How Is Technology Shaping The Way Humans Evolve?
Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil wrote in his 2005 book "The Singularity Is Near": "The continual acceleration of technology is the implication.
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Key takeaways
- Technology is often perceived as exclusively focused on digital, high-teach industries, or even nan-sciences.
- Open AI still enjoys an aura with the teach community concerned about a more ethical future.
- These people will also be able to adapt to future ecological and environmental changes.
Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil wrote in his 2005 book “The Singularity Is Near”: “The continual acceleration of technology is the implication and inevitable result of what is known as the Law of Accelerated Returns, which describes the accelerating pace and exponential growth of the products of an evolutionary process.” We would therefore be, according to scientists, in an era where technology and invention would be at the service of human evolution. However, the reality is more complex.
Technology is often perceived as exclusively focused on digital, high-teach industries, or even nan-sciences. However, technology has existed since the earliest traces of human life and has continually manifested itself in its most primitive forms. There was no mention of the term ’technology’ before 1952 during the annual speech of the presidents in the United States, a tradition maintained since the 1790s. The term technology then referred to the applied arts, but its definition is evolving and increasingly encompasses the advances and changes that affect the environment around us.
Technology and its changes affect society, culture, and traditions, but above all, a nation’s economic, political, and military trajectories. This is why it is interesting to see that inventions created millions of years ago have a domino effect on technological advances today.
First Technological Advances, First Discoveries #
The first traces of technology date back more than 2.5 million years ago. It was an invention of hominids (Homo Habilis, Homo Rectus) who made the ancestors a knife by cutting stones to make tools. Although rudimentary (hammers, cleavers, cleavers), what emerges is the ability of man to create an object to accomplish specific tasks, which demonstrates the cognitive particularity of the human species.
Even if it is not about technology, in the sense that we understand it today, it was indeed a technological turning point. The tool was used for several purposes, like protecting themselves from predators, making food more digestible, and eliminating pathogens from edibles; therefore, it led to an inevitable evolution of the human species.
But it is with Homo Sapient (the ancestor of man) that this technology is refined and succeeds. The sophistication of these tools will make it possible to work with new materials (bones, antlers, etc.) and thus create objects that we still use in our daily lives: hooks, bows, arrows, harpoons, mortars, pestles, etc. A lamp prototype had even been imagined with a hollow stone filled with animal fat, overhung by a wick allowing it to light up. It is evident, therefore, that although the technology of old manifests itself in a more rudimentary, less detailed way, it paved the way for the refinement of prehistoric tools, inventiveness, and creation for practical and functional purposes.
Spinning in the 1700s #
The post-medieval period is synonymous with revolutionary inventions. For example, in 1783, the hot air balloon made its first attempts, canned food was invented, and daily life was simplified. One of the most significant changes is the thermodynamic sector, with James Watt’s work leading to the first thermal machines to transform the energy from combustion (wood, coal) into mechanical energy. All these inventions led to the industrial revolution, which led to the creation of the automobile, and the railways, considerably changing the movements of millions of people.
It was then that the incandescent lamp was born, that the city of Quebec was equipped with electricity in 1885, and that Paris, the city of light, saw its starry terraces for the first time. Electricity also impacted communication between people with the creation of electric telegraphy. In the 1920s, electricity also facilitated the appearance of wireless telegraphy, allowing radios to be created. The BBC was one of the first in 1922.
Technology: The Limits of Progress? #
We could still highlight inventions that have changed our way of life, production, and consumption. Nevertheless, we are coming to an era where technology is so advanced that inventiveness is no longer exclusive to creative geniuses or scientists to serve a specific purpose.
The most dangerous threat is to pretend that all these advances are natural and all serve human evolution. No natural process creates a “smart” hairbrush, a “smart” rocker, a “smart” condom, a Bluetooth-enabled toaster, or an internet-connected air freshener. It is, therefore, more than necessary to rethink the relationship to technology, trying to understand what is helpful for human evolution, since otherwise, questions of overproduction and waste appear apparent.
Additionally, those running small businesses looking for innovation are overwhelmed by conglomerates like Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon. As a result, there is a growing gap between what users think of the technology around them and how companies influence their consumption. These companies say they cannot stop “the natural evolution of technology.” But “the natural evolution of technology” has never been innate, and it’s time to ask what “progress” and technology mean within human life by rethinking its relationship to technology.
Like all advances, technology has its pros and cons. Suppose we tend to focus too much on the wrong sides. In that case, there are people, organizations, companies that want to change the world today by promoting and developing technology with a human face that will benefit all of humanity, and examples abound.
OpenAI, an association, has become a company that counts among its creators, Melon Musk and Sam Altman. OpenAI aims to develop an artificial intelligence system where the vast majority of work and research is open, free of charge, open to the public on GitHub, attracts a large number of young talents, and is concerned about ethical issues. Even if Microsoft invested in it, the research is no longer public. Open AI still enjoys an aura with the teach community concerned about a more ethical future.
