I am contractually obliged to spin out some of the ideas in this blog into a feature. What I have found in my web-based meanderings is that technology is now advancing at an exponential rate. Globalization and the Wiki-culture are the driving forces behind this revolution. Never before has knowledge and capital flowed so freely.
Look at it this way. In the 1950s, the most rudimentary adding machine would only just fit into a large room. By the 1970s, the first microchips were starting to appear. In the 80s, they were putting computers on board airplanes. In the 90s, they started putting them in washing machines. Now we have computers on toothbrushes. And I’m sure the toothbrush has more processing power than all its predecessors put together.
So where will it end? My feature will take Moore’s Law to its logical conclusion. It will draw together the latest advances in genetics, graphics and human-machine interfaces to imagine a future which is just around the corner. Some potential interviewees:
Look at it this way. In the 1950s, the most rudimentary adding machine would only just fit into a large room. By the 1970s, the first microchips were starting to appear. In the 80s, they were putting computers on board airplanes. In the 90s, they started putting them in washing machines. Now we have computers on toothbrushes. And I’m sure the toothbrush has more processing power than all its predecessors put together.
So where will it end? My feature will take Moore’s Law to its logical conclusion. It will draw together the latest advances in genetics, graphics and human-machine interfaces to imagine a future which is just around the corner. Some potential interviewees:
- Max More (the Branson-looking founder of the Extropy Institute, and a leading advocate of transhumanism).
- Professor Ian Owens (Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Imperial College, London)
- Professor Antonia Jones (Professor of Evolutionary and Neural Computing at Cardiff University)
Watch this space.
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