Ray Kurzweil is one among several futurists that suggest the end is nigh, or rather, the rapture for nerds is just around the corner.
The concept of a “Day without a Geek” will be explored in a different post, but it has some of the same themes that other cultural interest groups promote: such as immigrants (”Day without a Mexican“) and of course, the poster child for such movements, religious sects such as Dispensational Christians.
However, imagine if you will, a black box that is able to eat your average Homo sapiens, leaving nothing left except the nervous system intact. From inside this box, the nervous system interfaces at the molecular level with an artificial network of computronium.
Furthermore, within the same day that the biological exoskeleton surrounding the brain is consumed, the brains new home inside this black box is launched into geostationary orbit above earth. And in orbit, a vast grid of these black boxes numbering into the millions are interconnected with one another — fed solely by energy provided by solar arrays.
While this may sound something from a Philip K. Dick story line (Matrix-esque even), I think this scenario is more plausible in the short run than the stereotypical “strong AI” or “uploading consciousness” because it can done with atom-sized factories.
There is plenty of room at the bottom
Many of the integrated circuits found inside typical desktop computers are manufactured on the scale of 100 nanometers or less. Newer chips created at foundries owned by Intel and IBM are etched out at a mere 65 nm, with 45 nm in the coming months. In fact, many memory modules as well as the head on a the spindle of a hard drive measure in the same ballpark.
However, one caveat should be noted: current lithographic techniques employed throughout the semiconductor industry usually involve one of two methods for construction. In a nutshell, the traditional method uses optical lasers, whereas the “next-gen” uses beams of electrons.
However, regardless as to the minuscule sizes they can resolve down to, neither of these methods can build widgets along the lines of what Eric Drexler popularized: molecular nanofactories (think: Lego building blocks versus a can of spray paint). That said, we do know through empirical engineering processes that the phenomenon occurring at this atomic and sub-atomic level can be safely and reliably manipulated en masse (see for instance, Electron Tunneling Microscope and Atomic Force Microscope).
Which brings us to one of many quagmires facing biomedical engineers in the nascent brain-computer interface industry: how do you connect the various lobes to silicon synthesizers and provide the same level of experience and sensations a meat-space user feels in the real world… to the now-caged gray matter?
While this may take decades to master, various research groups across the globe have successfully forged ahead in numerous areas of this interface field. And oddly enough, the answer to many of the questions may come from a hidden source: those who are mentally handicapped as well as brain trauma victims.
By studying these individuals and by creating tools in which they can speak to humanity through computers (e.g. by analyzing specific brain waves and patterns, software can decipher what an individual is thinking and types it onto a monitor), their struggle could very well pave the road for humanities next step in purposeful evolution. An evolution that could very well lead to Solar-scalar engineering.