As many of our relations are monitored by and recorded by technology, designers have the opportunity to reveal and shape some of these connections. New formats of communication and visualization of connections are emerging. It is time to experiment and see what is possible, discover what new forms of democracy and tyranny can come from revealing, shaping, hiding, initiating, and promoting connections between ourselves. Inside the body, tiny-tech communicytes run messages to and from the senses. Outside the body, culture is considering whether to prevent scientific and technological enhancements.
Culture requires progress just as our senses require stimulation.
This is no time to quit, this is no time to die. Using emerging and foreseeable future technologies, we are and we will continue to acclerate the evolution of mind. This talk will cover the technological paths to posthuman cognition and emotion while considering some philosophical and social-cultural issues that arise as we alter our basic mental architecture. While posthumans will vastly exceed humans intellectually and emotionally, we should not expect a utopian future of blissful peace. As we wire up the global MIND, we begin to realize that we are creating an eco-system for thought which has many of the characteristics of carbon based ecology.