When I was in the Healthcare Industry, I saw first hand how the New World Order was going to use Healthcare to implement their Total Control. Through the electronic healthcare system, they can force you to comply with their plan for YOUR health. They can prevent you from working if you do not comply. They can force you into a facility. They can take your children away. They can label you unfit. They can cause you to be refused a bank account or credit card. They can and will have you executed… by guillotine, so as not to ruin the precious organs in your body which they have already counted in their inventory.
I had no idea that it could get even worse than that. BUT, oh yes it can. The horrors that will be brought about through nanotechnology are terrifying. And once you are inhabited by this technology, you are no longer human. You are lost forever, and forever at the mercy of the overlords.
Internet of Things, Internet of Bodies, Internet of Nanotechnology, Internet of Thought, Internet of US. BREAK FREE FROM THE NET! Before it is too late!
As the networking of humans and machines shows to have incredible promise towards improving overall health and well being for generations to come, the Internet of Bodies (IoB) also runs the risk of enabling a global surveillance state,the likes of which the world has never seen.
The Internet of Bodies “might trigger breakthroughs in medical knowledge […] Or it might enable a surveillance state of unprecedented intrusion and consequence”— RAND Corporation report
(Well, it is true, it might trigger amazing breakthroughs in medicine…BUT IT ASSUREDLY WILL enable a surveillance state of unprecedented intrusion and consequence, beyond ANY DOUBT!)
Following the launch of its “great reset” agenda, the World Economic Forum (WEF) made a push for the global adoption of the IoB, which risks enabling an authoritarian surveillance apparatus that can manipulate human behavior to achieve its desired outcomes.
According to arecent RAND corporation report, the IoB “might trigger breakthroughs in medical knowledge […] Or it might enable a surveillance state of unprecedented intrusion and consequence.”
The IoB ecosystemis part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that the World Economic Forum (WEF) wishes to harness for its “great reset” agenda.
“One silver lining of the pandemic is that it has shown how quickly we can make radical changes to our lifestyles […] Populations have overwhelmingly shown a willingness to make sacrifices” — Klaus Schwab, WEF Director
Conceived over five years ago and launched in June, 2020, the so-called great reset agenda promises to give us a “better world” of more sustainability and equity if we agree to “revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions.”
Such radical changes would require a complete shift in our thinking and behavior, and what better way to modify our behavior than to monitor every move we make through a connected network of digital tracking devices?
According to RAND, “Greater connectivity and the widespread packaging of IoB in smartphones and appliances—some of which might collect data unbeknownst to the user—will increase digital tracking of users across a range of behaviors.”
“Increased IoB adoption might also increase global geopolitical risks, because surveillance states can use IoB data to enforce authoritarian regimes” — RAND Corporation report
Internet of Bodies Examples, RAND Corporation
The WEF is fully behind widespread adoption of the IoBdespite recognizing the enormous ethical concerns that come with having “an unprecedented number of sensors attached to, implanted within, or ingested into human bodiesto monitor, analyze, and even modify human bodies and behavior.”
“It’s now time for the Internet of Bodies. This means collecting our physical data via devices that can be implanted, swallowed or simply worn, generating huge amounts of health-related information”— Xiao Liu, WEF
Knowing that the Internet of Bodies can be used to control human behavior while gaining access to the most sensitive health, financial, and behavioral data of every person on the planet, the Davos elite “urges stakeholders from across sectors, industries and geographies to work together to mitigate the risks in order to fully unleash the potential of the IoB,” according to a WEF report from July, 2020.
“After the Internet of Things, which transformed the way we live, travel and work by connecting everyday objects to the Internet,it’s now time for the Internet of Bodies,” wrote Xiao Liu, Fellow at the WEF’s Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Examples of Internet of Bodies (IoB) Technologies, WEF
But if you want to see how the IoB fits into a great reset, like the one the WEF is touting, look no further than China’s social credit systemthat “uses enormous amounts of aggregated data, including health records, on individualsto determine their trustworthiness and to incentivize desired behaviors,” according to RAND.
Thus, the IoB is a tool that can serve multiple purposes — it can revolutionize healthcare for the benefit of all; it can be used to monitor, track, and prevent global crises before they manifest, and it can be turned into an apparatus for manipulating human behaviorin order to achieve the desired outcomes of the global elite.
Today, the WEF is fully behind the use of the IoB, and actively supports digital health passports (CovidPass) and contract tracing apps (CommonPass).
If you think that the idea behind contact tracing apps is just for tracking people infected by viruses, think again.
The same technology was used by the CCP to develop an app that literally alerts citizens with a warning when they come within 500 meters of someone who is in debt, according to the WEF “Global Risks Report 2019.”
“The app has created what’s essentially a map of ‘deadbeat debtors,’ according to Chinese state media, and shows you the debtor’s exact location, though it’s unclear if the displayed information includes a name or photo.”
So, while the WEF urges greater IoB use and contact tracing, the technology is not just for tracking the spread of a virus.
Contact tracing is also a tool for complete social control that keeps tabs on a nation’s so-called deplorable or undesirable citizens.
Think social justicepolicing via contact tracing — not just through mobile phones, but tracking chips implanted in the human body.
Internet of Bodies Risks, RAND Corporation
The RAND report also warned that “widespread IoB use might increase the risk of physical harm, espionage, and exploitation of data by adversaries.”
Indeed, if state-sponsored hackers or criminal organizations were to gain access to a medical device used by a high-profile target, the hackers could simply switch it off and assassinate their target.
As Richard Staynings, Chief Security Strategist at Cylera, once told The Sociable, “You no longer need to be MI6 and issued a Walther PPK in order to assassinate someone; you just need to gain access to the medical devices that are keeping that individual alive.”
On top of the geopolitical risks, the RAND report warned that the IoB could also “increase health outcome disparities,where only people with financial means have access to any of these benefits.”
However, this seems an unlikely scenario because the WEF doesn’t like to see one nation gain too much power. It prefers balance. It wants every country to follow the rules. It wants a technocratic Utopia.
As such, the WEF would like to see the IoB regulated uniformly across the globe, and the Davos elite routinely call for its ethical governance,but that doesn’t mean the surveillance would go away.
Not at all.
It just means that everybody would be spied on equallyafter having consented to the Draconian measures dressed-up as serving the greater good.
At its heart, the IoB is dependent upon collecting tons of biometric data,which will “allow new forms of social control,” according to the WEF Global Risks 2019 report.
The WEF concluded two years ago that “authoritarianism is easier in a world of total visibility and traceability, while democracy may turn out to be more difficult.”
Now, the WEF wants to exploit the Fourth Industrial Revolution under the great reset agenda, and it has massive support from the media, world leaders, and captains of industry alike.
Klaus Schwab, founder and director of the WEF, had already called for the great reset back in 2014(see video above), but decided in June, 2020, that this was the year to enact the scheme because the coronavirus crisis had presented a “rare but narrow window of opportunity.”
And in order to make the Davos elites’ globalist Utopia a reality, universal trust in the increasingly invasive uses of emerging technologies will be required.
