TED2014 Presenter Says We'll Soon Be Swallowing Information

Nicholas Negroponte has yet another prediction for us...

"We have been doing a lot of consuming of information through our eyes. That may be a very inefficient channel," he said in the opening session of the TED2014 conference Monday. "My prediction is that we’re going to ingest information."

It may sound far fetched, but if the information stored in the pill made it into the bloodstream, it could then be deposited into pathways of the brain, Negroponte said. Once that happened, people could learn new skills almost instantaneously. "We're going to swallow a pill and know English, and swallow a pill and know Shakespeare," he said.

Nicholas Negroponte Says We'll Soon Be Swallowing Information

This is the man who championed the success and wide spread implementation of touch screen devices some 30 years ago. He foretold the futures of CD's, e-books and video conferencing before they had become part of everyday life. So his some-what prophetic success rate is pretty well documented. He definitely knows what the next trends in technology are going to be. That's why I am rather interested in this latest augury.

But what if he is right? Is this really a good advancement? How would this benefit mankind? I mean think about it, would kids need to go to 12 years of school, or any for that matter? How many jobs would be lost if this was to come true? You wouldn't really need to go get new training, or have time or a place to study. You literally could just pop a FlintStone's vitamin and pass that new certification, write a book report or even rebuild your particular microwave oven.

In some ways it seems really cool. Who wouldn't want to download karate or flight training like in the Matrix movie? But in other ways it looks to take away from the everyday experiences garnered in a fulfilling life. Sure I could ingest the instructions for how to catch a trout, but it doesn't mean I know that feeling when it hit's my lure.

I'm going to be keeping an eye on this one.

reply to post by OatDelphi


It does sound like the matrix and just about as far fetched, but I do like the idea. As far as business goes it would be the downfall of corporate overlords with their prestigious degrees and not much more because I just ate a Harvard-Yale, mix pill ha-ha. You know that if they tried to keep them from the general public they would be bootlegged.

I think I read something close to this, but they were saying information could be downloaded. The idea has been floating around in sci-fi novels for a long time. I think it would be cool. Think about how many animals are borne with instinctual survival skills maybe this is something like that in chemical form.

That would be extremely awesome. I don't know if it is because living in this age makes it harder to see the jumps in technology, but I often find myself thinking that things aren't progressing as quickly as they could be. I mean decades ago people predicted that we would have all types of wonderful things at this point, and we do to some extent, but many of the predictions fell way short. And some of those predictions still seem to be extremely far into the future. It also seems like there is research being done, and breakthroughs being made all the time, yet that is the end of it. That research and those breakthroughs don't seem to materialize into anything futuristic.

But maybe I am mistaken. Another thing I often find myself wondering about is how advanced some of the black projects are as far as technology is concerned. Agencies like DARPA have extremely classified technologies that the public doesn't know about, and that is just one example, and it is obvious that they must have more advanced technologies. Much of it may be related to warfare in some way, but so many things that are useful in war in this day and age would also be useful to the public.

An agency like that could focus their resources and solve problems that have eluded mankind up to now, for the benefit of all. I suppose I believe it is just another "backward" aspect of society in a way. I understand the need for secrecy where the military is concerned, but just like the government can play the "national security" card, the "technology strictly for warfare" card could be played to keep advancements out of public hands, since as I said, almost any technology can be applied in a military nature, because the military has various types of systems, roles, and niches.

Anyway, if a pill could be developed like is mentioned in the article, it would change humanity, depending on how broadly it could be applied, or to put it another way, how many different things someone could learn by taking the pill. There are many grand ideas like this one that have been proposed as being possible, and the more I think about it, there is no reason it couldn't be possible. It just takes research. They know how it should work, and therefore just have to figure out everything else. With funding and some bright minds, it could probably be done relatively quickly. I think that is true of a lot of things, but usually not enough resources are allocated, meaning it takes much longer to reach the milestones.

reply to post by OatDelphi


It basically sounds like memorization. You can learn the words to a poem, but not fully understand it.
It's like school. Good grades don't mean you really know anything.
This might be good for instructions.. and stored data.

