What Does It Mean to Be Human?
What is the biggest challenge that we face as humans?
The old censorship was about withholding information. The new censorship will be about the inability of the human brain to process our unprecedented access to information.The biggest challenge that we face as humans will be knowing what to think about. What should we pay attention to?
As a sponsored member of Merck, KGaA Darmstadt, Germany’s AlwaysCurious initiative celebrating their 350-year anniversary, I was asked to share my vision of the next 350 years. I’m grateful for this broad scope. If the assigned scope had been the next 12 months, I would be using curiosity to focus on what should be done about trade, divisiveness, immigration, and the refugee crisis. If the assigned scope had been the next few decades, I would be focusing my curiosity on climate change, inequality, and a world where a vast majority of humans are not needed to keep economies and societies operating.
Thankfully, I have been given a broader scope for thinking about the future – the next 350 years. This challenges me to use curiosity for grander questions like: What will happen when artificial intelligence knows humans better than we know ourselves? What will happen when some homo sapiens have upgraded themselves to the point where they diverge from the rest of us? If we don’t think about this now, when should we think about it? Who should be thinking about it? How do we think about it?
It is comforting to believe that humans are in some way sacred or at least superior to all other living things. Before settling on that humanistic view upon which liberalism is based, an important curious question is: What makes us human? Is it our ability to share information, to conquer, control, or cooperate? Are there physical or intellectual distinctions that distinguish us as humans?
How much of this will sound familiar to you now? What will this sound like in 350 years?
I bought a fitness tracker, connected it to my smartphone, and uploaded all that it was able to track in exchange for more information about myself. It’s easy. I don’t even have to bother with a pesky password to access my smartphone. Apple unlocks it for me with my face. I have many useful smart devices – referred to as my roommates – that help make my life easier. Amazon’s Alexa and Ring smart home appliances been invited to live in my house with Wink, Ecobee, Arlo and Google’s Nest. Siri’s always there for me when I need her. These roommates provide safety and quick answers resulting in faster and better decisions. The more they know about me, the better they know me, and the more helpful they are.
Microsoft offers me a chance to maximize my productivity. For free! I already subscribe to Microsoft 365, which provides cloud access to Office applications and productivity services. When they connect my documents, emails, and calendars they will be able to tell me how I can make my documents more engaging and emails more persuasive. If I connect this with my fitness tracker or a bio-tracker application like Spire, the algorithms might be able to tell me when I’m most productive, when I should exercise, and at what meetings I should hold off making big decisions because my chemistry is not optimized for good decision-making. If my husband connects and we link our data, we may even be alerted to when it’s time to spend time together, so we optimize our relationship for our brain chemistry.
Documenting my adventures augments my experiences. When on a recent trip I left my phone in my hotel room, it felt wrong to simply experience without documenting. When I document, upload, and share experiences, my friends become part of the adventure. When I see adventures that friends share on Facebook, it provides me with ideas for new adventures. Facebook used to offer lame ads for stuff I would never buy. As it has gotten to know me better, Facebook offers suggestions for adventures that I would totally enjoy, and cool products optimized for these adventures. All of my socials are getting better at showing me what I want to see and disregarding the rest.
I was curious about my ancestry, so I used a promo code to mail my spit to a genetic testing company. They suggested that I fill out a lengthy survey so that they could tell me even more about myself. I wanted to know if I come from where my family claims to have come from. I wanted to find out whether I was genetically predisposed to any diseases. I was somewhat inspired by Angelina Jolie. She was able to find out enough about herself to change her future by obtaining a preventative mastectomy and hysterectomy. I was curious whether my health insurance would cover these procedures, but thankfully I did not have to find out.
I scoff at the idea of implanting a device in my body. I don’t need one. I don’t have any missing or damaged biological structures. I have a bit of bursitis in my right shoulder, but I’m not aware of any implant that will fix it. I don’t need to streamline or optimize the delivery of any medication, and I don’t see the need to monitor a potentially failing organ. My insurance company neither covers nor requires these things. If they did, would I be willing to install a nanobot if it could identify pre-cancerous cells and kill them for me? I’m pretty happy, so I doubt that I would implant a device to improve my mood, make me more productive, or reduce stress. But, what if by doing so my insurance rates were significantly reduced? What if my insurance company not only covered it, but required it?
I tried to buy coffee yesterday, but they wouldn’t take cash. I know that cash transactions are increasingly rare and that bills and coins represent just 8 percent of the US economy, but at least most places in the US accept cash. For now. In Sweden they are moving toward eliminating cash. Many banks no longer accept cash. I suppose it will be easier for the thousands of Swedes who have already implanted microchips under their skin. They’ll pay by swiping their hand. Updates and upgrades will be easy. Opting out of an update would leave people… penniless?
We look at these artificial intelligences and technologies as tools that will make our lives easier and tell us more about ourselves. This is the bargain we make in exchange for our data. These systems of data augment our own capabilities and will be able to help us personally optimize everything from who we should vote for to who we should love.
I don’t know what the next 350 years will look like.
No one does.
However, I do know that there are important questions we must ask and difficult conversations we must have. These are not the same questions we have asked in the past. There will be no date on the calendar to let us know when it will be too late to ask these questions and have these conversations. The time is now, and it starts with curiosity. Curiosity is more about asking better questions and less about identifying irrefutable answers. My curious questions here revolve around medicine, augmented homo sapiens, and the role humans will play in the future.
What if medicine moves from healing the sick to upgrading the healthy? What will happen if we need fewer healthy people and more augmented people to make economies and societies run? What will this do to our concept of equality? How much will homo sapiens need to be augmented before they are no longer considered homo sapiens?
What makes us human?
What do we need humans for? At what point are humans merged with these artificial intelligences, bio-technologies, and data algorithms? What happens when the AIs and algorithms know us better than we know ourselves? What will happen to the humans who are unable to access augmentation?
My hope for the next 350 years is that artificial intelligence and information networks create a universe where all humans flourish. I’m extremely grateful to Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany for sponsoring this article and helping start these conversations. I’m also grateful for this 350-year old company recognizing the critical role of curiosity at work and conducting the first multi-year international research project looking at role of curiosity in the workplace. This research has informed the work we do at my company, Applied Curiosity Lab.
What is your vision for the next 350 years? You can explore how other curiosity seekers envision the future and add your vision of the future here.
Our unprecedented access to information means that we can look up and access anything, except what isn’t there. Only curiosity inspires the questions that generate the answers we don’t yet have access to. Curiosity will help us know what to think about. It will help us shape our future, before it shapes us.