Karim el Mouttaki

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The game Deus Ex: Human Revolution is played against the backdrop of a near future dystopia of inequality, where humanity has developed robotic prosthetics that even surpass our natural limbs. Ever since playing this game, I have had an interest in the state of robotic prosthetics, because aside from the practical risks, there is also a massive philosophical issue. Should it be humanity’s role to interfere in either natural selection or God’s privilege of controlling human development? Hence, the main theme of the game series. However, we seem to be coming ever closer to actually having to start this societal debate, due to the almost exponential increases in the field of robotics.

Robotic exoskeletons and prosthetics have been worked on and developed for a very long time, almost since the start of the whole field itself. Swiss researchers have actually succeeded in robotic ‘soft’ muscle material, dramatically increasing the possibilities of robotics in or with humans. Their prototype is a worm-like piece of plastic material, capable of moving around. By bundling these, they managed to create robots that essentially act like muscles.

However, contrary to what people might expect, the applications that would be possible for this technology, are not in either business or defence fields. The Swiss are trying to use it to help people recover from severe injuries, mostly muscle-related ones. The importance of this specific form of robotics lies in the fact that it is strong enough to support the wearer, but without being hurtful or constrictive. For example, one project helps the wearer to support his/her torso, and restore a level of motor sensitivity.

I personally think that due to the huge impact robotics will have on healthcare, it should really be a focus of society. Robots can be much more precise than humans during operations, nanobots might be able to repair damage that is now unreachable, and prosthetics might restore almost all paralysed limbs and senses.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/12/these-soft-robotic-muscles-could-help-with-physical-therapy/

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There have been many instances of Virtual Reality being hailed as a game-changing development. In the 60s, during the earliest development by scientists for the American Department of Defence, it was considered to be a revolutionary opportunity in creating virtual environments for all kinds of training purposes. In the 1980s and early 1990s, there was an even bigger buzz, especially in the growing game industry, about the new possibilities it could bring to immerse gamers better in the worlds they were playing in. However, both times it died out slowly, without any major consistent interest in it remaining.

But many are saying that this time, it will be different. Third time’s the charm, especially in the case of VR it seems. With the increased capabilities of computer hardware and software, we are getting ever closer to the previously unattainable goal of creating our own, fully controlled piece of Eden. Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, Steam VR, and now PlayStation joined the fray in trying to be the first one with a functional, and more importantly, enjoyable VR system. As you can notice from the names of the companies, it’s mostly restricted to the gaming industry at the moment, although Oculus Rift has been taken over by Facebook.

VR however, will completely change all industries at some point, experts claim. Just trying to gauge the market size is almost impossible, due to the constant innovation and changes within the field. Expectations are that by 2020, VR will have a collective worth between 34 and 70 billion USD, opposed to the current worth of around a billion USD. For now, gaming will remain the poster child of VR, but the real opportunities lie within its professional applications. Manufacturing, defence (as always, mankind would not innovate at all if there wouldn’t be any martial applications for it), design, all are to benefit from it if early-adopters are to be believed. I’m personally less hyped, because change has a way of hyping people, but that doesn’t take away the fact that by the virtue of its broad applicability, we will most likely be entering a new age of entertainment and production.

Sources: http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/10/vr-ar-in-business-and-industry-2/

Humans or robots?

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Virtual Irreality?

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