The expression “in a heartbeat” may not have the same meaning in the future if technology under development has a say. Conventional thinking on replacing the heart with a device that works the same way as the heart is being turned on its head by devices that don’t beat at all. These new artificial hearts
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Animals come in many shapes and forms. Insects and other arthropods share a common physical attribute. They wear their skeletons on the outside. We call them invertebrates. Humans and other mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, called vertebrates, have an internal or endoskeleton. In this blog we explore the fusing of internal skeleton-based biology with
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In our last blog we introduced HeartLander, a device that when inserted into the chest cavity can deliver medication, ablation therapy and provide assistance in lead placement for pacing the heart muscle. HeartLander’s developers hope to shrink it to 3 millimetres from its current size, 8.5 mm. Devices of this type represent the start of
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Biomechanics is the biological equivalent of a human-computer duopoly. A duopoly is normally a marketing term describing a situation in which there are only two sellers. So I’m taking poetic license in using the term and doing so to describe what is both a convergence of humanity and machines as well as symbiosis. In the
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In Part 3 we neglected to discuss the use of virtual reality for assessment and rehabilitation related to physical injuries, brain trauma and neuropsychological problems. Computer simulation and video gaming are the new tools in this field. The following describes the use of these technologies here at the beginning of the second decade of the
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Humanity is closer today to immortality than it has ever been. We have surpassed Darwinian survival of the fittest to reach a new stage in evolution, creating humans reshaped by advances in biology combined with technology. In the 21st century one of our human challenges will be – do we really want to go there?
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Is the dehumanizing of our species our fate in the 21st century? Will humans become hybrids combining the machines they create with themselves? When will artificial intelligence surpass human intelligence? What are the implications of our pursuit in creating intelligent machines?
In Part 2 of this 4-part blog we look at the evolution of computers from the ENIAC to quantum and neuromorphic-chip based computing.
