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SENSATE ROBOTIC HAND. "Sanchez's project uses a brain-computer interface to allow paralysis patients to nimbly manipulate a robotic arm and hand with their minds, moving it in 3-D space, shaking hands, fist bumping, etc. "Sensors on the robotic hand's fingertips measure forces and convert them into electrical signals that go to Nathan's brain and allow him to feel." http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/09/15/progress_on_a_brain_computer_interface_darpa_project.html View in LinkedIn

MACHINE SYMBIOSIS. “Musk described neural lace as a brain-computer system that would connect human brain with a computer interface. It would supposedly enable humans to achieve “symbiosis with machines”, allowing them to communicate with computers without the need for a physical interface. A neural lace will theoretically prevent humans from becoming AI ‘house cats’ by helping humans keep pace with advances in AI.” https://lnkd.in/d98S_7K View in LinkedIn

CUMULATIVE EFFECT. “Although chimpanzees’ nut-cracking or dolphins’ use of protective nose-sponges does not seem to exceed what a lone chimpanzee or dolphin could invent alone, it is surely impossible for a single human to have discovered quantum mechanics, invented smartphones, visited the moon, or achieved any of the other feats that require standing on the shoulders of previous generations.” http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7853.full View in LinkedIn

ENHANCE AND AUGMENT. “Aside from Musk, another notable personality who’s concerned with ensuring that humanity is not surpassed by AI is Braintree founder Bryan Johnson. In October 2016, Johnson committed $100 million to his company, Kernel, whose main objective is developing technology that will enable programming of our neural code. This will entail the building of a neural prosthetic to enhance and augment human intelligence — not just allow human-machine interface, but also go further by reducing our cognitive deficiencies to eventually allow us to fight off neurological diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.” https://lnkd.in/d98S_7K View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this two weekend consideration of the tricky subject of culture and evolution. One can argue that any society, glued together by very diverse modes of communication, develops an arsenal of cultural tools that may, or may not, be distinguished from genetic evolution, that help that group adapt, evolve and succeed. Culture may simply be a complex form of adaption that interlaces with genetics in ways to be discovered. Is the monarch butterfly’s migration map, which changes annually according to conditions,and is transmitted to the next generation, genetic or cultural? View in LinkedIn

WIDESPREAD ANIMAL CULTURE. “Studies attribute additional orca behaviors, such as migration routes and song repertoires, to culture. Other research suggests that a finch’s song, a chimpanzee’s nut cracking, and a guppy’s foraging route are all manifestations of culture. Between 2012 and 2014, over 100 research groups published work on animal culture covering 66 species.” http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7734.full View in LinkedIn

LANGUAGES or more simply, communication is found in all life forms, often in chemical messages, such as quorum sensing in bacteria; one can argue that communication is the fountain of cultural evolution, and thus, culture is to be found in all communities of creatures, right down to viruses. Run with that one! View in LinkedIn