Skip to content
Guest Thinkers —

Hyper-Intelligent Brains of the Future

If futurists like Ray Kurzweil are correct about the accelerating pace of technological breakthrough, it is only a matter of time until we augment our brains with machine components.
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Some argue that humans are already hybrid creatures, that we have sufficiently fused our biological lives with technology that functions to extend our natural abilities. Accessing encyclopedias through a smart phone is but one example. “The rate of expansion of solar energy has been doubling every two years for the past two decades which, [futurist Ray Kurzweil] insists, means that solar power will meet all energy needs in 20 years. When the human genome project started, sceptics argued it would take centuries to scan an entire human genome using prevailing technologies; in fact, thanks to exponential advances in sequencing technology, it was done in less than 15 years.”

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people
Related
Our Future of Abundance
It’s easy to see why we’re stuck in such a cynical rut these days. However, a new book argues the accelerating rate of technological change will “put an end to what ails us” within 25 years with “noticeable change possible within the next decade.” 
Guest Thinkers
Taking Matternet Into Their Own Hands
One billion people live beyond the reach of existing ports, roads, bridges and trains. An organization called Matternet is using exponential technology to “replace twentieth century centralized infrastructure” and accelerate economic growth for the ‘rising billion.’
Up Next