Are we evolving towards "Iron Man" with smart organ implants?

Last week, we launched the special topic "Smart Eyes on Intelligence" and released the first report "Family" "Family functions are entering the process of intelligence. Will machines change the future family structure?" We discussed the changes that smart hardware products may bring to our lives from the perspective of family structure. In fact, the relationship between humans and smart hardware is even greater than the relationship between individuals.

At present, only a very small number of machines can appear in people's lives as independent forms of intelligence, and more intelligent products only have a certain anthropomorphic characteristics. Such products are often more closely integrated with the human body, and have a good supplement or enhancement of the functions of the corresponding organs. From this point of view, there is still a relationship between humans and intelligent hardware, which is also the issue to be discussed in the second issue [Human Body] .

It has been observed that these products that are closely integrated with the human body can be divided into the following three categories according to their functions.

Health Monitoring

The human body's self-monitoring system uses subjective feelings as feedback, and its accuracy and timeliness remain at a relatively primitive stage. Hospitals use quantifiable parameters to reflect the health status of the human body.

Professional medical equipment can collect data on various aspects, such as body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. Some of these devices are too large, some are too expensive, and some are too complicated to operate, making them unsuitable for ordinary consumers.

The emergence of smart health monitoring devices has improved this situation to a certain extent, making it possible to extract health data in home scenarios. However, the current situation of such products is quite embarrassing. The price is much higher than other smart products, and the data cannot meet the needs of medical standards. Consumers have a low level of awareness and acceptance of this. On the one hand, the continuous monitoring of relevant data is not a rigid demand of most healthy people, and on the other hand, the value behind the data and subsequent value-added services have not been well developed.

Disability assistance

For some unfortunate reasons, some people do not have normal perception, interaction or mobility. The advancement of technology can make up for these regrets to a certain extent. Hawking's wheelchair is a typical set of intelligent assistive devices: it tracks tiny movements through infrared transmitters and muscle activity detectors on glasses, and uses associative input and speech synthesis devices to enable users to communicate with the outside world.

In addition, smart sunglasses/color blind glasses, smart hearing aids, smart prostheses, smart skin, smart bladder sensors and other products have brought good news to different special groups. Assistive devices for the disabled have been around for a long time, and intelligence is reflected in the higher degree of fit between the product and the human body. Taking prostheses as an example, the greatest value of traditional mechanical products lies in their appearance. In terms of functions, it is difficult to expand them further except for balance, and there is no autonomous movement, perception and feedback. Smart products have broken through these limitations with the help of sensors, biotechnology, etc.

This type of product is not cheap, and its real popularization may still rely on policy support. It is worth mentioning that the development of 3D printing technology has greatly reduced the cost of smart organs.

Function Enhancement

Since the birth of mankind, humans have never stopped enhancing the extended functions of organs. Today, the same pursuit continues in the field of smart hardware. If products such as smart balance cars and smart cameras are regarded as vertical enhancements of human instincts, then products such as smartphones and smart flight backpacks can be regarded as horizontal expansions of human functions, or the superposition of organs with new characteristics.

Although smartphones play an increasingly important role in modern people's daily lives, as external devices, it is difficult to truly integrate with people. Existing teams are trying to directly integrate certain functions into the human body through chip implantation, sensor bonding, etc., and transform part of the human body into a "smart device." This is also a scene we often see in science fiction films.

According to Darwin's theory, organisms always evolve in the direction of adapting to the environment. Intelligent artificial environments will continue to become more popular, and the role of human intervention in field evolution will be stronger than in any previous period. We should pay attention to such a phenomenon: intelligence occurs not only in the product field, but also in the human body itself. In the future, will people be divided into pure biological structures, semi-mechanized, and robotic?

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.