From "Wearables" to "Implantables" - The Cyborgs are Coming

Originally published on

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-wearables-implantables-cyborgs-coming-nwaiwu-mba-msc-

As technology continues to advance, it continues to shape and transform human society but physically and culturally. It becomes evident that humanity is entering into a technological epoch in which the human society will be frighteningly transformed in a most exponential manner. Our collective journey has seen us go through the agricultural age, to the industrial age, currently in the information age, and now looking at what may actually be the sci-fi age.

The emergence of more fundamental transformations in information and communications technologies and rapid advancement of digitisation which has had the profound effect of ushering us into the age of humongous data generation, the importance of data as a key resource for socio-economic and entrepreneurial transformation is now becoming a mainstream endeavour. Hence, the investments into Big Data and data mining/analytics is becoming a significant aspect of organisational strategy and decision making in many companies today.

Interconnected devices and the internet of things (IoT) are taking computing away from what it used to be in the sense of a strictly human endeavour to levels of now intersect significantly in human to machine, and machine to machine interactions. These days, the interconnection of technology and humans is becoming so intimately woven together in a way that everything now seems to be connected to everything, even if not so ubiquitously but the practicality of such interconnectedness has gone beyond a proof of concept phase such that a widespread manifestation is only limited by adoption influenced by cultural, religious or ideological factors or by deliberate government policies.

When we look at the future of work, the belief or perhaps fear is that technology especially artificial intelligence and automation will displace human labour, these fears are very valid if one does not ignore the mounting evidence that points to that, but through the use of implantable technologies, it may be possible for humans to tap into a higher level of efficiency that helps them compete against and survive the onslaught of the machines.

Implants have served medical purpose for persons with varying degrees of accidents or medical conditions that required artificial interventions, but taking it further with advancements in technology and the immense possibilities which it presents, humanity is set to enter new frontiers with implantable technologies that would turn normal humans into cyborgs with more advanced capabilities. https://www.mnn.com/leaderboard/stories/7-real-life-human-cyborgs

The use of wearable technologies has found very useful applications in healthcare, data gathering for marketing purposes and a host of other practicalities. Recently, an American company - Three Square Market (32M) decided to trial a free microchipping (RFID microchip implant) for its employees. https://www.livescience.com/59919-company-offers-free-chip-implants-to-employees.html

It is a voluntary program at the moment which was inspired by a Swedish company, BioHax International. The idea of a microchip implant is already throwing up conspiracy theories especially from the religious perspective, wisdespread adoption (beyond in-house company trials) may be hindered by the strengths of these conspiracy theories, but nevertheless, human progress will always find ways to triumph over skepticisms and suspicions.

While we watch developments unfold, it is imperative for us as individuals and societies to understand that the wise words of Sheikh Zaki Yamani that “the Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil” also applies to all other aspects of human life hence the need to be prepared for the change that will surely come.