CAIRO: A pioneering scientist who has researched the issue of how 21st century technology will reverse the way we feel and think, explained that the world of tomorrow s people will one of screens and computer windows.
Baroness Susan Greenfield, director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain and Professor of Pharmacology at Oxford University, who was invited to Cairo by the British Council shared her ideas on Thursday with a crowd of Egyptian medical students and professors.
In a lecture she gave at Cairo University’s faculty of medicine, she grappled with the image of tomorrow s man, posing the questions: Is human nature about to change forever? Can we envisage a world where everything is obsolete?
In today s world we partly rely on technology, but as the 21st century moves on, we ll be swept over by an entire wave of technological advancement, said Greenfield, a scholar with 38 honors.
The author of several books, including “Tomorrow s People, Greenfield voices her concerns about the new changes and whether people are conscious of them.
When speaking of these changes, she said, we aren t dabbling in science fiction anymore.
“These are a tangible reality where man s identity and lifestyle will deviate from the human norms we have come to know over the centuries.
Greenfield added: It will happen soon that we ll have a lab-on-mirror to reveal in image and sound our daily moods and the effect of various situations on our faces. Our toothbrush could automatically talk to tell you if you have any oral problems; a lab-on-seat could instantly carry out a urine test to inform you of what s going on in your system.
Such transformations, said Greenfield, beg the following questions: What does it mean to be human? How will we think of our bodies? What will we do with our bodies? How will we view life? What do we need to learn? What do we hope of the future?
To answer these questions we might have to consider that if we can have, for example, our genome on a chip, a chip could also be inserted in our brain. Don t underestimate a thought then. You might just think of sugar, for example, and have it instantly.
There will be a merging of work and home; the demand in that case will be for your services rather than for your time. Contrary to our expectations, the mind will be all set to take risks, for humans will be reacting to what they view on a screen and not to what they see in real situations.
When it comes to reproduction we have to be careful with the roles genes are bound to play because genes are also susceptible to our surroundings and are not just isolated entities as many think. The future mind will be more cognitive than sensory.
Greenfield said that analyst believe that the acquisition of knowledge will consequently undergo drastic changes. The screen culture is a world of flux, of sound bites, of half-baked ideas, gossip tidbits, floating impressions. More importantly, she said, it is audience rather individual oriented.
Responding to a question by The Daily Star Egypt about whether the new changes will call into question the notion of individuality which is a hallmark of neo-liberalism, Greenfield said that this issue is at the heart of many related debates.
It has not yet been decided, but amid these catalysts we will certainly be looking for new criteria for creativity. When it comes to education, however, we should think of what our children will need to learn, for this is an age where information will replace the concept of traditional knowledge, she added.
For the renowned scientist the new form of existence is an amalgamation of past and future.
She finally asks: Could nature be radically changed, or will it just vanish?
