MIT announces Human 2.0

April 15, 2007

"The age of Human 2.0 is here," proclaims the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in launching a new Media Lab initiative to create an improved human being. The "h2.0" program, which kicks off with a free symposium next month, already has a catchy slogan - New Minds, New Bodies, New Identities - and a cool logo that uses a green see-through head as the dot in h2.0:

"Now at the dawn of the 21st century," says MIT, "a new category of tools and machines is poised to radically change humanity at a velocity well beyond the pace of Darwinian evolution." The h2.0 program, which the university says is not only "dramatic and crucially important" but also "world shattering" (I would have thought that was a bad thing), "seeks to advance on all fronts to define and focus this scientific realignment."

We're definitely overdue for an upgrade - it seems like we've been stuck in Version 1.x for a few hundred thousand years, and that was after a beta that went on for freaking ever. Still, I think I'll probably hold off until 2.01 or 2.02. I don't want to be on the bleeding edge for this one.

I can't wait to get that green see-through head, though.

Posted by nick at April 15, 2007 11:07 PM

Comments

Nick, aren't you -or maybe the folks at MIT- a bit late for an April fool's joke? I'm tired of scientists announcing the impending enhancement of human nature by means of technology, oh so soon. I know my William Gibson inside and out but all they've been able to achieve in that direction is a single cell interacting with some chip.

Posted by: darkobserver at April 16, 2007 05:23 AM