IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2013 - 6

I would put a date such as 2030 or 2035 for that. What
we will see by 2020 will be computerized devices we
put inside the body largely for health interventions
such as a computerized artificial pancreas. In the
2030s and 2040s, the integration of microscopic sized
computerized devices will be underway and will go
beyond medical applications.
T&S: Your work on the Singularity concept has gained
worldwide attention and appreciation. Can you tell us a)
how your Singularity concept is linked with the vision
of the Transhumanist Movement? b) Are you a Transhumanist? c) Is Tranhumanism a vision or a religion?
RK: The Transhumanist Movement articulates a
vision of transcending - going beyond - our current
limitations as biological humans. One way to do that
is to reprogram our biology, and that process, called
biotechnology, is well underway and will reach its
mature phase in one to two decades. We will then go
beyond even an optimized and reprogrammed biology with nanotechnology. One quintessential application will be blood cell sized robots that act as an
immune system, one that will not have the limitations
of our current biological immune system (which, for

example, does not recognize cancer as a foe because
it thinks it is you).The Transhumanist movement also
envisions augmenting ourselves both physically and
mentally by integrating with our technology. These
are all concepts of the Singularity movement as well.
The Singularity concept is a bit broader in that it
focuses on AI, not just as an augmentation of humans.
My views are certainly consistent with the Transhumanist movement. My only hesitation is that I don't
like the term Transhumanism because it implies that
we will transcend our humanity. The way I articulate this is that we will remain human but transcend
our biological limitations. To transcend limitations is
precisely what being human is all about. So we are
not seeking to transcend humanity, only the current
limitations of humanity, and that is a process already
underway. However, we are stuck with this term. We
are also stuck with other terms that I don't like, such
as artificial intelligence (which implies that the intelligence is not real) or virtual reality (same problem).
Transhumanism is a realistic view of what will
happen to our species. It has implications for issues
that religion has attempted to deal with, but it is not
a religion in that it does not imply a particular dogma
about issues as the purpose and goals of life.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Connected, Yet Disconnected
Dear Editor:
The sociological impact of modern technology is indeed a concern. I happened to witness a small event - but
with a deep implication. I thought of sharing it with IEEE SSIT members.
It was a Saturday evening. My spouse and I went to a nearby coffee-shop to have a dessert and some quiet time
together ...
There they came ... a young couple. They walked in and occupied a cozy corner. A chocolate cladpastry and
a cup of coffee appeared on their table in due time. The man took a sip and the woman took a bite ... and then a
cell phone rang. Was it an urgent business call? The man got engrossed ...
The woman finished the pastry in silence. ... some more time ... and she pulled out her cell phone from her
purse. She fiddled with the buttons and somebody was there at the other end ... She got quite frivolous as she
talked on. Time ticked by. ...
The man finished his coffee with a frown on his forehead. After a while, the check was presented ... the man
quickly paid and they walked out ...
Cell phones were still glued to their ears ... hands were not held and glances were not stolen.
We thanked our stars that we did not belong to that generation. Cell phones have the great power of "Connecting
people" ... do they have the power to disconnect too?
Dr. Hiranmay Ghosh
IEEE Senior Member
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2013.2249372
Date of publication: 14 March 2013
Delhi, NCR, India
6

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

SPRING 2013

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