The Future Of Computing: Brains In A Jar?

March 2nd, 2007

Technology

We had two power outages and an earthquake last night, leading me to write this odd post, largely off line in a text editor. Apologies in advance.

I remember my first year of graduate school back in 1995, debating some peers whether the future of humanity meant getting progressively more wired into computers and the Internet, ending up as “brains in a jar” - essentially lying on a bed, totally sedentary, experiencing “life” online, through a sensory interface like a helmet or a brain implant - something like The Matrix. It’s kind of a funny thought, and so when I see technology like this (some kind of computer helmet that claims to read brain patterns), I chuckle.

While I find this humorous, there’s certainly evidence of people getting progressively more dependent on the wired world in subtler ways. Trivial information - the stuff I probably should remember but choose not to - is increasingly delegated to the net. For example, why remember exact street directions to anywhere when I can always fire up Google Maps? Why remember anybody’s phone number when I can just check my cell phone or iPod? Why remember the order of the Presidents when I can just “Google” it?

Sometimes I’m talking with someone (in the real world), and the conversation ends with - that reminds me of some article online, but I can’t remember exactly what - I’ll send you a link, later. I sometimes feel like a brain-dead terminal where the memory portion is online. The worst feeling is when I find myself in live conversation, regurgitating something I wrote on this blog - and communicated that concept better there, in digital form, than I can muster up with my own voice.

Where might these trends lead? I’m pretty certain that as computer memory prices continue to fall, eventually we’ll have a device that records everything we experience. Imagine recording all the audio and visual information you experience during a day. Then at week’s end you could review the highlights (hopefully there will some awesome search technology to do this). We’d no longer have remember anything anybody specifically said to us as we could review it later - basically being perpetually stupid, with our whole lives shoved in some database for later, where we can “Google” it.

Second, beyond voice recognition, I’d love to have a computer that could anticipate my needs before I even know what they are. One that observes my routine tasks (such as checking email or viewing certain web sites), notes the time of day, finds a pattern, and then asks me if I want this to be done on a recurring basis? This would be as good as mind-reading, and a big help to our increasingly stupid, memory-less existences (do I like Swiss cheese or cheddar on my sandwich? Oh yeah, my “iBrain” is telling me I like Swiss).

I also see further segmenting of society. You’ll get folks who want to go the brain in the jar route, progressively spending more and more time online, getting fatter and more passive by the year - consider today’s couch potatoes who are obsessed with television and just extrapolate that forward with ever more realistic entertainment like World of Warcraft and Second Life.

And certainly, there will be the non-wired, probably everyone over thirty that doesn’t “get” the increasingly pervasive and intrusive technology and resists it. I see this happening now, as I kind of scratch my head at why a six year old needs a cell phone. I don’t “text”, “IM”, or meet people through MySpace (yes, I do obsessively keep this blog, but even I have limits!). But I do remember the days of the 56K modem gosh darnit (today’s equivalent of walking three miles to school in the snow).

I can see a future in 2032 where I stare at a flat panel monitor and mouse, griping that it’s good enough, while my grandkids try to convert me to the cranial implant, contact lens monitor, and iMemory Virtual Life couch. These future children, when not online, will only able to do the most basic of tasks - eating, sleeing, and going to the bathroom.

However at that point, I’ll likely be completely stupid myself, unable to remember why I protest so much… without consulting this blog post in holographic form.

Note: In an effort to avoid a potential future as a brain in a jar, I’m limiting myself to three posts a day from here on out.

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Viewing 3 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    I call this "reality challenged".
    • ^
    • v
    When the power goes out at work and I have no net access, this is the result... :)
    • ^
    • v
    Wow. i really liked this post. I have thought and written about these things myself. But be careful, because on certain subjects, like future+work, people will think that you are pesimistic when you are just being objective and realistic. people are not ready yet for certain realities that are already here...
    Anyway, I am Javier, the founder of Trendirama.com, a community of online amateur writers. We write about the future of everything, and since I liked your post and you talk about the future, I would like to invite you to write an article on the Trendirama.com website, perhaps "The future of human-computer interfaces" or whatever you are passionate about? It is up to you, you choose the subject.
    You would get a link back when you link to your own article, if you wish.
    You can even re-use some of what you have here, in the last part of the article, "your view and comments". That would save you time and still be interesting for readers.
    And yes, I know you may not have the time. None of us do...;)

    Failing that, if you like the project and you can help me to promote it and find writers/readers -even if you don't write- it would be great. Since we are starting, we need all and any help that you can give.
    By making this valuable information available online for free, I truly believe we are helping to make the world a better place.
    And you could do your bit for the world too.

    Your help is appreciated, and if you let me know your contribution, you'll be rewarded appropriately in due time. If you link to us or mention us, we can link you back too.
    You can even use our valuable articles on your websites, provided that you link back. Any better offer than that?! :)

    Look forward to hearing from you or read your article in Trendirama! Join us writing an article!

    Best regards
    Javier Marti
    http://www.trendirama.com
 

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