If you are willing to believe that a global, un-elected body of bureaucrats based in Switzerland has your best interest at heart, then you are willing to accept that your corporeal autonomy, physical privacy, and mental freedom may be compromised to serve the greater good.
The 25th anniversary of the World Wide Webcame and went yesterday, along with the requisite retrospectives and predictions for the next quarter-century of innovation. But few reports forecasting the future of the web pointed out that in the future, there may not be a web.At least not as we know it now, as place you “go” or “visit,” because the next generation of the internet could be people themselves.
The “Internet of X” is a buzzphrase we’re starting to hear a lot: Beyond the much-discussed Internet of Things, there’s now the Internet of Pets, the Internet of Plants, and, most interestingly, the nascentInternet of Bodies.
In other words, 25 years from now gadgets like smartphones, smartwatches, augmented glasses, virtual reality headgear, and the myriad other devices merging humans and the internet may be laughably antiquated.Computers will become so tiny they can be embedded under the skin, implanted inside the body,or integrated into a contact lens and stuck on top of your eyeball.
Naturally, those machines will be wifi-enabled,so it’s feasible that anything you can do with your phone now you could do with your gaze or gestures in a few decades. And maybe even more, as augmented reality and virtual reality come out of infancy and proliferate beyond awkward and cumbersome devices like Google Glass or the Oculus Rift.
What could go wrong? Well, what don’t you want people doing to your body?
I got a glimpse of the annotated future at SXSW this week, demo-ing the new HD Oculus Rift prototypes.One virtual reality experience transported me to a 360-degree 3D environmentwhere VR artists were talking about their work, and a floating digital caption hovered in front of themas they talked, displaying their name and bio. As I looked at it, the caption tilted and moved according to my gaze to make it easy to read, and disappeared when I focused back on the people. Now imagine that without the bulky headset.
But don’t take my word for it; many techsperts agree this is the direction the web is heading in. A Pew report published this week called Digital Life in 2025predicted that the internet will become invisible‚ like electricity, and augmented reality devices will finally become widespread.
“We will grow accustomed to seeing the world through multiple data layers,” the report states. “This will change a lot of social practices, such as dating, job interviewing and professional networking, and gaming, as well as policing and espionage.”
Web pioneer Nathaniel Borenstein echoed this in a phone chat yesterday. Borenstein is best-known as the engineer that invented multimedia messaging—i.e. the first person to send an email attachment. It was photo and audio of his barbershop quartet singing “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” Now Chief Scientist for the software company Mimecast, he has a penchant for predicting the future, and likes to point out he’s been right before.
“You have all this information—I was going to say at your fingertips, but it’s actually at your cornea,” he laughed.
The downside, he said, is that privacy would really be dead in the ground.You could meet someone in a bar and know everything about them before you even say hello.Or film everything they do and say without their permission or knowledge.It’s creepy and unspontaneous at best,but also opens the door to scams, cons, cybercrime, and exploitation of people’s personal data—everything that’s already happening on the web today, but magnified.
Google Glass is already stirring up such concerns, which is why some bars are banning the device. But basic restrictions and laws may not be a sustainable solution if augmented gadgets become so small you can’t see them, Borenstein pointed out. “While I certainly applaud it for now, it’s a finger in the dyke.”
Which leads us back to implantable tech and our increasingly cyborg future. Wireless biosensors are already common in the medical industry, but now DIY biohackers are also experimenting with computerizing their own bodies. And while walking around with embedded microchips monitoring every body function could help us keep tabs on our personal health,prevent or treat disease, and maybe even live longer, the dystopian scenario is rather terrifying.
For instance, if an internet-enabled machine is tracking your heartbeat, and a hacker takes over control, they could kill you from halfway around the world.We don’t have to stare years into the future to imagine this; Dick Cheney worriedthat someone would tamper with his wireless-connected defibrillator to try and take him out,and some security firms are already preparing for the possibility of remote assassination.
Beyond internet-enabled murder, melding of man and machine also conjures up Big Brother fears of the government tracking your every move.Imagine if the NSA could not only read your email, but measure your pulse as well.We may have to start worrying about encrypting our DNA.
Borenstein, as well as the Pew study, predicted the cybersecurity industry will boom. “The amount of effort people are going to put into security is going to be proportional to the threat;it always has been,” Borenstein said. “People won’t care until they have something they’re afraid of losing.”
If the tracking and hacking that’s increasingly threatening the webexpands to include your car, your cat, your TV, your smart home, and possibly yourself, there’s a lot more at stake.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies wants to get your DNA online, and that future is closer than you think. Subscribe to WIRED ►► http://po.st/SubscribeWired MinION, a £650 gene sequencer created by the company that plugs into USB ports, could soon be integrated into your mobile phone, CTO Clive Brown told the audience at WIRED Health 2015. “Our big dream is to move towards self-quantification, and we’re going to make a version that works on handheld mobile phones. It can measure your blood markers and collate that data to track changes in your daily biology.” The consumer behaviour patterns are already there today, he said, with people buying over-the-counter glucose monitors. “I think the wealth of information we can intercept can change the way people live.” Read The Full Story: http://wired.uk/c7KFYh WIRED Health is a one-day summit designed to introduce, explain and predict the coming trends facing the medical and personal healthcare industries. This ambitious inaugural event was held on April 24 2015, at the home of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 30 Euston Square, London.
Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract Constant population growth influences of health care demands and needs for new, more advanced scientific solutions. Classical way of providing the health care services could be very robust. It requires new paradigmand technology for more effective solutions. Rapid development information and nano technologies change the health care system in total. It gives to the health care system a new, global domain – Internet of Nano Things (IoNT) and nanomedicine. These two concepts are beginning to change the foundations of disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Future healthcare based on IoNT powered e-health systems will make health monitoring, diagnostics and treatment more personalized, timely and convenient. These improvements increase the availability and quality of medical care followed with radically reduced costs. Thus, analysis of this approach is highly importantfuture development of healthcare.
Introduction The present tremendous developments in the field of nanotechnology (a technology which is deployed in desired devices within the nanotechnology radius)lead to new nanomachine (the most basic functional unit, integrated by nano-components and able to perform simple tasks such as sensing or actuation) applications that could benefit various industries, including healthcareindustry, as well as the military [1]. In other words, the development of nanoscale electronic and sensor devices has the potential to enable advances in ubiquitous computing and distributed and self-organising network systems[2]. Manufacturing with nanotechnology can solve many of the world’s current problems. A more realistic view is that there will not be the aspect of life untouched by nanotechnology. (In other words every aspect of our lives and our world will be controlled by nano robots)It is expected that nanotechnology will be in widespread use by 2020. Mass applications are likely to have great impact, especially in industry, medicine,new computing systems, and sustainability [3]. The ability of everyday devices to intercommunicate with each other and/or with humans is becoming more Internet of Things (IoT). It is a highly dynamic and radically distributed networked system, composed of a very large number of smart objects. Three main system-level characteristics of IoT are [4]: • Anything communicates; • Anything is identified; and • Anything interacts. Nowhere does the IoT offer greater promise than in the field of healthcare. McKinsey Global Institute in its report presents predictions and economic feasibility of IoT powered healthcare,which states that by 2025 the largest percentage of the IoT incomes will go to healthcare [5] (Figure 1)
Embedding nanomachines in the environmentadd a new dimension to the Internet of Things, realizing the Internet of Nano Things (IoNT) vision (Figure 2).
