Almost certainly this is something we can influence, and influencing the outcome is much more important than documenting effects and expressing concern about them.
A recent New York Times article on how the Web influences our brains by Matt Richtel begins with an anecdote of a life-changing email, an offer to buy a young entrepreneur's startup, overlooked by the recipient for days owing to a deluge of other, unimportant missives. The delay in seeing the email could have had devastating consequences, but it didn't.
I had a nearly identical experience, and in my case the delay in my reply made it look like I was not overeager and gave me better control over the dynamic of the situation in the end, almost like I planned it that way from the beginning.
This two-sides view is typical of much Web activity. On careful reading, Richtel's article gives a fairly balanced view of both positive and negative effects of the Web on the brain. For example, the author describes in detail the downside of a young father's preoccupation with Web access, even on family vacations. But trying to decide whether the Web is a positive or negative influence on our brains isn't the right line of inquiry.
We need a new discipline of scientific study that simply does not exist yet: proactive human-machine evolution. This would be a new area of scholarly inquiry that can determine what our goals and objectives should be as we seek to influence what the Web does to our mental abilities. It would also help provide standards of measurement for the important changes; rationale for why those are the changes to focus on; theories, definitions, and a strategic plan. Then we will really have something!
At the moment we are just whining and whistling in the dark. We need to take action, and for that we have to know what we are doing.
Traditional psychology and philosophy cannot deal adequately with the "machine" aspect of the Web; adding the machine into the human evolutionary mix requires a whole new category in the theoretical sense. Arriving at the right insights about man-machine interaction requires an ideological shift, a certain philosophical stance on the role of tools in human evolution not explicitly present in mainstream academia.
A dialectic process unfolds between man and machine in the co-evolution view, which is an old and uncontroversial view about man and machine, yet one that is not really explicitly discussed or elaborated on or paid attention to in the mainstream.
It's worth examining why this view is not considered.
One would think that anthropologists would have stepped up and been more progressive and proactive in this area. The hesitance to accept the merging and co-evolution with machines within the general public is perhaps playing a role in preventing more research in such a field. That's obvious. But what would have to happen to tip the general public into accepting the idea of man-machine co-evolution? More convincing AI? Genuine and flashy human augmentation, broadly implemented? It's hard to say.
But we cannot sit idly by and wait. We need proactive study and education to ensure a positive outcome of our interaction with the Web. Right now, there is no organized educational program anywhere on the planet addressing how to be proactive about creating a better future for machine/human co-evolution.
It begins with believing a positive future is possible, and I for one am certain of it!
— Kim Solez, MD, Director of NKF cyberNephrology at the University of Alberta
In the four weeks since this blog essay was published I have been reflecting on the simple question of whether we missed something, whether practical goal oriented academic programs of the sort I was suggesting should be created already exist. In short, as far as I can tell, they do not. Existing "future studies" programs do not have such an orientation, neither so "strategic foresight" programs. Singularity University as presently constituted does not have such a focus. Transhumanism remains a largely fringe discipline, but it also does not have this focus.
Futurism as it is now is more for business people, people wanting to know where to invest. It has little to do with interest in human-techno relations in a more intellectual sense.
Transhumanism is the study of man as a combination of organic and non-organic components. A small, but important part of the movement, is being connected to the Internet or a web/network of some kind.
While there is a large dose of "New Age" stuff in the field, there is also some interesting analysis and study going on about the man-web interface and it's impact on our evolution.
We should also keep in mind that we have done similar things in the past few decades. To whit:
Radios came in during the early part of the century (my parent's generation) and altered how we receive information and send it.
Planes and cars became ubiquitous in the 50's and 60's and altered not only our modes of transporation, but our global reach and our social organizations (like the rise of Suburbia).
Television came in during my generation and altered how we gather information.
The computer came in during my generation and impacted almost everything.
The Internet and World-Wide-Web also came in during my generation and the gen X/Y period and altered things as well.
The latest generation is dealing with "always on" through Wi-Fi, smartphones, and emerging social networking and 4G applications (witness the iPhone and Android phones).
I think when people want to study how the Web is changing our evolution, they should also look back to these things as they were similar "paradygm shifters" in our lifestyles, language, and thought processes.
I wonder what Charles Babbage would say if he saw what his "Difference Engine" would become...
