Kurzweil’s singularity. Intriguing stuff. It made Peter Hinssen almost nauseous at the last #TEDxBrussels conference. Too much Singularity is bad for you, everybody knows that. It’s a bit scary, talking about this almost magic moment in the not-so-distant future where man and machine will finally merge, kind of…
While most speakers could comfortably maintain an intelligent helicopter approach, Rob Spence was different. He is, well, an eyeborg. Six years ago, a stupid shooting incident destroyed one of his eyes. Rather than feeling sorry, or permanently mimicking one-eyed Jack Sparrow, he opted for filling that empty spot. Literally. With a camera. Equipped with a wireless video camera prosthetic in his right eye socket, Spence moves now in the world as a human camera. An Eyeborg. It gives Rob Spencer extensive international press attention. Time Magazine recognized his eye as one of the 50 best inventions of the year. Spence speaks all over the world.
Spencer looked a happy man. As happy as some people I know with ear prosthesis that help them hear. Or some people with pacemakers that make them live. There seems to be more and more machinery in humans around us. Do some microchips, sensors, titanium plates or bolts make us less human?
The moral question will be what to do with it. I, for one, look forward to that debate… it will be a hefty one. Do we define “human” as the body, the mind, or both. What do you think? Think carefully ;-).
