Will tomorrow’s technologies make us less human?

Positive futurists believe that as thought talking technologies become reality, which some believe could happen during the 2030s and 2040s; our diverse world could evolve into a peaceful global community eliminating most of the ethnic and religious barriers that plague society today.

This futuristic technology would enable people to communicate with each other by thinking the words instead of verbalizing them. In addition, we would be able to silently post and retrieve information wirelessly on a powerful Internet, by just using our thoughts.

As this very forward technology begins to take hold, more and more people would be willing to post their questions, ideas, and knowledge on the worldwide web for others to access.

This sharing of personal thoughts could raise intelligence levels, change many of our negative views about each other, and radically alter the way people learn.

Eventually, the need to attend schools would be reduced. By mid-century, nearly all the intelligence that our minds require for success and happiness in life could be available on the web.

As people communicate more by using thoughts instead of vocalizing words; it’s possible that one day, even language as we know it, could disappear. Conservatives wonder how this might affect our humanness. Are we turning ourselves into machines, or will we always think of ourselves as human.

When humanity first hopped out of the trees three million years ago with hairy bodies, clothes were unnecessary. Through eons of evolution, we swapped our hair for clothing. Do we still consider ourselves human? Of course we do.

As evolution provides us with new ways to learn and communicate with each other and our machines, this will not change how we view ourselves either. No matter how entwined we become with technology, this writer believes we will always consider ourselves human. Comments welcome.