Technological University of the PhilippinesGRADUATE PROGRAM

DMS – 602 Advance Ecology of Management

Title : Building a Better HumanYear : August 1998

I. Summary

First of all, what is a digital world? And, what is the effect of digital world to humans? These things are not so unfamiliar to us, especially in our generation. Today, the modes of technology have so quickly evolved, as well as the means of transportation and communication. Today, we are able to reach people from across the globe in a matter of seconds with only the consideration of the cost. Hence the term digital; where many, if not most, of the everyday gadgets are operated by a computer programmed system. From the years where having a cellular phone was unspeakable, we not have that necessity to own one. We live in a digital world with all its evolutions on a day-to-day basis. But, on the other hand, we have a mission, a goal that we are supposedly set out to do the moment we are called to do so.

In Matthew 28, God has called those who had an intimate relationship with Him and knew Him to multiply as a Christian virus that takes hold of any host it may find. To be contagious and spread exponentially throughout this world. “Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." – Matthew 28:19-20 (The Message).

According to German Poet Rainier Maria Rilke, "The future enters into us long before it happens", This is no longer a metaphor. The future is entering us. We eat genetically modified food. We receive implanted devices. We develop artificial bone and skin for transplantation. We are creating retinal implants to restore vision in damaged eyes. Such "smart" devices can be networked to exchange information. A subcutaneous chip, for example, will be able to send your entire, medical history to a doctor living far away.

In the case of Kevin Warwick he put silicon chip in surgically implanted in his left arm assuming to develop the internet connection from his body through the entire world or universe. Today, we are witnessed what happening right now in the fastest technological development. Most of the humans were dependent to the latest and newest technology.

Human enhancement is any attempt to temporarily or permanently overcome the current limitations of the human body through natural or artificial means. It is the use of technological means to select or alter human characteristics and capacities, whether or not the alteration results in characteristics and capacities that lie beyond the existing human range.

We all know that the effect of these technological change is a huge disaster and risky to our lives such as sick, illness, diseases, environmental disturbance or even chaos.

II. Area/s of Technology considered/presented

The technology presented is all about the Integrated Circuit or so-called Silicon Chip implanted to the body of human being by Kevin Warwick in 1998 at the University of Reading to track him through the Department of cybemetics, where he teaches. An integrated circuit or massive integrated circuit also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip is a set of electronic circuits on one small plate ("chip") of semiconductor material, normally silicon. This can be made much smaller than a discrete circuit made from independent electronic components. ICs can be made very compact, having up to several billion transistors and other electronic components in an area the size of a fingernail. The width of each conducting line in a circuit can be made smaller and smaller as the technology

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advances; in 2008 it dropped below 100 nanometers, and has now been reduced to tens of nanometers. ICs were made possible by experimental discoveries showing that semiconductor devices could perform the functions of vacuum tubes and by mid-20th-century technology advancements in semiconductor device fabrication. The integration of large numbers of tiny transistors into a small chip was an enormous improvement over the manual assembly of circuits using discrete electronic components. The integrated circuit's mass production capability, reliability and building-block approach to circuit design ensured the rapid adoption of standardized integrated circuits in place of designs using discrete transistors.

ICs have two main advantages over discrete circuits: cost and performance. Cost is low because the chips, with all their components, are printed as a unit by photolithography rather than being constructed one transistor at a time. Furthermore, packaged ICs use much less material than discrete circuits. Performance is high because the IC's components switch quickly and consume little power (compared to their discrete counterparts) as a result of the small size and close proximity of the components. As of 2012, typical chip areas range from a few square millimeters to around 450 mm2, with up to 9 million transistors per mm2.

Integrated circuits are used in virtually all electronic equipment today and have revolutionized the world of electronics. Computers, mobile phones, and other digital home appliances are now inextricable parts of the structure of modern societies, made possible by the low cost of integrated circuits.

III. Impact/Contribution of Technology

In 20th Century according to the author, which might as well be called the age of industrialized murder so-called the effect of Technology to the Human being and the entire world. Human enhancement technologies can impact human identity by affecting one's self-conception. This is problematic because enhancement technologies threaten to alter the self fundamentally to the point where the result is a different and inauthentic person. For example, extreme changes in personality may affect the individual's relationships because others can no longer relate to the new person.

Cost, benefit analysis of this Technology would be most of medical persons believe that the ability to enhance one's self would reflect the overall goal of human life: to improve fitness and survivability. They claim that it is human nature to want to better ourselves via increased life expectancy, strength, and/or intelligence, and to become less fearful and more independent. In today’s world, however, there is social stratification or categorization of people into socioeconomic strata, based upon their occupation and income, wealth and social status, or derived power (social and political) and among socioeconomic classes that prevent some from accessing these enhancements. The advantage gained by one person’s enhancements implies a disadvantage to an unenhanced person.

