IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2016 - 65

"Everybody must have wanted it."
"Sure, the way to survive the
decimation being caused by global warming was to infuse technologies that gave advanced warning
of an extreme condition, and later
on reset the stasis or base point
of internal human temperature,
depending on environmental conditions. Other advances actually
supercharged our body's perspiration rate."
"So you're saying we needed
ways to adapt to our environment,
faster than what would have been
the normal evolutionary process."
"Precisely. More than 2 million
years ago, humans followed separate paths under the forces of climate change, and over time bodies
naturally adjusted, skin pigmentation, surface area. However, the rise
time from 2 to 4 degrees was coming upon us so steeply that only new
technology could save us."
"Do you remember how much the
global temperature had increased,
by the time you met your husband?"
"We'd been at a 3.2 degree
increase for a few years, and then
unexpectedly it reached a bifurcation point and the environment
threw the carbon cycle into reverse.
Where you'd expect vegetation to
absorb carbon dioxide, plant life
and the soil itself began releasing
it, amplifying atmospheric concentrations, boosting us an unexpected 1.5 degrees. We quickly went
to 4.7."
"How drastic was the effect on
population?"
"Immediate. Heavy precipitation,
extreme heat, crop yields plummeted, billions died of starvation.
We lost most sea ice, and then Antarctica and Greenland mechanically
collapsed caused sea levels to reach
the 2 meter mark. People in low
lying areas drowned."
"What kind of climate enhancements were available, say in the '80s?"
DECEmber 2016

"Humans were then being equipped
"Ah, the inflection... where progto sense methane gases and infraress flattened out for a dozen years,
red fires."
before taking off again. Being on
"Did those features need to be
the wrong side of the curve, meant
embedded?"
obsolescence, job loss."
"Yes and no. The potential for
"Were upgrades automatic?"
random outbursts became impossi"For transhumans like Adam and
ble to monitor locally,
and although we could
have attached warning
devices to clothing,
We needed ways to adapt to our
it was more reliable
warning us directly
environment, faster than what
through a connection
to our autonomic nerwould have been the normal
vous system."
evolutionary process.
"And, what about
children during this
time?"
me, we were limited to single sourced
"Adam and I decided that when
upgrades, partly because we were
MacArthur was born, he'd have the
early adopters on the left side of the
latest in-the-body augmentation
inflection, and because proprietary
to ward off climate hazards and
encryption and firewalls didn't allow
mental enhancements to live free
competitive upgrades. Eventually,
from the burdens of physical labor
subsidies declined, and it became
that many were still living through.
impossible to remain updated."
We added components to speed
"How did this affect your family?"
access to historical data, and as
"Adam had worked as a programtime went by, improve logical reamer for years for a bio-computer
soning. This was the start of what
manufacturer in New-Seattle. One
became impenetrable boundaries
day he learned his company was
around users of cognitive technolbeing acquired by SoftCognition,
ogy, MacArthur included. Manufacwho was only keeping programturers incorporated encryption and
mers with Spark 3000 technolfirewalls, for no reason other then
ogy. He had a metabolic processor
preventing competitors from stealinstalled before the inflection,
ing trade secrets."
which monitored vital organs, send"Was the use of enhancements
ing real-time updates to an A.I. phywide spread?"
sician, but it didn't track cognitive
"No, actually just a relatively
functioning. Veritas-AG provided
small population. So, we grew dishis professional engine with identant from relatives and friends,
tification codes and keys to his
having less and less in common
internal 'safety deposit box' - a
as time went by. I think many were
device that maintained everything
embarrassed by how little they
he thought he'd ever need as a prounderstood. After all they only had
grammer. However, newer procestheir natural brains to draw on.
sors, used by SoftCognition, were
Eventually we considerably outlived
beginning to incorporate quantum
the people of our generation."
computers, which were incompat"Can you explain the Great Inflecible with the older digital procestion of the twenty-first century to our
sors. Weeks later, but before the
audience?"
acquisition, Adam was notified that
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