The interconnection of the nanonetworks to the wider Internet will bring along new challenges. These challenges will include acquiring new communication and interface mechanisms between the nano- and micro scale networks as well as techniques to handle the large amount of data that will emerge from nanonetworks. New service models at the application layer to manage data from the nanonetworks will also be a matter of future research. Thus, the IoNT will open new opportunities for future applications including healthcare, transportation and logistics, defense and aerospace, media and entertainment, manufacturing, energy and utilities, retail, and others services [6]. The application of nanotechnology is most exciting in the biomedical domain,where advances are being made in both diagnostic and treatment areas [3]. This fact ranks nanomedicine as one of the top 5 trends in nanotechnology. In order to define future healthcare opportunities, this paper presents the possibility of nanotechnology application in medicine as well as the ways and importance of interconnecting nanodevices with the Internet for development a sophisticated medical and expert system for personal health management. The concept and architecture of new IoT paradigm called Internet of Nano Things (IoNT) is presented. Security and ethics issue of applying this technical approach are considered too. In summary, the perspectives and challenges of both nanomedicine and IoNT are presented in the rest of the paper, which is structured as follows. Section II presents a nanomedicine, therapy and enhancement. The architecture of IoNT is presented in Section III while Section IV presents security and privacy issues of IoNT applications in healthcare. Finally, Section V concludes the paper.
Nanomedicine, therapy and enhancement
Nanotechnology has diverse applications in health care sector, including the development of new diagnostic and imaging applications, more potent harmaceuticals,(Interesting typo? or was that a freudian slip? or is that actually what they mean HARMaceuticals?) and drug delivery mechanisms, implants and devices[2]. Therefore, nanomedicine is the process of diagnosing, treating, and preventing diseases and traumatic injury by using nanoscale-structured materials and simple nanodevices, that can be manufactured today.The core of nanoscale-structured materials and nanodevices is the interaction of these materials with biological systems. In the longer term, perhaps 10-20 years from today, nanomedicine may give molecular machine systems and nanorobots, as a type of nanomachines, which may join the medical armamentarium, finally giving physicians the most potent tools imaginable to conquer human disease, ill-health, and ageing (Figure 3) [7].
In addition, nanorobots are seen to be instrumental in nanomedicine and cognitive enhancement in future. Several classes of medical nanorobots such as respirocytes, clottocytes, vasculoids, and microbivores are designed till now (2015). They could perform a variety of biophysical clean-up, maintenance, and augmentation functions in the body [8]. Existing biological nanomachines, such as nanosensors and nanoactuators provide an interface between biological phenomena and electronic nano-devices. In the Figure 1. Economic Impact of IoT Applications in 2025 provided by the McKinsey Global Insitute Figure 2. The Internet of Nano Things possible applications at the global scale [6] Figure 3. The Internet of Nano things application in Healthcarediagnostics area, nanosensors that can detect, identify, and quantify biological substances in body fluids are leading to early disease detection and earlier treatments as well as the ability to detect environmental contaminants in the body
[1]. Nanomachines deployed inside the human body can be remotely controlled from the macroscale and over the Internet by an external user(a healthcare provider), creating in such way a new networking paradigm – the Internet of Nano Things. The dominant research fields and application in nanomedicine [9] can be summarized into: A) Drug Delivery Systems Nano-based drug delivery systems aim to improve the bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of pharmaceuticals and to provide non-invasive routes of drug administration. Examples of drug delivery systems in development that use nanomaterials are liposomes, nanosuspensions, polymeric nanoparticles, dendrimers, fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and inorganic nanoparticles. One of the drug delivery devices undergoing clinical trials is a nanoparticle shell containing a chemotherapy agent [2]. B) Implants Nanomaterials and nano components have increasingly been developed for medical implants. Major application fields are hard tissue implants, bone substitute materials, dental restoratives, soft tissue implants, and antibiotic materials for coating or disinfecting medical equipment. Nanomaterials have been developed for orthopedic implants that have greater biocompatibility, promote new bone growth and which are hoped to have longer life spans [2]. C) Diagnostic Tools and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) InterfacesThe next generation of medical applications will be made possible through greater and more specific physiological and health data provided by new medical surveillance and diagnostic tools. While this field is still far smaller than that of drug delivery, new information accessed through nano-diagnostics arguably poses the greatest challenges for privacy.Similarly the use of ICT implants for diagnostic purposes has to date attracted little attention [7]. D) Nanobionics Another emerging field is that of “nanobionics”, described by some as the convergence between biology and electronics. Nanotechnology does not yet play an important role in the manufacture of commercially available active implants. Nonetheless, there are many examples where nano-structured materials are being used for specific components of active implants, to improve the biocompatibility of implants, and to support more effective electrode-cellular interfaces [2].
Iont architecture for healthcare applications
Internet-connected devices, brought out to patients in various forms, enable tracking health information what is vital for some patients. This creates an opening for smarter devices to present more valuable data,lessening the demand for direct patient – healthcare professional interaction (Figure 4) [10].
With faster, better insights, providers can improve patient care, chronic disease management, hospital administration and supply chain efficiencies, and provide medical services to more people at reduced costs [11]. (Not to mention that TRACKING every single person and every aspect of their bodily functions 24/7 will generate more medical care/treatments/pharmaceuticals/tests/surgeries..etc. Much more revenue for the medical field. NO ONE will be able to avoid doctors. There will be no way to refuse treatment.) The IoT rapidly change the healthcare scenario by focusing on the way people, devices and applications are connected and interact with each other and offer promising solutions for healthcare, making a more revolutionary archetype for healthcare industry developed on a privacy/security model [12]. Several e-health scenarios are enabled by rapid ICT advancements and with the increasing number of smart things (portable devices and sensors). Such created e-health solutions provide a great wealth of information that can be used to make actionable decisions.By linking information, people, devices, processes and context, Internet powered e-health creates a bunch of chances to improve outcomes, increases efficiency, and makes healthcare affordable. In order to track and record personal data it is necessary to use sensors or tools which are readily available to the general public. In the IoNT paradigm, the following components are main blocks of the network architecture (Figure 5) [1]:
• Nano-nodes – the smallest and simplest nanomaCloud based services of Things Software Platform Infrastructure Virtual resources (control, storage, computing, access, etc.) Internet of Things and Nano Things Micro devices Nano devices Communicating environments Smart Services Service Provisioning Management M2M D2D H2H Figure 4. The Internet of Things architecture machines which have limited memory and energy, able to perform simple computation, and can only transmit over very short distances.Nano-nodes can be nanomaterial-based designed and bio-inspired designed (Figure 6).
In general,
• nanosensors can be classified into the following types: physical (mechanical, acoustical, thermal and radiation, optical, and magnetic); chemical (atomic and molecular energies); and biological (antibody/antigen interaction, DNA interaction, enzymatic interaction). Approaches for the fabrication and integration of nanosensors are presented in Figure 7.
