain wave patterns and the desired command. Transition
Advances in human-machine interface technology are progressing in more ways than just reading brain waves to influence a computer, although I cannot stress the importance of that enough. Many researchers are questioning the functionality of immobile plastic pieces like keyboards and non-interactive screens that limit the user's interaction with a computer. In 2006, Jeff Han of New York University introduced an intuitive, touch screen computer that nearly eliminates human-machine interface barriers by conforming to the user's hands instead of the user conforming to the computer. This type of computer intuitively reacts to a person's hands on the screen as if they were moving real, physical particles. (3) Going even further, Researchers at the MIT Wearable Computing Lab have created the most interactive computer system to date that can be projected on any surface by the user. The most remarkable characteristic is that a camera attached to the body can recognize simple hand gestures such as taking a picture by creating a square with fingers or drawing a watch on the wrist. It then takes the picture or connects to the internet to project the desired information onto the surface the user has chosen for the moment. This kind of revolution in computer technology should do away with the traditional computer that keeps users in one place and limits information retrieval from the web. Being able to connect every physical environment we confront with unlimited information about objects in that space will expand human capabilities beyond the imagination. Human biology is being fundamentally altered as well by manipulating preexisting organic material, and creating nano-scale robots, both used to augment the body.
Nanotechnology is accelerating faster than my research can keep up with, and the understanding of nanorobotics will usher in a new age of medicine, biotechnology, and computer technology by using nanoelectromechanical systems to assemble nanoparticles that will eventually be able to target certain biological structures (e.g damaged cells) and fix them inside the body. If we develop the ability to extend human life as long as we want by repairing damages on the cellular and molecular level, then human illness would theoretically diminish. This of course has enormous implications for human values regarding life and death, and what it means to be human in the first place. Our species certainly is something special, and the most incredible thing that makes us special is our unique intelligence that has far surpassed any other organism we've encountered. This brings me to my next point: scientists are coming closer to understanding our intelligence so much that artificial machine intelligence is something to be taken seriously.
Artificial intelligence has been developing for over half a century, starting with the most basic program such as the General Problem Solver in 1957, which could find mathematical proofs for theorems. (2) From the ideas put forth so far in this 50 year discussion, the question is not whether A.I will develop beyond human abilities, but when it will evolve to such complexity. The influence of A.I can be seen in the cars we drive, search engines, bots and spiders scanning through unfathomable amounts of data, powering search engines and personal computers. We are at a point where A.I is used by government agencies, companies, schools, and individuals only for recreation. Most of the data translation people are able to accomplish would be impossible without some sort of A.I program behind it. Take for example a spider bot. Its function is to scan data, analyze, and file certain information at speeds and with precision that humans could never accomplish alone. Without this type of computer program, the internet would not exist as it does now, giving anyone the ability to find almost any information on the web.
To put this information into perspective and appreciate the incredible implications for our future, consider this: The human brain evolved over millions of years to reach the state it is in now, the most intelligent organism on the planet. That brain then became conscious of itself and is now manipulating naturally occurring elements so far as to create entirely new non-biological intelligent beings. This is all a naturally occurring process just as a beaver dam occurs naturally through selection pressures to create the beaver. The questions for anthropologists are vast. My research focuses on the current state of BCI, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and RFID's, and their affects on human interaction while using these technologies. Internet use and availability of technology to the average consumer in industrialized areas has become not just a luxury or recreation, but so much a part of daily life that it is nearly impossible to avoid.
Developing technology that extends lives by making humans part non-biological and incapable of degeneration will transform our morals, values, and culture beyond recognition. Artificial intelligence is assumed to develop to a point where human and robot minds are indistinguishable, or to go beyond human minds in their ability to process qualitative information. For cultural anthropology, the most interesting aspect of the changes is in the shift of identity and the enormous changes in communication techniques. Suddenly, humanity will find itself in a society influenced by non-biological minds with their own opinions and their own cultures. A global consciousness will develop out of the countless communication technologies by connecting distant ideas. We already see this in the age of the internet. For me, many of the questions are unanswerable but somewhat predictable. I will describe the relevant technologies and incorporate them into the group's collaborative study.


