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Future Imperative

What if technology were being developed that could enhance your mind or body to extraordinary or even superhuman levels -- and some of these tools were already here? Wouldn't you be curious?

Actually, some are here. But human enhancement is an incredibly broad and compartmentalized field. We’re often unaware of what’s right next door. This site reviews resources and ideas from across the field and makes it easy for readers to find exactly the information they're most interested in.

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The future is coming fast, and it's no longer possible to ignore how rapidly the world is changing. As the old order changes -- or more frequently crumbles altogether -- I offer a perspective on how we can transform ourselves in turn... for the better. Nothing on this site is intended as legal, financial or medical advice. Indeed, much of what I discuss amounts to possibilities rather than certainties, in an ever-changing present and an ever-uncertain future.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

DARPA's Work to Enhance Human Performance, and What It Means...

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DARPA's list of projects includes Lockheed's neurological optimization work:


The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT - News) $650,000 to support Phase IV of a program designed to help maintain the performance levels of military personnel working in stressful environments.

Called Improving Warfighter Information Intake Under Stress, the program monitors operators' cognitive activity, identifies conditions that may lead to sub-optimal performance, and adaptively implements intelligent strategies to help avoid performance declines. Applying recent advances in cognitive neuroscience to develop revolutionary human-computer interfaces, the technology uses a human operator's cortical electrical activity, blood oxygenation, heart rate, skin conductance and pupil dilation to monitor cognitive activity in real time. These physiological markers typically depart from norms during high workload, distraction or drowsiness.
If I have to point out the human enhancement applications of this research, then you probably need to go back and read that last paragraph again. Not only is DARPA working to eliminate the "sub-optimal" performance so dangerous to overstretched people working in dangerous and/or high-responsibility positions... but the sheer amount of data they're collecting regarding human performance in general will give them great reserves of information to draw upon for future human augmentation research.

This may sound far-fetched, but remember that the U.S. military hasn't exactly been shy in suggesting that it's interested in dramatically enhanced troops. Particularly as their missions have become more and more challenging.

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Future Imperative

posted by Ralph Cerchione | Tuesday, September 12, 2006

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