smart health connected objects will they make us superheroes?

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At a time when smart health connected objects are democratizing and offering more and more features, it seems obvious that the next evolution of the human race is based on technology. Will the Internet of Things lead the revolution of transhumanism?

In the course of our lives, our failures make us understand: we are hardly anything but humans. However, technology is currently redefining the notion of humanity. Reflecting on it, we are vastly different from those who preceded us. The technology has allowed us to meet many challenges, but it also helps us improve our condition.

The skin, the lungs, the artificial organs, the tactile holograms, the devices with gestural control … all these innovations bring out an obviousness. The transhumanism is the next stage of human evolution. All the elements of human physiology (the senses, the organs, the brain, the skeleton, the muscles) will sooner or later be improved by the Internet of Things.

transhumanism

According to the dictionary, the term transhumanism is a theory and an intellectual movement according to which the human race can evolve beyond its current mental and physical limits thanks to science and technology. The origins of this notion have their roots in the confines of science fiction, but are becoming reality. In a way, the transition has already begun, with, for example, the democratization of plastic surgery or the quantification and connection of our world via the Internet of Things.

The smart health connected objects and the Internet of Things are pushing the limits of the intellectual, physical and psychological capacities of humanity. However, if technology can improve our lives, it is important to measure the ethical consequences of technological changes in the human body. Transhumanism could inaugurate a new golden age for the human, but also lead to an inexorable fall.

smart health connected objects inaugurate transformation

It is important to understand the nature of the improvement technologies. smart health connected objects and the Internet of Things are based on advances in different areas, such as hardware engineering and quantum mechanics. We are still far from the cybernetic implants on demand imagined by the visionaries. However, several companies are already developing exoskeletons to increase strength and allow individuals to move heavy objects safely. Various medical devices and other technologies are already improving the human experience.

For example, only researchers and clinicians benefit from the latest diagnostic wearables, butconsumers have access to haptic t-shirts, smart sports devices or sensors embedded in shoes and wristbands. These accessories make it possible to better measure the effort, and by extension to increase the sensation felt during the exercise. The user can measure his progress, and detect his own health problems.

In the same way, the omnipresence of smartphones in modern society is a not insignificant fact. Firms like Apple or Samsung have filed patents for holographic technologies based on lasers, lenses and sensors to project interactive holographic displays for smartphones.

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Japanese researchers have also developed tactile holograms, called Fairy Lights, designed from a laser capable of exciting the physical matter to emit a 3D light. This laser produces high frequency pulses (between 1,000 and 200,000 per second) to create tactile holographic images. Rather than being chained to a device, users have greater freedom of movement, and access to high quality images to undertake projects or see how an outfit could go without trying it.

The increase of the future

Many devices aim to replace your mouse and keyboard. Some of these devices are simply magical. Gesture-based controllers or gloves are equipped with cameras that can measure depth to detect motion. This is the case of the Myo Gesture Control Band, allowing control computers, drones and remote vehicles by moving your arm. Other technologies like Leap Motion offer the opportunity to manipulate the virtual world using his hands without any other intermediary.

One of the main interests of technology is to help people with disabilities face physical challenges. Cambridge Bio-Augmentation has developed a universal adapter for prostheses. This adapter reduces the pain associated with the use of prostheses, while allowing to transmit the natural signals of neurons, muscles and bones.

The natural progression of 3D projections is undoubtedly the modification of the field of vision. A company has developed a cataract surgery technique that can give patients a visual acuity three times greater than a 20/20 vision. These bionic lenses are not yet commercially available, but can be implanted in 8 minutes. In the near future, technology and biology will finally be smart health connected.

Advances in the field of smart health connected objects and related technologies are not limited to wearables and prosthetics. Harvard researchers created a robotic manta ray activated by light. This creation has both natural and artificial elements. Artificial tissues that can grow and improve are not new. Scientists are working hard to create artificial organs that can save the lives of thousands of people waiting for organ donation. It would even be possible, eventually, to graft artificial brains.

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Artificial brain

Singapore researchers have succeeded in developing brain parts in laboratories. This success not only helps to better understand the most complex part of the human body, but also to consider helping individuals with brain damage. These advances could also be used to make humans smarter and improve the interactions between them.

Similarly, Freer Logic's contactless EEG / ECD is able to read and monitoring brain activity from a distance. Therefore, Abnormal brain activity can be measured at airports to identify potential threats. Client cognitive responses in stores may be identified to identify interests. The concentration of train drivers can be evaluated to avoid accidents.

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For the moment, modern devices are similar to agglomerations of sensors and circuits, but this observation could soon change. One of the last material revolutions is the creation of a liquid metal able to move by itself. One can imagine the possibilities, such as flexible circuits or safety combinations whose shape can deteriorate to better protect the wearer.

The ethics of improvement

Wearables and other forms of technology offer many promise, allowing people with disabilities to live normal lives, while others can go beyond their own limits. However, Transhumanism presents challenges in terms of ethics.

Improving the body and mind through technology raises many questions. The essence of the notion of humanity is questioned. It is clear that helping individuals is a beneficial aspect of wearables, but improvements aimed at creating "Super powers" are more questionable.

Some of these questions have already been raised with the rise of cosmetic surgery. This discipline can help burn victims, but it can also create people with artificial faces. Francis Fukuyama is one of the voices rising against the potential dangers of technological improvements. The differences between the rich and the poor, the control of access to technology and the drifts in technology are among the points that require debate.

Questions about humanity, values ​​and ethics must be asked. What will happen when we evolve through technology ? Let's bet that these questions will soon find their answers.

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