1.) http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=memelist.html?m=1%23691
2.) http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0134.html?printable=1
3.) http://www.cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/

Here are links to some very informative websites if you want to learn more about BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) Technological Developments

http://www.thinkartificial.org/ This is a blog site with tons of links to other sites and categories such as A.I and Machine Interfaces.

http://www.neurosky.com/
A company that produces incredible BCI technologies such as in the video below where a person controls a video game only by using his mind: Check out a video about them on YouTube as well:

http://www.ologicinc.com/
"OLogic is an embedded systems research and development company with a focus on robotic applications, and bringing robotic technologies to life in non-robotic product domains."

http://regen.eyetap.org/
This is eyeTap Labs, exploring "Existencial Technology", "Wearable Computing", and "Mediated Reality" to name a few endeavors. Must See! They produced the techology used below for the 2003 DECONism Gallery.

Electroencephalography: Want to know just HOW BCI technology is possible? It's called Electroencephalography, and it is a blossoming field that allows such inventions to flourish! Check out our beloved Wikipedia for more info and plenty of links.

http://eyetap.org/deconism/

A Musical Brainwave Performance at the DECONism Gallery in 2003. "REGEN3 will present the latest developments in EEG brainwave music research, by presenting an ensemble comprised of Toronto jazz musicians playing music which is driven and altered by the brainwaves of the audience. Audience members can become part of an advanced mass EEG system which uses audience brainwaves to control the music and lighting environment: a truly 'smart' building. Join us and see what happens when the mood of the environment is "regenerated" by the collective consciousness of the attendees."

Presentation: Transhumanism and the future of identity

Here is the presentation I gave in class on Tuesday 3/10:

Transhumanism is going beyond our biology by melding human and machine and eventually creating non-human conscious entities.

The brain evolved over millions of years to get to the state of self-awareness that it now has.

VERY few organisms have this biological characteristic.

What we see now is the process of natural selection creating a self-aware brain, understanding itself (our science/technology), creating a new biological form (genetic/neural engineering), and creating a new form of mind that is not a result of a brain evolved over millennia (Artificial Intelligence).

So what happens to natural selection?

•Neural Engineering/Cybernetic technology allows for further development in:

•Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) Technologies:

–BrainGate, created by the company Cybernetics in 2003, allows brain to control computer with thoughts, not action from the rest of the body.

–Brain (Neural) Implants that allow for direct brain-computer interaction: Cochlear Implants (hearing), Pacemakers.

–Chronic Electrode Implants: Electronic devices implanted into the brain. They record electrical impulses or stimulate the neurons using an outside electrical source. Implications in simulating damaged senses or senses not natural to humans.

•Machine-Human evolution revolution. Machines evolving MUCH faster than we did…

•Neural Engineering: Already formed brain can be engineered/adapted to fit with computer pieces (eg Matthew Nagle-BrainGate) using electrode implants.

•Literal “Intelligence Supplements”: Already do this with internet-human/computer interface will become blurred line-already see this (MIT, 3D Computer Interface)

•Artificial Intelligence Developments:

•Recursive Formula-“Recognition-Based Pruning Algorithm” (Kurzweil) Ex. Draw with best chess player in the world in 2002.

•Not just replication of human thought processes. Rather, machine “thought”, with sometimes human model.

• Quantitative ability far surpasses human abilities, Qualitative abilities in humans mark the difference. (eg data analysis)

•What will happen to previous notions of human identity?

•EVERYTHING will be radically different including: the way we interact, language, sexuality, sexual reproduction, values, religious belief, recreation, dogmas, emotion, ethics, perception, biological evolution, biological “necessities”, etc…

•How will machines develop an identity within a world created by humans (including their own awareness)?

George the Chatterbot

Cyberkinetics: Controlling Machine with the Mind

Presentation Preview for Jessica's Research on Mind-Machine Identity and Interaction.

This week I will give a presentation on the research I have done so far on the topic of Transhumanism and the vast array of technologies we should see with it including, but not limited to: Cybernetics, Neural Engineering, Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics, and Brain-Machine interface technologies such as Cyberkinetics (controlling machine with the mind). I will present the most relevant technologies and a few of Ray Kurzweil's ideas about exponential growth and the technological singularity, then bring these ideas back to my basic research questions with the following points:

1.) Technology is developing at an exponential rate. Those technologies that transform human-computer interface into a more intimate relationship, are expanding both human and computer capabilities.

2.) These capabilities include change in the intelligence of humans by connecting the physical brain to a computer and the internet to access information otherwise more difficult to attain, and a change in computer intelligence by developing stronger A.I technology.

