IP: Altering human evolution: A report by the Commerce Department and the NSF

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

It is a big report and indeed is "non-standard". One does have to remember
that writing a report on today back in the late 30's would sound as strange.
(BTW 20 years is much to short a time for these) djf


------ Forwarded Message
From: Nathan Cochrane <ncochrane () theage fairfax com au>
Organization: The Age newspaper
Reply-To: ncochrane () theage fairfax com au
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 18:45:35 +1000
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Altering human evolution: A report by the Commerce Department

Hi Dave

I swear if it didn't have the imprimatur of the NSF and Commerce
Department behind it I would have thought this was a step outline for an
X-Files series. Is the US Government employing science fiction writers
to formulate policies these days?

Makes the arguments over swapping music and movies seem a little mundane.

cheers


In Technology We Trust
A draft US Government report says we will alter human evolution within
20 years by combining what we know of nanotechnology, biotechnology, IT
and cognitive sciences.

The 405-page report from the US National Science Foundation and Commerce
Department, "Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance",
calls for a broad-based research program to improve human performance
leading to telepathy, machine-to-human communication, amplified personal
sensory devices, and enhanced intellectual capacity.

People may download their consciousnesses into computers or into bodies
on the other side of the solar system, or participate in a giant "hive
mind" -- a network of intelligences connected through ultra fast
communications networks.

"With knowledge no longer encapsulated in individuals, the distinction
between individuals and the entirety of humanity would blur," the report
says. "Think Vulcan mind-meld. We would perhaps become more of a hive
mind -- an enormous, single, intelligent entity."

Armies may one day be fielded by machines that think for themselves
while devices will respond to soldiers' commands before their thoughts
are fully formed, it says.

The report says the abilities are within our grasp but will require an
intense public relations effort to "prepare key organisations and
societal activities for the changes made possible by converging
technologies", and to counter concern over "ethical, legal and moral"
issues. Education should be overhauled down to the lowest school levels
to bridge curriculum gaps between disparate subject areas. Professional
societies should be open to practitioners from other fields, it says.

"The success of this convergent technologies priority area is crucial to
the future of humanity," as conflicts build around non-renewable
resources, the report says.

MORE:
wtec.org/ConvergingTechnologies/Report/NBIC_pre_publication.pdf

-- 

Nathan Cochrane
Deputy IT Editor
:Next:
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.next.theage.com.au



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