Google Engineer predicts nanocomputers connected to the cloud will be implanted in our brains by 2030
Nanocomputers implanted in our brains that connect to the cloud will usher in a new era of critical thinking and human advancement, Google’s Director of Engineering predicts in a TED Talk.
Ray Kurzweil says that by the 2030s, nanobots embedded through the bloodstream into our brains will create hybrid-minds that combine the current power of our brain with the almost limitless processing capacity of cloud-based computers. These micro-computers will help us get quick answers to complex problems and will provide the extra juice needed to come up with creative new ideas.
Check out the full TED Talk here.
This new cloud-based capacity we can unlock for our brains will not be the first time we’ve had a vast expansion of the processing ability of our minds. 200 million years ago human beings developed a new area of the brain named the neocortex in the front portion of our forehead, which gave us the ability to think critically and creatively. It has allowed humans – but no other species – to develop advanced language and thinking.
But the neocortex is limited in its growth by the size of our skulls. That’s where nanocomputers that provide a link between our minds and the almost limitless-capacity of the computers sitting in a data center/the cloud come in.
Computers are getting smart enough to provide supplemental processing power and contextually relevant assistance. Natural-language reasoning, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence are all advancing quickly. The proof is in the pudding: IBM’s Watson was able to handily beat the best players of advanced natural-language processing game Jeopardy.
In the coming decades the continual shrinking of technology hardware will allow tiny bots to be placed in our bodies that connect with computers sitting in the cloud. Hybrid-thinking that combines our own reasoning with the capacity of cloud-based computers when we need it will usher in a new era of unknown advancements, Kurzweil predicts.
The last time our brains got access to a new capacity for processing 200 million years ago humans invented speech, critical thinking and great technological advancements. With the power of the cloud providing supplemental processing power to our brains, Kurzweil says the potential is limitless.