The enhancement of the human body could have deep changes to everyday situations. In regards to economic programs, human enhancements would greatly increase life expectancy. When considering birth rates, if there is no decline with increased longevity, this could put more pressure on resources like energy and food availability. A job candidate enhanced with a neural transplant that intensifies their ability to compute and retain information, would outcompete someone who is not enhanced. Another scenario might be a person with a hearing or sight enhancement could intrude on privacy laws or expectations in an environment like a classroom or workplace. These enhancements could go hidden and give individuals an overall advantage. Human enhancements have profound ability to benefit fitness and survivability but at too high of a cost, enhancements could widen the gap between socioeconomic classes.

Geoffrey Miller claims that 21st century Chinese eugenics may allow the Chinese to increase the IQ of each subsequent generation by five to fifteen IQ points, and after a couple generations it "would be game over for Western global competitiveness." Miller recommends that we put aside our "self-righteous" Euro-American ideological biases and learn from the Chinese.

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IV. Issues/Concerns of Humanity and Environment

God has instructed us, as part of being His children, to go out of our comfort zones and be a witness to His grace, mercy and ultimate love. It is not enough that we ourselves know Him, we must share and take part in what He started over two thousand years ago. It may seem outdated, but in fact it should still be applied today. His desire for us is to experience His blessings and be blessings ourselves for others to experience. This command says to multiply; not in the sense of propagating, creating more human beings but to exponentially produce desire for others to also know God. Our God is a loving God, He definitely does not need us but wants us in His presence. This command is call in itself to be a light to others who may still stand in darkness, not knowing the splendor this world has to offer when seen at a different perspective.

Aside from this, being people, we are prone to mistakes and the Lord knows this, this is why He provides us with a way, His way. In our society, there are so many lapses in judgment, we find it easier to commit mistakes or be fine with mediocrity. But we must not give up hope in giving others the opportunity to also have this assurance and opportunity.

Especially now that the means of technology is more efficient and speedy. It is now easier to do whatever we want to do. Thus, making the exchange of ideas easier and faster. We are now in an age where so many things come as easily as snapping one’s finger. Though, it may be harder because of preconceived ideas of certain things that may hinder the openness of a person.

V. Impressions/Conclusion on the Article/Docu-Film/Case Study Report

According to Bernard William about the definition of “the human” in relation to his writing “Morality” in 1972 contemporary moral philosophical has found an original way of being boring which is not discussing moral issues at all.

What technology brings to us individually is the possibility of finding out who we are, and more important, who we might be. During his or her lifetime, each person acquires a unique combination of latent abilities, handy skills, nascent insights, and potential experiences that no one else shares. Even twins—who share common DNA—don’t share the same life. When people maximize their set of talents, they shine because no one can do what they do. People fully inhabiting their unique mixture of skills are inimitable, and that is what we prize about them. Talent unleashed doesn’t mean that everyone will sing on Broadway or play in the Olympics or win a Nobel Prize. Those high-profile roles are merely three well-worn ways of being a star, and by deliberate design those particular opportunities are limited. Popular culture wrongly fixates on proven star roles as the destiny of anyone successful. In fact, those positions of prominence and stardom can be prisons, straitjackets defined by how someone else excelled.

Ideally, we would find a position of excellence tailored specifically for everyone born. We don’t normally think of opportunities this way, but these tools for achievement are called “technology.” The technology of vibrating strings opened up (created) the potential for a virtuoso violin player. The technology of oil paint and canvas unleashed the talents of painters through the centuries. The technology of film created cinematic talents. The soft technologies of writing, lawmaking, and mathematics all expanded our potential to create and do good. Thus in the course of our lives as we invent things and create new works that others may build on, we—as friends, family, clan, nation, and society— have a direct role in enabling each person to optimize their talents—not in the sense of being famous but in the sense of being unequaled in his or her unique contribution.

However, if we fail to enlarge the possibilities for other people, we diminish them, and that is unforgivable. Enlarging the scope of creativity for others, then, is an obligation. We enlarge others by enlarging the possibilities of the technium— the greater ecosystem of technology – by developing more technology and more convivial expressions of it.

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If the best cathedral builder who ever lived was born now, instead of 1,000 years ago, he would still find a few cathedrals being built to spotlight his glory. Sonnets are still being written and manuscripts still being illuminated. But can you imagine how poor our world would be if Bach had been born 1,000 years before the Flemish invented the technology of the harpsichord? Or if Mozart had preceded the technologies of piano and symphony? How vacant our collective imaginations would be if Vincent van Gogh had arrived 5,000 years before we invented cheap oil paint? What kind of modern world would we have if Edison, Greene, and Dickson had not developed cinematic technology before Hitchcock or Charlie Chaplin grew up?

