Discussion: Beyond smartphones, Google Glass, and wearable technologies, we’ve entered an age where our DNA can be edited, our microbiomes can be cultivated, and connected devices can be implanted in us, or attached to us, to repair or extend our ‘natural’ abilities. Eyeglasses have been around for 700 years, so this isn’t exactly ‘new’, but the era of digital transhumanity has just begun, and it is deeply entwined with mobility.
523 Inspiration: A basic question is whether we have any true grasp of what the limits of the human brain are, and of our ‘learnability’, and while we should be very cautious of exploring such limits, might not the grounded world of education be the safest place to start?
I find this a fascinating topic because transhumanity is constantly the push towards breaking the human limits. For example, Noland Arbaugh, the first to get the Neuralink chip implanted in their brain after becoming a quadriplegic from a diving accident, would be an example of current frontiers of technology is used to give purpose to someone who lost so much from an accident.
The issue I find that although this topic is a vital part of where the frontiers help form and shape possibilities of what the future of humanity may look like, this technology has very limited applications to education, which fights for the public wellbeing of all, and that the impact of this technology may not extend to the greater whole of society.
So although this is incredible technology, it is limited to a small subset of individuals in the educational field, mostly in research or for those privileged or affluent enough to have access to such technology.
For me, transhumanity is the union of human with technology, to increase(?) human potential and experience. In varying levels of union—from eyeglasses being worn, to lost limbs being replaced, to smart technologies being embedded under our skin—all unions of human with technology are examples and possibilities of transhumanity. We could see better, run faster, and more. Maybe at one point even think faster. We are already seeing the potential of learning faster with personalized education systems and DIY projects.
At its roots, transhumanity is mobile technology. Instead of having the device in our pockets, seemingly a part of us, it will be an actual part of us, moving around all the time. At one point in the future, the connection between human and technology could be so seamless we would not even realize that we are using the device. Connection will be constant, information will always be travelling to the cloud and back. We will be (are we already?) one with global communication and information.
What does this mean for education? Now these examples are extremely futuristic, but I have picked this topic because of its potential to discuss so many other—if not all—aspects of the course, not just in the far future. For example, transhumanity would encompass what is meant for learners having a calculator in their pocket at all times (a classic example). Or imagine, what is meant for learners when individuals needing to fix their car, open the hood to personalized AR instructions based on the history of the vehicle, and even messages that say, “Wait! Don’t touch that!”