• Nano-routers – nano-devices which aggregate information coming from limited nanomachines and can also control the behavior of nano-nodes by exchanging very simple control commands(on/off, sleep, read value, etc.). • Nano-micro interface devices – these devices aggregate the information coming from nanorouters, to convey it to the microscale, and vice versa. This device are able to communicate in the nanoscale using the nanocommunication techniques and to use classical communication paradigms in conventional communication networks. • Gateway – this device enables the remote control of the entire system over the Internet.The unique properties of the nanoscale and the nature of nanonetworks require new solutions for communications that should be provided by the information and communication society [1]. As communication is crucial in such networks for extended or permanent health monitoring and diagnostics, author of [13] defined Figure 5. The Internet of Nano Things architecture in Healthcae application [1] Figure 6. Design principles of nano nodes [10] Figure 7. Approaches for the fabrication and integration of nanosensors [10]
four recognizable near future communication needs of nanotechnology in health applications: 1. Information transfer; 2. Control data transfer; 3. Sensing and Identification; and 4. Localization. The importance of communication with devices placed in human bodyalso rises as an extensive research and development. On that point is also an impression that adoption of existing communication technology to micro- and nano applications would offer significantly more inexpensive and faster application of nanotechnology in medicine.
Iont healthcare applications: security and privacy issues
Various applications of nanomedicine include the development of novel diagnostic and imaging applications, more potent pharmaceuticals and drug delivery mechanisms, and active implants and devices [2]. For example, diagnostic nanosensors will allow early detection of various diseases, like cancer, at the very onset of the symptoms, before the disease is perceived by the patient. Early detection means higher chances of successfully treating and overcoming the disease. In other words, scale of nanodevices enables reaching hard to access areas and access vital information at a whole new level (molecular information). The primary and largest benefit of self-monitoring systems is the elimination of the necessity for third party hospitals to run tests, which are both expensive and lengthy. The second advantage is connection with healthcare expert systems which are very important for giving correct information for diagnosis, reducing medical errors and providing immediate medical services [14-16]. These expert systems are usually based on artificial intelligence, and they are added to sensed data. In other words, the body area networks collect vital patient information and feed this information to service providers’computing systems or expert systems. As a result, it achieves higher accuracy and efficiency in monitoring the health conditions of a great number of patients [17]. Therefore, these systems are an important advancement in the area of personal health management [18]. As the science and technology of nanomedicine speed ahead, ethics, policy and the law are struggling to keep up. It is important to proactively address the ethical, social and regulatory aspects of nanomedicine in order to minimize its adverse impacts on the environment and public health[19]. (Note that it does not mention concern for the patient’s privacy or personal desires for the healthcare or their rights to choose or the protection of their personal information. It only mentions the environment and the PUBLIC health.)The computerization of medical information has raised significant concerns about privacy.Critical medical information must be protected from illegal usage for personal advantages and fake acts what implies the importance of security and reliability in IoNT powered e-health solutions.Thus, privacy issues should be well addressed to ensure the appropriate use of the sensitive data collected from personal health monitoring devices. The European Commission’s eHealth Action Plan 2012-2020 provides a roadmap to empower patients and healthcare workers, to link up devices and technologies, and to invest in research towards the personalised medicine of the future [20]. Together with this plan, the Commission issued a Staff Working Document on Telemedicine which is the provision of healthcare services, through the use of ICT, in situations where the health professional and the patient are not in the same location. The aim of these regulations is to help dealing with the legal aspects related to data protection rules, privacy matters and reimbursement. In this way, secure transmission of medical data and information, through text, sound, images or other forms needed for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of patients, provides smarter, safer and patient-centered health services. (Not at all patient centered. Totally to the benefit of medical providers and the totalitarian government.)
Discussion and conclusion
Nanotechnology is a subject area of applied scientific discipline focused on the design, synthesis, characterization and application of materials and devices on the nanoscale. Through the design, characterization, production and application of nano sized, intelligent materials and their application within medicine, there is a possibility to revolutionize the healthcare. In other words, the nanotechnology has become a new advent of medicine (nanomedicine). The use of nanotechnology in medicine offers some exciting possibilities. (They have already crossed the line. They have given us NO CHOICE in the matter. They have filled our bodies with nanotechnology without giving us any warning, or opportunity to refuse.) Nanotechnology-based therapies, in vitro diagnostics and imaging agents are still in an early stage of development, although it is expected that their importance will grow. Nano drug delivery systems (NDDS) now on the market are first generation products that use nanomaterials to increase the solubility and therefore the bioavailability of drugs, or which concentrate drugs in particular tissues (in high doses). Just as the understanding of the unintended consequences of exposure to nanomaterials for human health and the environment remains rudimentary, scientists are just beginning to understand the interaction of NDDS with the immune system, cells, and organs. Nanotechnology provides extraordinary opportunities not only to better materials and medical devices, but also to create new “smart” devices and technologies. IoT with nano-machines have attracted much attention as one of the new research areas. In this way, nanotechnology and the Internet together create a novel vision – Internet of Nano Things (IoNT). Nowhere does the IoNT offer greater promise than in the field of healthcare. The application of IoNT in nanomedicine presents a very significant improvement in nanomedicine – enhancing human health in novel ways, particularly in preventive health, proactive monitoring, follow-up care and chronic care disease management. Nano- and micro-networks of sensors enable continuous health monitoring and logging vital parameters of patients. In other words, these networked systems continuously monitor patients’ physiological and physical conditions, and transmit sensed data in real time via either wired or wireless technology to a centralized location where the data can be monitored and processed by (AI as was already established.) trained medical personnel. Having in mind that e-health systems store and process very sensitive data, such systems should have a proper security and privacy framework and mechanisms. Only in this way, the principal goal of Future Healthcare idea – early disease detection and diagnosis, as well as precise and effective therapy tailored to the patient, accompanied with reduced cost is enabled.
Michael Crichton was always a bit of an alarmist. In his novels, he exploited the simple concept that everyone from Bram Stoker to Alfred Hitchcock had mastered: Take something people experience every day, and make it kill them. For Stoker, it was open windows. For Hitchcock, it was roadside motels. For Crichton, it was technology.
“Jurassic Park” was about the bad things that happen when you start messing with DNA.“Airframe” was alarming because it played on the thought that goes through everyone’s mind before take-off: Just how safe is this, anyway? His 2002 novel, “Prey,” was all about what can happen when nanotechnology — microscopic computers invisible to the human eye — goes haywire.At the time, this seemed to be Crichton at his most over-the-top. Just how big of a problem could these tiny computers really be? But “Prey” is actually turning out to be more prescient than pessimistic.It’s just that the nanobots aren’t swarming outside our bodies. They’re attacking from the insides.
At least, that’s where my head immediately went while reading the adequately scary “Eating Nano” in E Magazine.The article, which appeared in last month’s issue, details exactly how nanotechnology has found its way into our food supply.Just like GMOs, their existence was meant to help out. They supposedly deliver more nutrients to our bodies, keep food fresher longer periods, even enhance taste. Which is all well and good. Except that, in regards to nanotechnology, “safety-testing” is treated in a “we’ll fix it when it’s broke” kind of way:
In other words, small robots that can move about your body as they please.
