Humans 3.0: The Upgrading of the Species

by Peter Nowak

Overview

Life for early humans wasn’t easy. They may have been able to walk on two feet and create tools 4 million years ago, but they couldn’t remember or communicate. Fortunately, people got smarter, and things got better. They remembered on-the-spot solutions and shared the valuable information of their experiences. Clubs became swords, caves became huts, and fires became ovens. Collectively these new tools became technology. As the 21st century unfolds, the pace of innovation is accelerating exponentially. Breakthroughs from robotics to genetics appear almost on a daily basis. It’s all happening so quickly that it’s hard to keep track—but recently there’s been a shift. We used to create technology to change the world around us; now we’re using it to change ourselves. With vaccinations, in-vitro fertilization, and individual genetic therapy, we’re entering a new epoch, a next step, faster and more dramatic than the shift from Australopithicines to Homo Sapiens. The technology that set us apart from our earliest selves is becoming part of the evolutionary process. Advancements in computing, robotics, nanotechnology, neurology, and genetics mean that our wildest imaginings could soon become commonplace. Peter Nowak deftly presents the potential outcomes—both exciting and frightening—of key, rapidly advancing technologies and adroitly explores both the ramifications of adopting them and what doing so will reveal about the future of our species. We’ve come a long way in 4 million years. Welcome to Human 3.0.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493016211
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/05/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	992 KB

About the Author

Peter Nowak is the author of Sex, Bombs, and Burgers, and his work has appeared in the Boston Globe, New Scientist magazine, and elsewhere. He won the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance Award for excellence in reporting, and the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand named him technology journalist of the year. He lives in Toronto with his wife.

Table of Contents

1 Evolution: Of Rice and Men 1

2 Economics: Widgets Are Like the Avengers 21

3 Health: The Unbearable Vampireness of Being 39

4 Jobs: A Million Little Googles 56

5 Arts: Long Live the Dead Buffalo 74

6 Relationships: Superficial Degrees of Kevin Bacon 97

7 Identity: God Is the Machine 121

8 Belief: Are One-Eyed Cylons Myopic? 139

9 Happiness: It's Always Sunny in Costa Rica 155

10 Conclusion: Marx Was Right (Sort Of) 178

Acknowledgments 195

Notes 196

Index 207

About the Author 216

Editorial Reviews

The title of this book is an optimistic meditation on the future of humankind and technology. Nowak, a technology journalist, offers his perspectives on how technological advances will positively impact the quality of human life. Using anecdotes and cherry-picked data, the author weaves an entertaining, at times comical, narrative. ... In ten chapters, the author explores how technology will impact human evolution, economics, health, jobs, arts, relationships, identity, belief, and happiness. .. .The merit of this readable volume lies in its futuristic musings on the technological 'singularity movement' and how technological advancements may improve life and usher humankind into a 'third era.' —D. D. Tritt, University of South Carolina Aiken

Choice Reviews

Critical acclaim for Sex, Bombs, and Burgers:

“Hugely entertaining. Nowak—an experienced journalist—confidently treads where other historians of technology might avoid.” —THE NEW SCIENTIST

“An enjoyable and informative history of the surprising origins of some of the technological ‘marvels’ that underpin the modern world.” —BBC FOCUS

“Thought-provoking. You can think of it, if you wish, as a modern version of Mandeville's The Fable of the Bees, which proposed that society's vices are actually good for overall economic health.” —THE GUARDIAN

“Witty and well-researched. .. An engaging read, leaving one with several ‘I did not know that’ moments.” —THE GLOBE AND MAIL

From the Publisher

The title of this book is an optimistic meditation on the future of humankind and technology.  Nowak, a technology journalist, offers his perspectives on how technological advances will positively impact the quality of human life.  Using anecdotes and cherry-picked data, the author weaves an entertaining, at times comical, narrative. .. . In ten chapters, the author explores how technology will impact human evolution, economics, health, jobs, arts, relationships, identity, belief, and happiness.  .. .The merit of this readable volume lies in its futuristic musings on the technological 'singularity movement' and how technological advancements may improve life and usher humankind into a 'third era.' —D. D. Tritt, University of South Carolina Aiken

Choice

The title of this book is an optimistic meditation on the future of humankind and technology.  Nowak, a technology journalist, offers his perspectives on how technological advances will positively impact the quality of human life.  Using anecdotes and cherry-picked data, the author weaves an entertaining, at times comical, narrative. .. . In ten chapters, the author explores how technology will impact human evolution, economics, health, jobs, arts, relationships, identity, belief, and happiness.  .. .The merit of this readable volume lies in its futuristic musings on the technological 'singularity movement' and how technological advancements may improve life and usher humankind into a 'third era.' —D. D. Tritt, University of South Carolina Aiken

CHOICE

"Where most of us see amusing gadgets, Toronto journalist Peter Nowak sees profound human progress."

Winnipeg Free Press

"Nowak . . . has created in Humans 3.0 something akin to an anti-venom for the kind of fear-mongering technophobic portrayals of robot-controlled, despotic human futures that tend to pervade a lof of sci-fi texts."

TechCrunch