Better still, today, the low-teach movement affects more and more people. This concept, which wants to be the opposite of High-Teach, was born in the 1960s as a movement critical of it. At the end of the 2000s, several scientists began to study this subject again to bring it up to date, as did the engineer Philippe Bihouix, who advocated using Low-Teach to put an end to the ‘depletion of natural resources.
A “Low-Teach Lab” is a laboratory bringing together activists and scientists offering Low-Teach, open-source solutions. This is based on the fact that technology must provide solutions to “essential needs” in specific sectors: energy, food, water, waste management, building materials, housing, transport, hygiene, or health. Low-Teach must also be durable, that is, “robust, repairable, recyclable.” In addition, it must be designed “so that its ecological and social impact is optimal from production, distribution, use and until the end of life.” Finally, it must be accessible: “unlike high-teach, its cost and technical complexity are not prohibitive for a large segment of the population.”
Despite the growth aroused by technology, a more human and healthier version exists, and like any novelty, it evokes strong reactions, sometimes even unreal fantasies. It is up to us to better know how to apprehend it.
Humans and Technology #
These significant technological developments represent, beyond technical prowess, a flood of philosophical and ethical questions. Do we wish to witness the passing years until the age of 150? Will all the “current organizations in the world” succeed in setting up safeguards as has been done concerning human cloning? Will the economic stakes represented by these technological developments not take precedence over ethics and morality? Can the planet survive this race for energy-intensive technology? To what extent will citizens accept to gain in life expectancy but potentially by losing their freedom?
The development and quick uptake of new digital technologies and the appearance of current environmental problems like global warming, the depletion of fossil fuels, the deterioration of biodiversity, or even water shortages have all been added to this demographic transition. As augmented humanity continues to extend its life expectancy, will it be able to take advantage of new technologies to solve the current environmental crisis?
Augmented Man: Where Will the Extension of Our Life Expectancy Stop? #
The idea of perpetual life has always attracted people; in Homer’s Iliad, composed between 850 and 750 BC, the nymph Calypso tempts Odysseus by promising him youth and immortality. What if the concept of eternal life were more science than fantasy? According to futurologist Laurent Alexander, the first guy who will live more than 1000 years has already been born. According to Google’s director of engineering, Ray Kurzweil, immediate immortality is possible.
If these forecasts seem far-fetched, technological progress inevitably allows many innovations in the medical field, making us augmented humans. “Big Data and artificial intelligence will allow us to predict diseases and implement preventive treatments, and nanotechnology will change how we practice medicine. For example, soon, nanorobots will clean the arteries of augmented humans while feeding on their cholesterol,” explains serial entrepreneur Uwe Diesel. 3D printing is also giving rise to impressive feats: for example, a team of Israeli scientists recently managed to print an entire heart from human tissue. Every component of the human body will one day be able to be substituted.
How Are Start-ups Accelerating The Process? #
Many startups are exploiting the potential of new technologies to revolutionize the healthcare sector. This is, for example, the case of Neural Link, the company co-founded by Melon Musk, which develops brain implants of direct neural interfaces intended to allow paralyzed people to control a computer. In addition, the French startup Pixium Vision offers a bionic vision system for the visually impaired. Uwe Diesel has created Lifeina box, a portable mini fridge that allows individuals to keep their medicines at the right temperature.
For the entrepreneur, the challenge is not to know if technology will make us augmented men and extend our life expectancy: it is already the case. If tomorrow we all reach the age of 150, what will be the consequences on our planet?
We are still very far from the colonization of a new planet; we must find solutions to current environmental problems; this is undoubtedly the biggest challenge of the 21st century. To meet this challenge, entrepreneurs must move from ‘Teach for Money’ to ‘Teach for Good,’ that is to say, innovate and use technologies for the good of the planet. Many entrepreneurs are already adopting a ‘Teach for Good’ approach. For example, startup Nubia invented a shower head that atomizes water into millions of tiny droplets. According to the startup, their showerhead would save 757 billion gallons of water and four billion dollars annually in California alone if all its residents started using it.
In another arena, the English startup Pavegen creates interconnected paving stones that generate energy from passer-by’s footsteps in high-traffic areas such as airports or retail malls. We can highlight Algopack, a local company, and its biodegradable plastic created from green algae.
Supporting startups committed to the environmental cause is the focus of numerous efforts. This is especially true of GreenTech Verge; a government initiative started in 2016 to merge the digital revolution with the ecological transformation. GreenTech Verge supports the sharing of environmental data and hosts an incubator, requests for projects, startup competitions, hackathons, and other events.
Bottom Line #
The upcoming decades will mark a significant turning point for augmented humanity to adopt the technologies and energies that will restore an environmental balance. It is also expected to resolve the sociological issues linked to the growing age of the world population. Since extending the world’s life expectancy is generally perceived as excellent news, it raises many environmental questions. The future entrepreneurs and Teach for Good will therefore have the difficult task of reconciling augmented humanity and preserving its environment.
In the face of environmental challenges, technology will continue to play a crucial role in enabling people to live longer thanks to medical advancements made possible by new technologies. These people will also be able to adapt to future ecological and environmental changes.
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