Among the foods most likely to have nano-tech: Foods with caramelized sugar, nutritional supplements, toothpastes, gums, M&Ms, Jello Banana Cream Pudding, Pop Tarts, Mentos, Nestle Original Coffee Creamer, and even… purified water!
One of the scariest elements of the article isn’t that these pieces of nanotechnology are harmful to the human bodies. It’s that no one knows if they’re harmful.Testing has been nearly nonexistent. The FDA, the governing body we’ve put in charge to keep bad things from entering our bodies, doesn’t even have a list of foods that contain nanotechnology. From an email exchange quoted in the article with an FDA rep:
E Magazine:What can you tell me about the prevalence of nanomaterials in our food supply?
Sebastian Cianci:FDA does not have a list of food products that contain nanomaterials.
E:Where are nanomaterials most often found within food products? In colorings or additives?
S.C.:FDA does not maintain a list of food products that contain nanomaterials so we cannot reliably answer this question.
That’s something that would even keep Michael Crichton awake at night.Which all means that if you were worried about the labeling of GMOs in our food, then you have something else on your plate now.
Bear in mind that the above article was written in 2012. That means that we have been ingesting nanoparticles for at least 8 years. God only knows how many of the foods we eat and the liquids we drink are chuck full of them. Not to mention the ones in the air we breathe.
Wearable electronics and other Internet of Things (IoT) devicesare rapidly growing in popularity, but their need for consistent power can place a high burden on users.One recently proposed solution is to generate electricity using heat from the human body, animals or other ambient sources, but typical emerging devices need to be up to an inch thick to harvest maximum results. For more information see the IDTechEx report on E-Textiles 2019-2029: Technologies, Markets and Players.
Researchers at Purdue University have created a technology to address the thickness issue for wearable power generation.They developed a woven, thermoelectric flexible fabric that is potentially thinner than a millimeter.
“This wearable power generator is well-suited for body or other heat recovery while also offering great mechanical flexibility and comfort,” said Kazuaki Yazawa, a research associate professor at Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue’s Discovery Park. “Furthermore, this film-based product is easier to manufacture compared to current manufacturing of thermoelectric modules.“
The flexible thermoelectric generator technology uses a polymer or a variety of yarns woven into a polymer film or fabric sheet with a printable pattern of thermoelectric materials. The generator takes heat from any curved surface it meets and converts it into a small amount of electricity.
Punched holes incorporated with the printed pattern allow an electric insulated thread to pass over between the two sides to properly connect the hot and cold side surfaces. The 3D structure then becomes similar to conventional rigid or solid thermoelectric power generator modules.
“There are several potential areas of application for this technology for both humans and animals,” Yazawa said. “It can be used for biomonitoring humans or animals, along with applications for industrial machining where the unreachable curved surface can be used for sensing and machine health monitoring.”
Source: Purdue University
Top image: Geotherm
So your clothes and/or your bedding and furniture could be sending your biometric data to AI 24/7.
Once injected (or ingested) into the human body, nanoparticles could assemble into multifunctional devices, as shown in this artist’s concept.These devices could have processing capabilities, which would open them up to hacking by malevolent individuals or organizations.Credit: Shutterstock imagery by GiroScience spacer
Shutterstock imagery by Pavel Chagochkin spacer
An artist’s concept shows nanorobots cruising through the bloodstream amid corpuscles as they head for a target site, where they will treat a patient. Security experts fear that these types of nanorobots could be compromised by a hacker who reprograms them for malicious action. credit: Shutterstock imagery by Lightspring
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Hacking the Human Is the Next Cyber Threat
August 1, 2018 By Robert K. Ackerman
Security flaws in medical nanotechnologies could be deadly.
Medical technologies such as electronic devices implanted (ingested) or injected into the human bodyare the next growth area for hackers pursuing money or control of individual people.With nanotechnology implants already being used for some medical treatments, advances in their application could pose as great a cybersecurity threat as what faces the Internet of Things, experts say.
Security professionals have begun to confront the problem of biomechanical hacking.Two years ago, health care giant Johnson & Johnson warned that one type of its insulin pumps could be hacked.The company encouraged users to avoid employing the device’s remote-control feature and to program the pump to limit its maximum dose. And last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered the recall of nearly half a million pacemakers over hacking fears.A firmware update was needed to patch security holes in the devices.
But these threats are relatively simple compared with the potential for malicious cyber activity within the human body. New biomechanical technologies coming into use are far more sophisticated, and far more vulnerable, than single-function devices such as pacemakers and insulin pumps. Medicine sits on the cusp of introducing nanosystems into the human body that could revolutionize treatment and recovery, according to health journals.These particles, which measure 10-9 microns, or 1 nanometer, will be able to perform a variety of functions, either singularly or in groups.But, as electronic devices, they could be hacked by outsiders.
These innovative nanoparticles are not being introduced with sufficient security, says Gregory Carpenter, a certified information security manager (CISM) and a self-described cyber imagineer. A former military intelligence and cyber expert with the U.S. Army and the National Security Agency, Carpenter has written several books and articles on technology and the cybersecurity threat. “[Biomechanical] security is probably the last thing to be put in place at a very high level,” he charges. “There is rudimentary security in several different deployments of that technology in some universities in the United States. But I would say the same level of security is not acknowledged as necessary in different places around the world because [advanced nanomedicine] is only in the research phase right now.
“As new nanoparticles come out, you’ll see autonomous processors in nanoparticles, which will be in contact with a client—a laptop, desktop computer or tablet that is going to be run by a server.So, there’s always a link, and if you can hack it, you can own it,” he declares.
That concern is shared by Michael DeCesare, CEO of ForeScout Technologies and former president of McAfee. “In a nanoparticle, you’re not dealing with a machine that’s getting more powerful,” DeCesare says. “You’re dealing with smaller versions of computerized machines.
“If I have some tiny computer put into my body, who’s to say it couldn’t be kept there and at some point do something more harmful?”he asks. “On the one hand, you see this incredible wave of innovation. Some biotech companies now believe that within five years … you can go in if you’re sick and get one pill custom-designed for your DNA, and your problem is gone.”
But there is a dark side too. “If [it’s] in the wrong hands, what could happen?In 2018, we’re seeing almost as many new devices come online every year as in the first 20 years of the Internet combined. And, in every single new device that comes online, there’s probably a bad way about how that could be exploited,” DeCesare says.
Carpenter notes that nanotechnology already is in use close to the body—in jeans, for example, to maintain fabric color and keep fibers together. This same type of technology can be used to store data, and it transits easily into the human system if inserted. For example, a CT scan today may employ nanoparticles to help guide a gadolinium-based contrast agent to specific internal locations and then quickly exit the body.
Other more extensive capabilities are possible as advanced nanomechanical devices enter medicine.In one application, patients could inhale programmed nanoparticles dispersed by aerosol.The particles would gather in the body at a common location, where they would self-assemble into a larger mechanical unit that basically operates as an artificial cell.This micromechanical cell might perform the same roles as neighboring cells, supplementing organ functions or even replacing damaged cells.
