Singularity University plots hi-tech future for humans
Are we moving to an era of highly intelligent
robots?
Rob Nail walks into the room looking
like a Silicon Valley Doctor Who as played by David Tennant - tailored suit,
3D-printed trainers and the Californian twist on the sonic screwdriver, Google
Glass.
But despite spending most of his days predicting what the future will look like, he doesn't want to become a time lord.
"I feel more like a robot," says the chief executive of the Singularity University (SU).
He thinks that the gap between humans and robots is closing as biology and silicon increasingly collide.
He reels off examples.
Bionic eyes that combine a Google Glass device with a tiny electrode in the retina and will be available in the US for partially-sighted people in a few weeks' time. It is only a matter of time before they filter down to the wider public. "Useful for pilots.," he says.
He describes apps for the next-generation Google Glass that will allow users to read the heat maps of people's faces to tell if someone is lying or not. "They will either be banned or become a must-have in the world's boardrooms."
And the first re-engineered human is not far off, either. "It will come within the next year, probably initially to offset some disease," he predicts.
"If you want to be at the head of the class in future you are going to have to be enhanced," he says matter-of-factly.
Disruptive technology
Can the human brain be compared to computer
code? Singularity University is a quintessentially Silicon Valley concept. An organisation some regard almost as a cult, others treat with amusement but which few are prepared to entirely ignore.
That isn't just because it is home to some of the brightest minds on the planet. Or the fact that it is based at Nasa's research park in Mountain View and within spitting distance of the Google campus.
What is making people sit up and take notice of SU is the fact that it has identified a range of disruptive technologies - innovations that can disrupt existing markets - that it believes will change the world, from digital manufacturing to biotechnology, from robotics to artificial intelligence.
Read the full article at - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25000753
