Living with Computers

This book argues that, in time, computing's capabilities will become part of our social and physical DNA, and therefore one of the most important influences affecting the nature of humanity's form and way of functioning over the next several centuries. Computing may someday be integrated into our physical beings, to become part of our bodies and possibly those of other life forms, which would represent a fundamental leap in the evolution in how living creatures continue to adapt to their ever-changing environment. Will computing then help shape life in living creatures? What influence do we have on the features of that capability? While we do not know the answers to those two questions, we can at least begin to ponder them. That we dare ask them already suggests how important computing is to humanity. For one thing, we can begin to appreciate that our human-centered view of the world will be challenged. As life and the world we live in change, thanks to computing embedded in "everything," will our reality be replaced or be rivaled by another paradigmatic lens, not seen through the eyes of humans? The questions and issues raised can be discomforting, especially the possibility that computing morphs into the natural world, although we are a ways off from such a transformation. It could also possibly never happen. Yet developers of computing devices are shaping them into human-like creatures and already some are remaking themselves with the aid of artificial intelligence. So, humans, let's confront our possible destiny!