3.) As in Eisenstein's ideas about the revolutionizing printing press, a human ability to access all of human knowledge using technology that melds the brain to the internet will cause a fundamental change in human identity, the product of self-awareness.

4.) If computers too become self-aware as is a human brain, then an entirely new concept of person will emerge, beyond what we could ever imagine in the past. Ray Kurzweil says that A.I will exceed natural human intelligence which has been unrivaled by everything else on Earth until now.

5.) What we see is the natural process of biological evolution developing a brain with consciousness, understanding itself (human science and technology), and creating a new form of itself by both manipulating biological evolution (genetic and neural engineering), and creating non-biological consciousness with computers.

I will mainly focus on machine and human consciousness when it is dramatically altered using technology, and the future of identity and personhood. Drawing on the idea of the singularity and transhumanism/posthumanism, I will describe current predictions of how human behavior will change. The acquisition and dissemination of knowledge, creation of new technologies to increase

Monkey Controls Machine with Brain: Miguel Nicolelis

Jeff Han demonstrates Incredible Touch Screen Human-Computer Interface: TED Talk : 2006

Bionic Eye Interfaced with the Visual Cortex of the Brain: From "The Human Body: Pushing the Limits", Discovery Channel

Jessica Ice's Methodology Proposal: Posthuman/Computer Identity

Given the nature of my research, I will not be doing ethnography like many of the other researchers in the KSU Digital Ethnography Anonymity Project. Instead, my research focuses on questions about the future.

I am asking questions about the future of identity: what is personal identity, when does a non-human machine possess a personal identity, and how do technological developments that blur the lines between non-human and human identity change the behavior of both entities. After all, nearly everything a self-reflecting entity does is dependent on how it understands it's existence. Therefore, there are huge implications that come with a shift in this understanding of oneself. A posthuman/bot revolution would transform the traditionally biological human and usher in a new kind of person, one that is not biological, yet still intelligent and possibly self-aware. Yet, humanity has thought of itself as the ultimate intelligence of the universe (that we know of), and this affects the ways we behave towards each other and other creatures. We have already created machines that mock our personal characteristics to some extent (e.g chatterbots), and this has quickly changed the way we understand ourselves. As technology progresses faster than we can keep up with, we must step back and ask ourselves, who am I as a human, and what is that/who are they as a machine? Let's explore the meaning of personal existence in light of computer technology... :)

As I said, my research will not be ethnographic, but instead will consist of mainly literature review and teaching myself the relevant technological concepts (which are many) in order to apply them to social theory about the future of identity. I will do an extensive literature review, looking mainly at the kinds of technologies that have been proposed in the past few years, when those technologies were theoretically feasible, and those that have actually been created. I will analyze these technological advances not with any claim of much practical knowledge in the computer and biochemical sciences etc., but instead rely on people in relevant disciplines that are regarded as experts within their field.

This methodology must be very interdisciplinary because it requires a certain understanding of computer science, biology, psychology, philosophy, nanotechnology, chemistry (e.g molecular nanobots), and of course anthropology.
So far, I have read many of the most prevalent thinkers in tranhumanist/posthuman theory such as Ray Kurtzweil, Hans Moravec, and Nick Bostrom. I will also be analyzing the ideas of those opposed to transhumanism and writers who believe rapid technological changes will bring about more bad than good or a change in culture that is detrimental.

However, although it is easy to get caught up in the philosophical aspects of technology, and I will cover this, I do not want to stray far from my current research question of how technology will change personal identity, human or non-human. Therefore, I will focus less on analyzing their good or bad nature, and instead I'll focus on their affect on identity, interaction, ideology, society, etc. I hypothesize that if the understanding of human and computer as persons is changed, then social nature will be radically changed. I believe it is also very important to analyze the existing cultural ideas we have about the future of technology and humanity. I'll note that different cultural traditions have very different ideas about robots, dystopias, A.I, and the future of other technologies that always affect our opinion on good/bad or predictions about the future.

In formulating my own ideas I will first read everything I can on the subjects of personhood, technology, (especially artificial intelligence), and computer-human interaction on the web and off, as well as the theories of mind from psychology, anthropology, and philosophy. This will certainly be a traditional research format of reading and forming my own hypothesis afterward. I also want to stress that, although I find transhumanism to have many desirable ideas, I will remain objective during my research by critically analyzing theories and hypothesis put forth by writers.