The artificial cell’s life cycle could be manipulated through a software update that would affect organic cells as well. The updated nanoconstruct might release or create different types of enzymes to help sustain the life of neighboring natural cells. And this type of treatment may begin to be available in less than two years, Carpenter offers.
He continues that the human body is electronically charged at the subatomic level and chemically and electronically charged at the molecular level.Nanotechnology introduced into the body could use the nervous system or the endocrine system for communication.A self-assembled cell could move from one part of the body to another or coordinate efforts with other artificial cells.
Accordingly, self-assembled nanoparticles offer great potential for remedying problems in the human body. They likely would have to self-assemble, Carpenter maintains, because they are too small to house a processor using existing technology. These nanoconstructs could store data themselves, so they would not need to be supplemented by memory devices.
Once assembled, they could be programmed or directed to move to peripheral nerves at the end of limbs, where they would perform any of a number of physical functions. For example, people unable to use their fingers might find their dexterity restored. Many biomechanical researchers are focusing on producing such beneficial results, Carpenter says.
Most human nanodevices would be programmed before insertion, although some could have their functions directed externally. However, as with any type of computer-based device, malevolent applications can emerge from internal nanosystems. A nanorobot controlled by a hacker could be embedded in a neurological system in a new location to perform in a way contrary to its original function.The electrochemical message it sends down the nervous system to affect the body would be different than intended because of the change in the device’s location.
Another way to sabotage a human’s nano-implants would be for a hacker or an insider to establish an ad hoc network of nanoparticles in the body. According to Carpenter, the network could overcome signal attenuation issues by using the body’s molecular communication systems to transfer nanoparticles to different locations. A single receiving antenna—such as a nanoparticle stored in the fluid of an eye—could relay a signal from an antenna outside the body.And that signal could be the access point for a hacker to wreak havoc.
“You can manipulate the nanoparticles like any hacker can manipulate a client or a server,” Carpenter states. “All you have to do is get in touch with the client that controls the nanoparticles, and you can take them over.”
He notes that recent hacks of equipment in medical facilities exploited vulnerabilities left unchecked by reliance on a decades-old version of the Windows operating system. Today, even on a new system, a hacker could load a runtime virus in a laptop and obtain root access to the computer,which in turn would provide complete access to the nanorobots in several people, he states.
Carpenter continues that, last year, hackers had the capability to take over a university server and use it to manipulate nanoparticles deployed in a laboratory test animal in near real time. Since then, the university’s security posture has not changed. “It’s still 100 percent wide open,” he charges.
Overall, the weakest link in security remains the human aspect, Carpenter points out. Whether updating servers, firewalls or firmware, people are going to make mistakes that create vulnerabilities. “An astute criminal with awareness can jump in and exploit the heck out of that,” he says.
The view among several security experts is that if hackers can break into a system, then they can find a way to profit monetarily from it. Internal biomedical device hacking could lead to people facing ransomware demands for large sums of bitcoin or suffering potentially fatal consequences.
Further down the line, nanomedical extortion or terrorism could enter the transplant arena.A criminal, or a medical professional under the control of criminals, might embed a transplant organ or a graft with nanoparticles that form a device that is manipulated by a hacker. The organ recipient then could be forced to do the bidding of the hacker or pay a large ransom just to maintain vital bodily functions or even to stay alive, Carpenter suggests.
As nanomedicine becomes more valuable, its potential for harm will increase along with its importance. “Outside of a few limited situations, I don’t know that many people really understand, know or believe that cyber can kill them,” Carpenter declares. The result of unsecured nanoparticles will be “a rude awakening” that leads to policy updates, laws and international rules of behavior that will require cross-border compliance, he adds.
“It will be global, and that’s when the realization comes from the first person dying from some nanorobot that releases too much adrenaline and puts them in [atrial fibrillation] and gives them a fatal heart attack,”(I doubt that anyone would even notice or connect the two. It will not cause any concern or changes in policy or law. Even if hundreds of people died that way. Look how long it takes for any action when the Corporations know that a drug is killing people.)Carpenter warns. This will happen soon enough, although probably not this year, he adds.
DeCesare says he believes the makers of these nanomedical devices hold the key to proper security. “It’s on the biotech manufacturers,” he declares. Health care security is a big part of his company’s business, and he says its security efforts go beyond servers and computers running Windows to include all manner of machines on hospital floors. “It’s only a problem if the nanoparticles can be accessed by something bad. If it’s in your body but it’s being kept safe, it’s less risky than if it’s in your body and could be doing something on its own that would be potentially not safe.”
But building in security first is the biggest conundrum, DeCesare continues. It may not be practical for a company to do that in its rush to introduce innovative technology to the marketplace, which is why so many users need to seek security assistance later.
The challenge becomes bigger as the technology becomes smaller. Adds Carpenter, “We have had ample opportunity over the past 20 years to fix the security of computers, and we still can’t do that. We put a man on the moon eight years after President Kennedy said our mission was to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Twenty-five years [of computer security] later, we still haven’t secured one computer.”
Ask yourself how much do you trust the medical industry? How about the technical industry? How about the Drug industry? Do you really want them experimenting around in your body? NOW ASK YOURSELF… HOW MUCH DO YOU TRUST AI??
According to some futurists, in the next 10 or so years, your blood could be streaming with tiny nanorobots to help keep you from getting sick or even transmit your thoughts to a wireless cloud. They will travel inside of you, on a molecular level, protecting your biological system and ensuring that you’ll have a good and long life. The future is closer than you may think.
Nano as a term is no longer perceived as special; we got used to small devices and artificial intelligence in our daily life. Tech has developed significantly and so have potential applications of these microscopic machines.
Futurist and Google director of engineering, Ray Kurzweil, is an avid predictor of future events and claims to have a fairly high accuracy rate. He is one of the biggest proponents of the notion that nanobots will be streaming through our blood in the near future. The science surrounding this prediction may not be that far off from modern technology.
Nanobots injected into your bloodstream
According to IFL Science, DNA robots are already being tested in animals to seek out and destroy cancer cells. These programmed strands of DNA have the capability to move through the bloodstream and injecting blood clotting drugs into blood vessels around tumors, cutting off their blood supply.
If human trials go forward, these tiny robots could be revolutionary in treating cancer and in other cell research. There are still a large number of hurdles to overcome, however, before injected nanorobots would be able to surpass current forms of treatment.
Cancer detection and treatment is one thing, but tiny nanobots could be big players in the future of medicine for other reasons. Researchers believe that nanobots could soon deliver drugs to humans with a high degree of accuracy, according to New Atlas. This would allow for delivery of micro dosages right where the patient needs them, and could help prevent harmful side effects.
University scientists also believe that nanobots could one day be used to reduce plaque in veins and solve dietary issues, along with a whole slew of other medical uses. Extending beyond simple medicine, nanobots could allow humans to reach a greater state of connectivity.
In research published in ScienceMag, scientists with the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, stated:
“As a proof of principle, nanorobots loaded with combinations of antibody fragments were used in two different types of cell-signaling stimulation in tissue culture. Our prototype could inspire new designs with different selectivities and biologically active payloads for cell-targeting tasks.”