It probably would put people out of jobs, but would be replaced by better skilled people, which in a way isn't that bad, puts everyone on the same level.
There are things that I don't think you can learn with a pill, for exemple you can swallow a pill that gives you the knowledge of a carpenter/joiner or a plumber you still need your physical skills and a certain logic that goes with it. Same goes for a salesman, you can have the knowledge but that doesn't mean you're good at it.

reply to post by OatDelphi


I see a problem in that the "information carrier" would have to cross the blood/brain barrier.

Anything that negates this barrier would also expose us to unneccesary risk in biological terms, not to mention the nanomachinery that would have to reside inside the brain to accurately deliver the information to where it is needed.

Such an information transfer would require massive engineering of the brain and biology of the recipient, but as an abstract idea, it is interesting to contemplate.

Me and my freind were discussing such tec last night.

Great potentiol

But so much potential for abuse.

Mind rape would become a huge problem.
Imagine haveing your drink spiked with the memories of a 1000 years in hell.

If this eventually happens, it will be a loooooong way off into the future. We're nowhere near the point where we can re-wire human neurons to this level.

He stole it from Larry Niven's "The Fourth Profession". Bad form.

The Monk reached under his robe and produced a flat sample case. He opened it. It was full of pills. There was a large glass bottle full of a couple of hundred identical pills; and these were small and pink and triangular. But most of the sample case was given over to big, round pills of all colors, individually wrapped and individually labeled in the wandering Monk script.

No two labels were alike. Some of the notations looked hellishly complex.

"These are knowledge," said the Monk.

"Ah," I said, and wondered if I was being put on. An alien can have a sense of humor, can't he? And there's no way to tell if he's lying.

"A certain complex organic molecule has much to do with memory," said the Monk. "Ribonucleic acid. It is present and active in the nervous systems of most organic beings. Wish you to learn my language?"

Unfortunately, the idea is based on the flatworm experiment. If you train a flatworm that a flash of light and a shock are associated, grind him up and feed him to another flatworm, the second flatworm will learn the association VERY quickly. Much more than a randomly chosen flatworm. They thought it was memory RNA being transferred, but they could never demonstrate it outside of flatworms. Eventually, they found that the first flatworm had secreted a neuropeptide that made flatworms withdraw from light, rather than actually transferring memories in a meal.

chr0naut
reply to post by OatDelphi

 

I see a problem in that the "information carrier" would have to cross the blood/brain barrier.

Anything that negates this barrier would also expose us to unneccesary risk in biological terms, not to mention the nanomachinery that would have to reside inside the brain to accurately deliver the information to where it is needed.

Such an information transfer would require massive engineering of the brain and biology of the recipient, but as an abstract idea, it is interesting to contemplate.

This is a very astute observation and I agree it could pose a risk.

Having said that though,theoretically all that is needed to accomplish this is an active attachment to one of the hydrophobic molecules that are already allowed to be transported across the barrier. Hormones or even O2 for example.

I would also like to point out that it may not be nano-machinery delivering the information. They probably would go the route of actually synthesizing and encoding the certain types of RNA thought to be essential in synapse and overall memory formation. But that's just my best guess.

If you are interested here are some very recent studies that seem to run parallel to the prediction.

Scientists Map Process by Which Brain Cells Form Long-Term Memories

Molecular Basis of Memory: Watching Molecules Morph into Memories

OatDelphiHow many jobs would be lost if this was to come true?

and how many horse breeders lost their jobs when the automobile was invented? how many publishers lost their job when ebook became popular?, how many lost their job in the locomotive industry when the airplane was invented?

in all inventions change is the result, where one door closes another opens,

resist change and stagnate, or flow with the stream, be like water.


that said i do agree with the concerns over risk of contaminants, the health safety of the idea, also the risk of lies and propaganda being slipped into your knowledge.

but i dont think we should ever use the "it makes less money, or is more automated" line as a reasoning to resist a change.

pryingopen3rdeye

OatDelphiHow many jobs would be lost if this was to come true?

and how many horse breeders lost their jobs when the automobile was invented? how many publishers lost their job when ebook became popular?, how many lost their job in the locomotive industry when the airplane was invented?

in all inventions change is the result, where one door closes another opens,

resist change and stagnate, or flow with the stream, be like water.


that said i do agree with the concerns over risk of contaminants, the health safety of the idea, also the risk of lies and propaganda being slipped into your knowledge.

but i dont think we should ever use the "it makes less money, or is more automated" line as a reasoning to resist a change.

edit on 3/30/14 by pryingopen3rdeye because: (no reason given)

I agree and disagree... jobs change as technology changes, that has shown to be true. However in every previous circumstance someone had to be taught by an educator. The pill if completed would eliminate the need for educators outright and providers of services would be hit very hard as well.

