Where man and machine will meet

Kevin Warwick predicts many of us in the future will choose to become a mixture of man and machine, writes Marie Boran

KEVIN WARWICK says people need to upgrade or suffer the consequences. He’s not talking about computer software; he’s talking about the future of humanity. Warwick predicts many of us will in the future choose to become cyborgs or a mixture of man and machine.

He’s even considered whether cyborgs should develop human ethics. “There’s no point thinking that we’ll do a deal with the humans and be nice to them. This is a leap in intellectual performance so why should augmented humans listen to what humans have to say? Potentially this will split society.”

Before you conclude that Warwick is an overenthusiastic sci-fi fan, it is worth noting that his musings on cyborg morality come from a published academic paper (Cyborg Morals, Cyborg Values, Cyborg Ethics) and he is professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading in England, having contributed much to the fields of computing, engineering and artificial intelligence.

He also claims he is the world’s first cyborg. This experiment began with a chip implanted in his arm. The chip interacts with “smart” buildings to open doors, turn on lights and even greet him when he enters.

Of course, as his critics point out, this could be done with a simple smartcard.

“Well, of course you can but that’s not the point. The point is that you can send signals from inside your body which causes technology to do something for you or not. It doesn’t have to be a piece of technology; it could be biometrics. You could trigger an external reaction based on your heart rate.

“I think partially it was a philosophical thing; the fact that you could actually have an implant. Nobody had done it before.”

Since then he has progressed to having 100 electrodes surgically attached to nerve fibres in his arm, which allows his brain to communicate directly with a computer and vice versa.

With Warwick’s outspoken views on his desire to transcend humanity through technology and his cyborg demonstrations that are designed to wow the audience, he has been the subject of much criticism. Decriers demand less spectacle and more hard science.

“Just because you do the ‘whizz-bangs’ doesn’t mean you don’t have the scientific publications to back it up; in my case I have over 500 papers in academic journals. For anyone that questions my background I’m happy to go head-to-head with them and list my honorary degrees, research awards and prizes,” declares Warwick.

He says he models his public image on the 19th-century scientist Michael Faraday, a chemist and physicist who began the Royal Institution’s Christmas lectures for young people and felt strongly about engaging children with science.

“It’s just as important to appeal to children as it is to carry out blue sky futuristic research. It inspires youngsters to get involved in a career in technology or science and it’s not that easy to translate complex technological experiments while adding whizz-bangs!”

Warwick gives the example of a piece of technology – a radio transmitter/receiver – that was transformed into a futuristic sci-fi toy by looking to a north London artist to design its exterior. While his arm implant could be seen as another “surface decoration”, it turns out that it can be used to acquire extra senses.

When Warwick’s arm is connected to a computer it not only controls things on screen but can also receive signals from the computer that go straight to Warwick’s brain and are interpreted as neural pulses.

“It took me six weeks to learn to recognise electrical pulses reliably. Essentially we grabbed hold of some nerve fibres and used them as a new input. When you’re sending signals into your brain you cannot be not sure what is going to happen,” he explains.

As it turns out, he was able to develop ultrasonic perception for navigation much like a bat by transmitting wearable sonar sensors into pulses.

“My brain was making the best guess as to what these signals meant but I was soon able to detect distances from objects with a blindfold on.”

Warwick says it is only a matter of time before we are using technology in this manner to enhance ourselves. Already pacemakers and cochlear implants are being used for therapeutic purposes: the natural next step is to become superhuman.

Part of his vision involves growing human brain cells in a robot body and shutting down the university education model in favour of downloading data into your brain.

“Evolution has given humans an open mind to take in new ideas . . . some people are upset because it takes science fiction into science life. Some philosophers get angry at me for testing the nature of human/robot consciousness. All I ask for is an open mind.

Prof Warwick was speaking at the Human+ exhibition and as part of the new Science Foundation Ireland and Science Gallery speaker series. Human+ at the Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, is supported by Wellcome Trust, the School of Medicine and the Long Room Hub at Trinity and runs until June 24th.