Theoretically, nanobots could one day be used to constantly monitor our body for maladies and other symptoms, constantly transmitting this information to a cloud for close monitoring by medical staff. This could essentially turn the common cold or other types of conditions into easily stoppable problems.
The idea that nanobots could one day transmit our thoughts to the cloud is probably the most far-fetched of the many proposed uses for nanobots out there. This feat would require great strides in both neuroscience and nanorobotics, along with a population willing to give Google direct access to our brains. While it may be a possibility, this functionality is probably a long way off in the future.
Taking a step back for a moment, let’s discuss what nanotechnology really is.
What is nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology is more than just technology for sci-fi villains, it is a burgeoning field melding engineering and science.
Nanorobotics refers to the emerging field of designing and building robots whose components are near the scale of a nanometer ((10−9 meters), or ranging in size from 0.1 to 10 micrometers and made of nanoscale or molecular components.
A scale of nanotechnology matched up with other understandable objects. Source: Wikimedia/Sureshbup
For comparison, one nanometer is about equivalent to 10 times the size of a single atom and, 10 times smaller than the width of your DNA.
Where nanotechnology began
Nanotechnology has actually been around for some time too. Some point to the field beginning with Nobel-laureate Richard Feynman, who gave a talk called “There’s Plenty of room at the Bottom” to a group of physicists at the American Physical Society meeting at Caltech in 1959. (nanothechnology has been around since 1959)
Feynman, who is often referred to as the father of nanotechnology, described a theoretical process in his talk that would allow researchers to be able to manipulate singular atoms or singular molecules. This process, which wasn’t invented yet, would eventually become the core application of nanoscience.
It wasn’t until 1981 that microscopes were developed that were even able to see individual atoms. (well, at least that is when the general public was exposed to the microscope)These early scanning tunneling microscopes achieved a level of precision and magnification that hadn’t been seen before. By allowing researchers to image individual atoms, they gave a boost to the idea that nanotechnology was possible.
A schematic diagram of how a scanning tunneling microscope works. Source: Michael Schmid
Nanotechnology and the future
Based on all of this, a host of very real challenges are still ahead of us, and before we can start using nanorobots, additional development is necessary.
Some researchers predict that it will take around 10 years to surmount these challenges and to begin using nanobots for some types of surgery. However, others are not sure that this is the best use of limited health care money. Robot-assisted surgery is already more expensive than traditional methods, and nanorobotics is likely to be equally expensive – at least in the short to medium term.
As for Kurzweil, he is convinced that nanotechnology holds out the promise of someday merging humans and technology. In 2019, he told Engadget:
“The scenario that I have is that we will send medical nanorobots into our bloodstream. One application of these medical nanorobots will be to extend our immune systems. … These robots will also go into the brain and provide virtual and augmented reality from within the nervous systemrather than from devices attached to the outside of our bodies. The most important application of the medical nanorobots is that we will connect the top layers of our neocortex to synthetic neocortex in the cloud.”
If nanobot injection becomes an option, will you volunteer to take the first steps to becoming a cyborg?
A team has proposed using nanobots to create the ‘internet of thoughts’,where instant knowledge could be downloaded just by thinking it.
An international team of scientists led by members of UC Berkeley and the US Institute for Molecular Manufacturing predicts that exponential progress in nanotechnology, nanomedicine, artificial intelligence (AI) and computation will lead this century to the development of a human ‘brain-cloud interface’ (B-CI).
Writing in Frontiers in Neuroscience, the team said that a B-CI would connect neurons and synapses in the brain to vast cloud computing networks in real time.
Such a concept isn’t newwith writers of science fiction, including Ray Kurzweil, who proposed it decades ago. In fact, Facebook has even admitted it is working on a B-CI.
However, Kurzweil’s fantasy about neural nanobots capable of hooking us directly into the web is now being turned into realityby the senior author of this latest study, Robert Freitas Jr.
This new concept proposes using neural nanobots to connect to the human brain’s neocortex – the newest, smartest, ‘conscious’ part of the brain– to the ‘synthetic neocortex’ in the cloud.The nanobots would then provide direct, real-time monitoring and control of signals to and from brain cells. “These devices would navigate the human vasculature, cross the blood-brain barrier and precisely auto-position themselves among, or even within, brain cells,” explained Freitas. “They would then wirelessly transmit encoded information to and from a cloud-based supercomputer network for real-time brain-state monitoring and data extraction.”
Things get even wilder when you consider the fact that this could allow for a Matrix-style ability to download reams of information into the brain.The B-CI could even enable us to create a future ‘global superbrain’,according to the team, connecting networks of human brains and AI to form a hive mind.
Dr Nuno Martins, lead author of this latest research, said such mass collective thought could revolutionise humankind. “This shared cognition could revolutionise democracy, enhance empathy and ultimately unite culturally diverse groups into a truly global society,” he said. (what society?? We would all be one lump. That is not society.)
Unsurprisingly, it’s not that simple
Looking at what the challenges are for a working B-CI, the team sees the transfer of neural data to and from supercomputers in the cloud as being the biggest stumbling block.
“This challenge includes not only finding the bandwidth for global data transmission,”(the real reason for 5G, and you thought they were just trying to help you upload your stream faster.) Martins said, “but also how to enable data exchange with neurons via tiny devices embedded deep in the brain.”
A potential workaround proposed by the team includes magnetoelectric nanoparticlesthat could amplify this communication, something that has already worked in testing with mice. However, how to actually get these nanorobots into the brain safely is considered the project’s greatest challenge.
“A detailed analysis of the biodistribution and biocompatibility of nanoparticles is required before they can be considered for human development,” Martins added. “Nevertheless, with these and other promising technologies for B-CI developing at an ever-increasing rate,an ‘internet of thoughts’ could become a reality before the turn of the century.”
HUMAN beings becoming immortal is a step closer following the launch of a new start-up.
Dr Ian Pearson has previously said people will have the ability to “not die” by 2050 – just over 30 years from now.
Two of the methods he said humans might use were “body part renewal” and linking bodies with machines so that people are living their lives through an android.
But after Dr Pearson’s predictions, immortality may now be a step nearer following the launch of a new start-up.
Human is hoping to make the immortality dream a reality with an ambitious plan.
Josh Bocanegra, the CEO of the company, said he is hoping to use Artificial Intelligence technology to create its own human being in the next three decades.
He said: “We’re using artificial intelligence and nanotechnologyto store data of conversational styles, behavioural patterns, thought processes and information about how your body functions from the inside-out.
“This data will be coded into multiple sensor technologies, which will be built into an artificial body with the brain of a deceased human.
“Using cloning technology, we will restore the brain as it matures.”
Last year, UK-based stem cell bank StemProjectsaid it could eventually potentially develop treatments that allow humans to live until 200.
Mark Hall, from StemProtect, said at the time: “In just the same way as we might replace a joint such as a hip with a specially made synthetic device, we can now replace cells in the body with new cells which are healthy and younger versions of the ones they’re replacing.
“That means we can replace diseased or ageing cells – and parts of the body – with entirely new ones which are completely natural and healthy.”
In 30 or 40 years, we’ll have microscopic machines traveling through our bodies, repairing damaged cells and organs, effectively wiping out diseases. The nanotechnology will also be used to back up our memories and personalities.
