I have to say that this was the most blatantly transhumanist mainstream lecture that I’ve seen in a long time, with sentences like “a human being can never be broken—only technology is broken [because it doesn’t allow us to remove all of the human’s disabilities yet]”. Also generally one of my favorite TED Talks so far.
Note that the implications of the technology go beyond just healing the physically disabled: the exoskeletons he mentions will do wonders to old people. We’re looking at the possibility of people maintaining the mobility and ease of movement of a young person for potentially their entire lives, and this technology may become widely available within quite a short time. That means that countless of people might become capable of moving back from nursing homes to living independently with only limited assistance.
What makes it really transhumanist is that the speaker doesn’t stop with the idea of bringing abilities up to the human norm or even to existing human excellence. He’s got assorted feet (long and narrow, with claws, whatever) which enable him to climb in ways that aren’t possible for unmodified humans, and he’s very pleased with that.
Hugh Herr: The new bionics that let us run, climb and dance.
I have to say that this was the most blatantly transhumanist mainstream lecture that I’ve seen in a long time, with sentences like “a human being can never be broken—only technology is broken [because it doesn’t allow us to remove all of the human’s disabilities yet]”. Also generally one of my favorite TED Talks so far.
Note that the implications of the technology go beyond just healing the physically disabled: the exoskeletons he mentions will do wonders to old people. We’re looking at the possibility of people maintaining the mobility and ease of movement of a young person for potentially their entire lives, and this technology may become widely available within quite a short time. That means that countless of people might become capable of moving back from nursing homes to living independently with only limited assistance.
What makes it really transhumanist is that the speaker doesn’t stop with the idea of bringing abilities up to the human norm or even to existing human excellence. He’s got assorted feet (long and narrow, with claws, whatever) which enable him to climb in ways that aren’t possible for unmodified humans, and he’s very pleased with that.