Hack The Body

I have a short lunch today so I must be brief, but I wanted to point to these two articles, both published today:
Monkey controls robot hand through brain implants
Prosthetics Breakthrough Might Fuse Nerves With Fake Limbs

So many times on this blog, I've talked about the "next great technological revolution" being the fusion of man and machine. And I'm not the only one to say so. When I was reading that Danger Room article about the prosthetics breakthrough, I was reminded of 15 years ago when 3D printers were still cutting-edge tech. Now one can be in your living room for about $300 and there will probably come a day in the next decade where having one is standard issue for many engineering students, just like a laptop/PC is now.
So you can imagine how I feel like we're on the precipice of the man-machine revolution. And here we are, right in the middle of it. When my grandfather was born in 1924, the first televisions were just becoming commercially available. When he died this past week, I could watch high definition video on my phone wirelessly beamed to where ever I am. I was born in 1982 when...imagine what 2070 will be like! I humbly submit that by 2070 people will watch videos that are directly beamed into their brains. It sounds absurd, perhaps. But 87 years ago smartphones belonged only in the dreams of science fiction novelists.


_