The Future of the Human Mind: Techno-Anthropological Hybridization?

摘要

A global commercial "consciousness industry" is emerging. What will happen to the human mind and its self-image under the influence of advanced neuro- and nanotechnology, human enhancement, and transhumanism? The authors speculate. The coming years will not only be marked by environmental and demographic upheavals and associated political crises, deriving social conflicts, new military confrontations potentially driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies, and subsequent new geopolitical hegemonic ambitions. The future in the medium term could also bear the signature of a "decade of the mind" turning from an idea that it has been since 2007 at both U.S. and European venues (Albus et al. 2007) into a reality that looks ready to transform the self-understanding of mankind as we know it. This development owes much to the rapid economic and cultural rise of advanced neurotechnology and transhumanism. Due to the ambivalent nature of associated trajectories, it comes as no surprise that the nmber of observers who see this trend as an opportunity is similar to the number of those who see it as a threat to the humanistic bases of Western open societies. If global "consciousness research" is rapidly developing into a commercial transdisciplinary "consciousness industry", what may be the perspective?