Some articles of interest appeared on Wired the last few days. These are a few of my favs:
Her So-Called Digital Life
Any blogger or g33k will probably recognize this.
As more people plug into cyberspace, our interpersonal relationships — already framed by e-mail and real-time instant messaging — will become predominately digital. We’ll exist in multiple worlds of our own creation: the physical realm and the intellectual sphere constantly connected. Could personal avatars be far behind?
Gamers Eye Open Virtual Worlds
An interesting evolution in online gaming, which will probably emerge bigtime in a few years. Virtual worlds where the participants create the gameworld, without having the rules set the corporation hosting the game, or a number of limited programmers… This could definitely result in virtual gameworlds far more exciting than what commercial game companies come up with.
Advent of the Robotic Monkeys
No, don’t worry, the robotic monkeys aren’t here to dominate man. It’s all about how scientists managed to create a prosthetic arm controlled solely by a monkeys thoughts by plugging into his brain.
But this is where it gets really interesting:
John Donoghue of Cyberkinetics has already extended this research to humans. He has implanted electrodes into the motor cortex of a quadriplegic, allowing the patient to move a computer cursor to access e-mail or use other applications. “The human phase of this has moved forward tremendously,” said Donoghue. Cyberkinetics will continue its pilot study by expanding the trial to four more patients.
Not only will we be able to blog and play in our own virtually created worlds, we’ll be able to move in them without having to lift as much as a finger because it will all be controlled by our thoughts and our thoughts alone. No longer will our physical limitations hold use back in the virtual world, we can finally ditch our organic bodies and become fully digital!!
On second thought, that might not be such a good idea…