How many geniuses at the level of Bach and Van Gogh died before the needed technologies were available for their talents to take root? How many people will die without ever having encountered the technological possibilities that they would have excelled in? I have three children, and though we shower them with opportunities, their ultimate potential may be thwarted because the ideal technology for their talents has yet to be invented. There is a genius alive today, some Shakespeare of our time, whose masterworks society will never own because she was born before the technology (holodeck, wormhole, telepathy, magic pen) of her greatnes was invented. Without these manufactured possibilities, she is diminished, and by extension all of us are diminished.

For most of history, the unique mix of talents, skills, insights, and experiences of each person had no outlet. If your dad was a baker, you were a baker. As technology expands the space of possibilities, it expands the chance that someone can find an outlet for their personal traits. We thus have a moral obligation to increase the best of technology. When we enlarge the variety and reach of technology, we increase options not just for ourselves and not just for others living but for all those to come as the technium ratchets up complexity and beauty over generations.

Case Study : Building a Better Human

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In August of 1998 Kevin Warwick put his body on the network. A silicon chip was implanted in his left arm. This allowed a computer at the University of Reading to track him through the Department of cybemetics, where he teaches. Over the following days, the computer greeted him each time he arrived at the main entrance. It opened his lab door for him. It turned on the lights.

Warwick's next experiment will test an implant's ability to send signals between his nervous system and a computer -a radical step toward linking brain and machine directly. And after that? "The potential for humans, in our present physical form, is pretty limited," says Warwick. "The opportunity for me to become a cyborg is extremely exciting. I can't wait to get on with it "

"The future enters into us long before it happens", the German poet Rilke once said. This is no longer a metaphor. The future is entering us. We eat genetically modified food. We receive implanted devices. We develop artificial bone and skin for transplantation. We are creating retinal implants to restore vision in damaged eyes. Such "smart" devices can be networked to exchange information. A subcutaneous chip, for example, will be able to send your entire, medical history to a doctor living far away.

In august 1998 Kevin Warwick put his body on the networks. He had a silicon chip surgically implanted in his left arm, enabling a computer at the University of Reading, England, to track him throughout the Department of Cybernetics, where he teaches. Over the next nine days, the computer would recognize him as he arrived at the main entrance, and its voice box would greet him. If opened his lab door for him. It turned on the lights. The experiment had a danger: the glass tube containing the implant could have shattered inside him. But it was worth the risk to find whether an implant could communicate with a computer.

Warwick next experiment, probably sometimes next spring, will test an implants ability to shuttle signals between his nervous system and a computer a radical step toward linking brain and machine directly. And after that? Perhaps an implant that does not internal processing if he can develop small enough. “The potential human for humans, if we stick to our present physical form, is pretty limited.” Says Warwick. The opportunity for me to become a cyborg is extremely exciting. I can’t wait to get on with it.”

The future enters into us ling before it happens, the German poet Rainier Maria Rilke once said. This is no longer a metaphor. The future is entering us. We eat genetically modified food. We submit to implanted devices that go well beyond the familiar heart pacemaker (innovator), we tinker with human tissue, developing artificial bone and skin for transplantation. We are on the verge of “smart” prosthetics, such as retinal implants that restore vision in damaged eyes. Such devices will ultimately be networked, allowing, say, a subcutaneous (hypodermic) chip to transmit a person’s entire medical history to a physician far away. Peter Cochrane, the former chief technologist for British Telecom, envisions a world where chip implants are commonplace and “as desirable mobile phones.” Rodney Brooks, the director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, goes even farther. Over time, he says, we will become our machines.”

When the word “cyborg” first appeared in the middle of the 20 th century, it was strictly the stuff of science fiction. Everybody knew you couldn’t put human physiology under mechanical or electronic control. You couldn’t stich technology into tissue. The idea of, say an implant of neutral circuits inside the skull – proposed by Brooks as a cure for cerebellum damage – would have been at best distasteful (unpleasant). The notion (idea) of a hybrid human would have seemed like sacrilege. That has then, Today some researchers believe that cyborgs will be possible within 50 years, or at least that human will have so many manufactured parts as to be virtually indistinguishable from cyborgs. Machines might be so assimilated to us-or- we to them-as to raise the most fundamental questions. As technology fills you up with synthetic parts, at what point do you ease to be fully human? One quarter? One third? What part of us irreplaceably human, such that if we augmented it with technology we would become some other kind of being? The brain? Or is the brain merely a conductive medium, our humanity defined more by the content of our thought and the intensity of our emotions than by the neutral circuitry? At bottom lies one critical issue for a technological age:

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are some kinds of knowledge so terrible they simply should not be pursued? If there can be such a thing as a philosophical crisis, this will be it. These questions, says Rushworth Kidder, president of the Institute for Global Ethics in Camden, Maine, are especially vexing because they lie at the convergence of three domains – technology, politics and ethics – that are so far hardly on speaking terms.

There have always been dangerous technologies.

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