We’re all Homo Cyborgs / ABC WA Drive, Hong Kong 3
This week, Sydney based bio-hacker Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow (real name) decided that carrying his plastic credit card sized transport card around was way too much effort, so he cut out the NFC chip and had it implanted under his skin.
Such an interesting discussion arises from this, not the least of which is the rail authorities response, which was to condemn it and deactivate his card, only thing was they deactivated the wrong card.
But, anyway I digress, this week on both ABC and Hong Kong radio I explored on air the notion that as organic beings we have increasingly become comfortable with having technology in and around us and that this organic meets machine blending would only deepen, to the point where we are uncertain where organic stops and machine starts..
We already, thankfully, have cochlear implants, pacemakers, replacement hips / bones, dialysis machines, artificial hearts and valves, 3D printed ears, pancreas, hands, legs, eyes, fingers, skin and bladder and for most of us we have a mobile phone and other devices constantly on and never more than 1 metre away from us.
What happens to human evolution when we start to irrevocably augment and alter ourselves? How much technology will we / should we allow in our bodies? Will brain-machine interfaces, set to change the way we interact with technology by permanently linking our brain to technology, start a whole new era in which we’ll have to think before we tech?
For a couple of great on-air chats on the Future of Being Human, take a listen now…
ABC Regional Drive WA, Barry Nicholls, 3rd July 2017 (8 mins 47 secs)
Hong Kong Radio 3, Phil Whelan, 4th July 2017 (16 mins 16 secs)
This week, Sydney based bio-hacker Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow (real name) decided that carrying his plastic credit card sized transport card around was way too much effort, so he cut out the NFC chip and had it implanted under his skin. Such an interesting discussion arises .
When signals like all Homo Cyborgs / ABC WA Drive, Hong Kong 3 emerge, organisations that engage early have the advantage of choosing their response rather than reacting to events. That gap between those who prepared and those who did not is where competitive positioning is actually made or lost.
The most important question is not whether all Homo Cyborgs / ABC WA Drive, Hong Kong 3 will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.
