24 Future humans

When we think of future humans, the idea (good or bad) of genetically-altered super humans may come to mind. However, a much more basic and essential concept of “future humans” is the people who are our descendants and the situations they will encounter as a result of choices that we make during our lifetime. One key task of physics, then, is to help us anticipate the consequences of society’s choices, ranging from climate change to natural resource depletion to the evolution of drug-resistant microbes. Another big question concerns how humans can adapt to increasingly effective machine intelligence, especially if and when such intelligence achieves some form of independent consciousness?

At the next level, we can certainly see in current technology a capacity to alter living humans with various prosthetic devices and provide various types of assistive technologies. There is a range of technologies for replacing lost limbs, providing mobility, assisting with vision and hearing, using dialysis machines and heart-lung machines to sustain patients, etc. Various types of stimulators – external or implanted - aid the function of the heart, help prevent epileptic seizures, and help control Parkinson’s disease. While these are focused on helping people with ailments, we certainly see more devices augmenting healthy human capabilities. Examples include exoskeletons that assist with lifting heavy objects, robotic surgery devices that provide a human surgeon with extra precision and steadiness, augmented reality vision devices, and even the technologies that assist with operating automobiles, boats, and aircraft. All of this technology is clearly dependent on exploiting a wide range of physical principles in mechanics, transport theory, electrical behavior, etc.

Artificial organs have been under development for many years. Some are purely electromechanical, such as various designs for an artificial heart. Now the prospect is emerging to grow artificial organs from stem-cell derived tissues, even in forms that can be 3-D printed. Sensing devices and signal processors that have direct connections to the brain could restore hearing and vision. Perhaps devices to assist smell and touch are achievable as well. Physics enters through a variety of pathways, including models of membrane function, tissue cohesion, signal propagation, etc.

Ultimately we do indeed come to the issues of genetic modification. The ethical path may be relatively clear in the treatment of otherwise incurable diseases. But where should limits be placed in genetic augmentation of strength, agility, intelligence, etc. The fidelity of gene editing techniques is affected by thermodynamic fluctuations and other physical disturbances (including, of course, ionizing radiation): physics is necessary to help ensure that the process very rarely leads to unexpected, dangerous variations…and that such variations might be detected.

Humans are living longer and longer. How do we accommodate the increased life-span in terms of work, leisure, and basic sustenance? Will humans soon become immortal and how would we deal with the consequences? Will humans be able to seamlessly bond with machines, connecting thought, memory, sensation, etc.? While this has been the stuff of many science-fiction stories, emerging technologies move the potential realization closer – perhaps within decades if not sooner. Physicists engaged in developing theories of consciousness might help guide key choices in our technical development of artificial intelligence, helping us better anticipate the types of disruption that could occur when machines augment or replace our ability to think.