There is an interesting new interview this morning on CNN with author Nick Carr who says technology is changing the way our brains work (duh!). His assertion that we have to pull back from constant connection is just that: assertion. Until there is science in this area with hard facts we are left with just unsupported opinion. There is no other important area of human endeavour where we accept a "let's not study this, let's just opine" approach.
His video supports the idea that we can influence what the web and technology does to our brains, but does not provide any tangible facts on what our goals and objectives should be as we exercise that influence, what specific outcomes we should be aiming for. He is proposing limits with no scientific rationale on what those limits are for, what they are designed to prevent. Without scholarly work and study in this area it is all just speculation versus speculation.
Here is another surprising instance of crossing disciplines, using supercomputers in the humanities. Another one of those "you thought it would never happen" moments!:
Think of how we interact with close friends and relatives.
There is constant communications. Errors, such as gaffes, can be corrected by further dialog.
The situation of an "all or nothing" email, doesn't exist. If your Mom were trying to buy out your company, she'd send you an email, then call you and say "did you read my email...and when are you coming to visit"?
The world of work and the world of society are miles apart. It's like we go on the Web and there's this groovelicious constant chatter with people, ideas, trends on the latest netbook or pad device.
Then we go into these horrible cubicles and turn on Windows XP at a desktop from 2002.
So, I don't blame the web...the web is making it better. It's the power structure that has yet to adapt and release.
I wonder if "uncanny valley" isn't a condition of continent dwellers vs. island dwellers? Who is more apt to be replaced by "aliens" in familiar forms, often as a defeat in war? The Japanese mindset prior to WWII was often expressed as regarding itself as the superior race.
I also want to refer everyone to the short story, "The Marching Morons", recreated somewhat by the movie "Idiocracy". A change in human interactions does not necessarily represent an uplift in the human condition.
I think many of you will like this video a lot. Smile or Die: Acclaimed journalist, author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich explores the darker side of positive thinking. Realism as a philosophy balancing optimism and pessimism should also be a part of this new academic discipline I am advocating.
There are many forces acting in Japanese culture that produce the more favorable view of robots you speak of. Two key cultural phenomena in the West can be seen as essential catapults for fear and even hatred of robots. The Luddite movement, and the literary tradition in the spirit of Mary Shelly's 'Frankenstein'; both began in the 19th century, and continue strongly today. No such traditions are as prominent in Japan. Also, the Japanese have fewer hang-ups about whether or not a robot could be 'conscious'. The Shinto religion is quite different from religions in the West in the sense that Shinto people believe there to be 'spirits' present in things not human, like waterfalls, trees, animals etc. The idea of a robot having a spirit is more natural to them, it poses less threat to the established cultural beliefs. Thirdly, post war, the Japanese began to take great pride in their being as technologically prolific as they are. It became part of national pride to embrace technology as they have.
In my discussions with Adrian David Cheok in Singapore he pointed out that the uncanny valley seems to be getting weaker as a Western cultural phenomenon, we are becoming more comfortable with robots that look like us.
You can easily see here how there is enough "meat" here to create a new academic discipline. No shortage of material and the relevance to the daily life of human beings is obvious!
Hi Kim, I agree that there's a great deal of confusion regarding the Internet and confusion runs rampant. But I think the fear that some people have of the Internet and technology in general runs deeper and maybe some of it is cultural. In American culture there seems to be a fear that at some point we won't be able to control the machines. Remember the debate over ATM machines and how they would take away jobs from tellers? The whole idea of Skynet in the Terminator comes to mind too.
I recently wrote a story about robotics in the workplace. Researchers talk about a phenomenon called the uncanny valley, the human revulsion of life-like robots. Some of this is cultural -- in the U.S. we've been conditioned by films like the Terminator to fear robots. Researchers told me that Japanese culture embraces everything robotic.
I think we've come to a point where tech is moving faster than our ability to absorb it culturally. When that happens, there's bound to be a lot of fear. We might do just as well by introducing a new field of psychology that deals with human/machine interaction.
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In retrospect, this moment in history, May 2010, will be seen as a turning point for humanity for three reasons: The giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is causing us to rethink the deep seas as a practical source of energy. The first report of a living cell with a genome created by a computer
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Watching TV is not healthy for you, according to conventional wisdom. Well, that may soon change. Comcast and United Healthcare are now delivering diabetes prevention videos on-demand to high-risk patients. The partnership illustrates how healthcare may be delivered in the future.
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The IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Monaco kicked into high gear today, and we've already begun to see news emerging from that lovely city-state by the sea.
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