In an interview with Computerworld, author and futurist Ray Kurzweil said that anyone alive come 2040 or 2050 could be close to immortal.The quickening advance of nanotechnology means that the human condition will shift into more of a collaboration of man and machine,as nanobots flow through human blood streams and eventually even replace biological blood, he added.
That may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but Kurzweil, a member of the Inventor’s Hall of Fame and a recipient of the National Medal of Technology, says that research well underway today is leading to a time when a combination of nanotechnology and biotechnology will wipe out cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, obesity and diabetes.
It’ll also be a time when humans will augment their natural cognitive powers and add years to their lives, Kurzweil said.
“It’s radical life extension,” Kurzweil said. “The full realization of nanobots will basically eliminate biological disease and aging.I think we’ll see widespread use in 20 years of [nanotech] devices that perform certain functions for us. In 30 or 40 years, we will overcome disease and aging. The nanobots will scout out organs and cells that need repairs and simply fix them. It will lead to profound extensions of our health and longevity.”
Of course, people will still be struck by lightning or hit by a bus, but much more trauma will be repairable. If nanobots swim in, or even replace, biological blood,then wounds could be healed almost instantly. Limbs could be regrown. Backed up memories and personalities could be accessed after a head trauma.
Today, researchers at MITalready are using nanoparticles to deliver killer genesthat battle late-stage cancer. The university reported just last month the nano-based treatment killed ovarian cancer, which is considered to be one of the most deadly cancers, in mice.
And earlier this year, scientists at the University of London reported using nanotechnology to blast cancer cells in mice with “tumor busting” genes, giving new hope to patients with inoperable tumors. So far, tests have shown that the new technique leaves healthy cells undamaged.
With this kind of work going on now, Kurzweil says that by 2024 we’ll be adding a year to our life expectancy with every year that passes. “The sense of time will be running in and not running out,” he added. “Within 15 years, we will reverse this loss of remaining life expectancy. We will be adding more time than is going by.”
Kurzweil also maintains that adding microscopic machines to our bodies won’t make us any less human than we are today or were 500 years ago. (What kind of grass is he smoking? First he tells us we will be more like machines, but then he tells us we won’t be any less human. WHAT BS!)
“The definition of human is that we are the species that goes beyond our limitations and changes who we are,” (that is his definition of human? This guy is really screwed up.) he said. “If that wasn’t the case, you and I wouldn’t be around because at one point life expectancy was 23. We’ve extended ourselves in many ways. This is an extension of who we are. Ever since we picked up a stick to reach a higher branch, we’ve extended who we are through tools. It’s the nature of human beings to change who we are.” (Picking up a tool to work with, does not change who we are. Merging with a machine, and having nanorobots instead of blood…now that changes who we are. At that point we are no longer human. We are no longer children of God made in his image. We belong to the devil.)
The nanobots, he explained, will be self-replicating and engineers will have to harness and contain that replication.
“You could have some self-replicating nanobot that could create copies of itself... and ultimately, within 90 replications, it could devour the body it’s in or all humans if it becomes a non-biological plague,” said Kurzweil. “Technology is not a utopia. It’s a double-edged sword and always has been since we first had fire.“
I decided to include this in my post so that you can hear this person explain how they see the hive mind. Personally, I have no desire to merge with a machine and be locked in for eternity. No escape as death would no longer exist. I happen to like my body and my mind just the way it is… the way GOD made it. I do not feel trapped in it. I really do not think that these people have enough sense and imagination to realize what they are opening themselves up to. Not a future I care to experience.
As amusing or inspiring as the thought experiment about interstellar travel for SIMs might be, there’s another evolutionary path for human beings right here on planet Earth that is no less radical, and arguably more profound: the meeting of human minds.
In the early 2000s Dr. Phillip Alvelda and I worked at two different companies on the earliest attempts to put video on mobile phones. Today our radical notion has become reality: more than 70 percent of the 2 billion people who own smartphones use them to record and share photos and video. Why is this important? It’s been my lifelong passion to use technology to connect people and thereby melt down the barriers of indifference, ignorance, and prejudice. Mobile video is a small step in that direction. Sure, we get a lot of silly pet tricks and StyleHaul videos posted to YouTube, but we also get to experience a great deal more, such as:
> The faraway has become near. Today anybody with an Android phone has the ability to share, instantly, what she is seeing with another person in another part of the world. As recently as the 1990s this was impossible without a satellite truck. Now we all carry the capability in our pocket.
> The extraordinary has become ordinary. It has become commonplace to see video clips of amazing feats of human performance and physical prowess.
> Expert knowledge has become accessible to all. Today there’s a video tutorial on YouTube for nearly any skill a person might wish to acquire.
Mobile video gives us all the ability to see through the eyes of others who are nowhere near us and whose lives are nothing like ours. We access radically different perspectives every day just by glancing at the devices in our palms.
The Networked Mind
DARPA legend has it that Bob Metcalfe, an electrical engineer, was watching two scientists working on a computer that kept crashing and wondered, “What happens when we connect two of these things together?”That spark of curiosity led to Ethernet, computer networking, and Metcalfe’s law. Now fifty years later, DARPA is doing it again without the computer. Imagine for a moment what might happen if researchers succeed in networking our minds. As one scientist at the DARPA event described it, “You might choose to let someone else in another part of the world see through your eyes.” The concept is mind-bending. Literally.
Randal Koene commented: “It is cool that SIM can allow millennia of space travel and living in non-Earthlike places, but there is a third very important aspect that makes SIM hugely important, namely the connections between us.
“Much of what we think of as progress, civilization, and human development has been achieved through ever-greater and better communication,” he explained. “From expressions to language to writing to recordings to the Internet, we keep connecting more people more intimately at greater speed. (Is that right? You really think that the internet has made us more connected? You are an idiot. The internet has made us much more disconnected. People don’t even know how to talk to each other anymore. They text, because it keeps them isolated/insulataed. They sit across from each other at the table and text. IT is insane. There is more discord, more hatred, more anger today than at any other point in my lifetime.) I think that builds not just collaboration, but empathy, and thereby higher forms of culture. With SIM, we can take that even further.” (Higher forms of culture… we have so deteriorated as a society. There is no respect anymore, people have no idea how to behave, people are so confused they don’t even know what sex they are. We have lost all sense of family, of truth, of morality.)
Whole brain emulation promises to free humanity of more than the constraints of time and space. It will also relieve us of skull-bound isolation. As much as we love our bodies, they limit us in ways that we can barely recognize because we cannot conceive of an alternative. Every sensation that a human being experiences, from emotion and understanding to memories and philosophical musings, is bound up inside the skull. (wrong, the brain is not where you emotions, your memories, you connectivity originates. It is in your spirit.)It remains incredibly difficult for us to convey what we experience inside this three-pound lump of gray matter. The networked mind would free us to share the inexpressible.
Once injected (or ingested) into the human body, nanoparticles could assemble into multifunctional devices, as shown in this artist’s concept. These devices could have processing capabilities, which would open them up to hacking by malevolent individuals or organizations. Credit: Shutterstock imagery by GiroScience
