In 1965, An American researcher Gordon Moore (later co-founder of Intel) had extensively researched on semiconductors and realized that components are getting smaller and the number of the components mounted on-chip were rising along with its processing power. This observation was further concluded as “with the rising invention, technologies are getting smarter and better than previous one” but this conclusion challenges the human intellect in the long run.
In the growing age of technology, the human will exceed their own intelligence which will lead to the era of technological singularity. It has been estimated that by 2040 (20 years from now) we will be able to achieve superhuman intelligence either by amplifying human intelligence or by creating artificial intelligence (AI) which will surpass human cognitive abilities as of now.
Introduction to Post-human era
The technological singularity is a machine age when technology exceeds human intelligence and Cyborgs would be an exorbitant creature. Futurists speculate that such a technological revolution will enable us to improve the processing power, intelligence, and the memory limits of our mind through changing the structure of the brain or porting our mind on to same hardware on which intelligence runs on. A socialist William Sims Bainbridge had coined the concept of “Cyberimmortality”, where we will be able to exist with our ideology and spiritual eternity even after our body will decay, by uploading digital records of our thought and feelings into a perpetual storage device.
Cyborgs are bio-robots that are a combination of machines and mammals (especially humans). It applies to organisms to restore function or enhance the capabilities of any parts of the body by the integration of some artificial components. We often come across the Cyborg in different sci-fi movies like the Alita: The Battle Angel, Darth Vader, and Misty Knight from marvel comics. Some of the most common Cyborg alive in this world are:
S no. | Name | Implanted Parts |
1. | Neil Harbisson | With an antenna implanted on his head, he looks likes an ant’s giant. He was born with extreme color blindness and can only see black and white. The planted antenna creates color perception. |
2. | Dr. Kevin Warwick | Warwick is known as “Captain Cyborg” is a university professor. He did several experiments like fitting a microchip in his hand which helps him to operate lights, household appliances, and computers remotely. |
3. | Nigel Ackland | He lost his forearm in severe injury and after many surgeries, he finally has bionic3 hand. This helps him to move his muscle and controlling his arm. This move independently to all five fingers with suitable grip to objects |
4. | Cameron Clapp | In a train accident, he lost his both legs and an arm. He got fitted with a couple of prosthetic legs controlled by his brain and microprocessor. Since then he becomes an athlete and an amputee activist. |
5. | Claudia Mitchell | She is the first woman to have bionic arms. She lost her hand in a road accident but she got the robotics limbs from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. |
https://medicalfuturist.com/the-worlds-most-famous-real-life-cyborgs/
Is technological singularity achievable?
The answer to this question lays on the vision of Inventor and futurist, as of one the prominent futurist Ray Kurzweil quotes “technological change so rapid and profound that it represents a rupture in the fabrics of human history”. He believes that singularities will be achieved by approximately by 2045. On another note, a British mathematician and father of modern computer science Alan Turing predict that one day computer will play chess better than humans. In 1950 he published an article titled “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” where he introduced he believe in assessing computer intelligence.
One of the greatest limitations of human intelligence is its speed. In ideal condition neurons in the human brain fires about 200 times per second while a silicon transistor can send and receive the signal more than 2 billion times per second. Several supercomputers have already passed the level of 10^15 operation per second while it takes 500 milliseconds or half seconds by our subconscious to incorporate sensory information from the outer world.
The challenging trajectory of singularity:
The evolution of artificial intelligence in the last few decades brought singularity at the doorstep but the impact of AI on further innovation across cyberspace, geospace, and space (CGS) create many concern and uncertain security risk for future of humanity and mankind. It’s almost unpredictable as for now that how the machine will take over the human space but the machine can take over the human space, it can promote cybercrime and humanity can be ruined which will be a threat to human existence in long run. The vision of Cyberimmortality will be adopted perfectly if server will never crash, the power system will never fail and people of the next generation take care of assets given by their ancestors.
Conclusion
Many famous futurists, scientists and tech billionaires like as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking, Ray Kurzweil, Vernor Vinge believe that they are close to achieving super human-level machine intelligence. They think it is an opportunity to serve humanity and are trying to reveal the mystery of nature by combining the intellect and muscle of both humans and machines.