Think about it... If it is possible to imprint the knowledge of every book ever written on your brain by way of a pill, then you don't need to go to school, you don't need to go to MIT. Do you see what I'm getting at?

You wouldn't need a doctor to diagnose symptoms when you get sick or injured. You wouldn't need to pay an IT guy to fix your computer problems. You would hold the knowledge for all of that, and no one would have had to teach you it.

That is an immense amount of jobs lost. And that's just scratching the surface.

Nothing good can come of this. We'd all be zombified into whatever TPTB wants. It certainly would not be about learning a second language! A compliant army for them is all we'd be. Hope this is fake.

I wonder if the cost of these pills will be the same as college tuition. Also, I wonder if there will be government grants and loans.

I can see it now, take pills for a few days and I am a chemical engineer. I wonder how much debt one will get into for learning almost "Matrix" style.

Definately a fascinating concept. I agree with crazyewok, though, regarding the potential for abuse. As with every other technology, it comes as a double-edged sword. Not only could it be used as a great facilitator of knowledge and learning, but it could also be a great mind control tool. You could really screw people up with this kind of power.

Would these pills simply pass information in the form of raw data? Or might they also be capable of influencing emotion and reason? I think what I’m getting at is, once the information is assimilated by my brain, would I still have control over how I interpreted, or perceived, it? Would I still be my obnoxious, opinionated self? One of the things that makes us human is the capacity for emotions. Be that good or bad, it seems to be what has always guided us.

I’m not sure this would make people more intelligent, but at least for those who are innately intelligent already it would give them more information to work with.

Interesting idea. I’ll have to chew on it a little before digesting it, though. Hmmm...

OatDelphi

pryingopen3rdeye

OatDelphiHow many jobs would be lost if this was to come true?

and how many horse breeders lost their jobs when the automobile was invented? how many publishers lost their job when ebook became popular?, how many lost their job in the locomotive industry when the airplane was invented?

in all inventions change is the result, where one door closes another opens,

resist change and stagnate, or flow with the stream, be like water.


that said i do agree with the concerns over risk of contaminants, the health safety of the idea, also the risk of lies and propaganda being slipped into your knowledge.

but i dont think we should ever use the "it makes less money, or is more automated" line as a reasoning to resist a change.

edit on 3/30/14 by pryingopen3rdeye because: (no reason given)

I agree and disagree... jobs change as technology changes, that has shown to be true. However in every previous circumstance someone had to be taught by an educator. The pill if completed would eliminate the need for educators outright and providers of services would be hit very hard as well.

Think about it... If it is possible to imprint the knowledge of every book ever written on your brain by way of a pill, then you don't need to go to school, you don't need to go to MIT. Do you see what I'm getting at?

You wouldn't need a doctor to diagnose symptoms when you get sick or injured. You wouldn't need to pay an IT guy to fix your computer problems. You would hold the knowledge for all of that, and no one would have had to teach you it.

That is an immense amount of jobs lost. And that's just scratching the surface.

there will always be people who prefer to do things the alternate way, and there will be a great need for employees in the manufacturing sector for these pills,

and with so many people so much more highly educated, loosing a job will be far less detrimental, as people will then have the knowledge to find other jobs in a large variety of other fields, rather then as it is now you are a slave to your position of experience.

fear shouldnt be a factor in the decision to work with or against progress.

reply to post by chr0naut


It's looking like you may be right about the nano-machinery being the delivery system. Well played sir...

Nano-Robots That Compute With DNA Installed Into Living Cockroach

reply to post by pryingopen3rdeye


Though I agree with you point of: with everyone having essentially unlimited knowledge, job loss wouldn't be detrimental, I think we're overlooking one important factor...

Cost.

reply to post by OatDelphi


"You are what you eat" will take on a terrifyingly new meaning.

Strange times.