The Evolution of I/O Function - Computers and Us
In the first computers, the processor directly controlled peripheral devices. The processor used to be busy with I/O most of the time. Then an I/O module got added to the architecture and the processor started using programmed I/O but the processor still was busy with I/O. Interrupts came in next followed by DMA making the processor more and more efficient and making I/O devices more independent and intelligent. Now, I/O devices are mini computers with processors and memories of their own.
Perhaps similar phenomena happened in the human body. Cognition is far more complicated than what most super computers can do today. But, imagine, what will happen if the brain starts making our sense organs more independent. Right now, the sense organs gather data and the brain is responsible for integrating the data and making sense of the impressions. A first step towards making the sense organs more independent would be to integrate them because cognition is almost always the result of a combination of sense perceptions. So, there will have to be ONE sense organ that can touch, see, hear, smell and taste. Lets assume that the human skin is that organ. It assimilates all the sense perceptions and transfers the data to the brain. Lets look at how our lives as these evolved human beings will differ...
Our vision will be panoramic and phenomenal. If naked, we'll be able to see 360 degrees all around. Our concepts of back and front will be altered. Back stabbing won't be possible anymore! Eyes will not be as delicate and vulnerable. After all, if you lose a part of your skin, you can always see from another part!! But yes, skin diseases will be the biggest problem of our lives. Looking into dark corners will just mean fingering around!
Of course, it'll naturally force us to shed our clothes, since we can't cover our eyes all the time!! And the parts that are covered will have to see the back of our clothes all day!! That'll probably start off a new fashion trend - clothes with pleasing designs on the reverse!! Or clothes with books or movies on the reverse, so that part of the skin is reading or watching movies while its clothed!! Scope for new technology as well!!
Touching an apple will tell you how it looks closely, feels, smells and tastes! Selecting fruits and vegetables will be easier!! For the first time, you'll be able to look into your shoes while wearing them! And, after a long day's work, your legs will have to suffer their smell and taste!! Aaaargh!! Shaking hands with another person will involve not just knowing their touch but also their taste and smell!! And sex will really involve "perceiving" your partner deeply and completely!!!
Our face will not have ears, nose, mouth and eyes. Probably just an opening for chewing and swallowing. Heads will be much smaller - only small knobs resting on the shoulder and containing the brain. All humans will look more or less the same - only changes being in the size and shape of the body and the color of the skin. That'll have tremendous impact in fashion, advertising, movies and all industries that need human faces!! Well, identification might become a problem. A person's identity will then consist of his/her shape, size, smell, texture, taste and sound. The face will be an insignificant part.
More can be thought of - I request readers to add more. Overall, I feel it will be a better I/O model!!
Perhaps similar phenomena happened in the human body. Cognition is far more complicated than what most super computers can do today. But, imagine, what will happen if the brain starts making our sense organs more independent. Right now, the sense organs gather data and the brain is responsible for integrating the data and making sense of the impressions. A first step towards making the sense organs more independent would be to integrate them because cognition is almost always the result of a combination of sense perceptions. So, there will have to be ONE sense organ that can touch, see, hear, smell and taste. Lets assume that the human skin is that organ. It assimilates all the sense perceptions and transfers the data to the brain. Lets look at how our lives as these evolved human beings will differ...
Our vision will be panoramic and phenomenal. If naked, we'll be able to see 360 degrees all around. Our concepts of back and front will be altered. Back stabbing won't be possible anymore! Eyes will not be as delicate and vulnerable. After all, if you lose a part of your skin, you can always see from another part!! But yes, skin diseases will be the biggest problem of our lives. Looking into dark corners will just mean fingering around!
Of course, it'll naturally force us to shed our clothes, since we can't cover our eyes all the time!! And the parts that are covered will have to see the back of our clothes all day!! That'll probably start off a new fashion trend - clothes with pleasing designs on the reverse!! Or clothes with books or movies on the reverse, so that part of the skin is reading or watching movies while its clothed!! Scope for new technology as well!!
Touching an apple will tell you how it looks closely, feels, smells and tastes! Selecting fruits and vegetables will be easier!! For the first time, you'll be able to look into your shoes while wearing them! And, after a long day's work, your legs will have to suffer their smell and taste!! Aaaargh!! Shaking hands with another person will involve not just knowing their touch but also their taste and smell!! And sex will really involve "perceiving" your partner deeply and completely!!!
Our face will not have ears, nose, mouth and eyes. Probably just an opening for chewing and swallowing. Heads will be much smaller - only small knobs resting on the shoulder and containing the brain. All humans will look more or less the same - only changes being in the size and shape of the body and the color of the skin. That'll have tremendous impact in fashion, advertising, movies and all industries that need human faces!! Well, identification might become a problem. A person's identity will then consist of his/her shape, size, smell, texture, taste and sound. The face will be an insignificant part.
More can be thought of - I request readers to add more. Overall, I feel it will be a better I/O model!!
Labels: technical stretches
posted by Aleph Null at 10:26 AM
4 Comments:
From the beginning of time, beings have evolved to be better, faster, and more stable.
if u look at the planets, u realize that the sphere is the most stable shape of them all. So, along with the cognition u r talking abt, human beings might also turn out to be... spheres. ha!
the complete 360 degree head(?) turn.
aah! cognitive balls!(heehee)
ya.. thats wat we'll be called then. We wont be called humans anymore. but then, how would you identify gender? a bit problem we have there now dont we?
u have a solution for this?
the ball is now in ur court.
First of all great blog and a well conceived idea!!
Is this the creative center for Men In Black 3??? cos the description of the better model human sounded like a creature straight from MIB !! :P
Seriously speaking...
Uh uh uhhhhhh karan.... vaibhav is talking only abt the face being altered... the other organs like the limbs n genitalia still have been retained in the I/O model modelled man cos they seemed to achieve their purpose well ! (locomotion and fornication respectively... ya ya i know ppl wil say oo ahh abt the only function of the glorius organ being mentioned)
So indeed beauty will indeed become skin deep!! Thats a fantastic point...
My question is wat abt the heart? Does it still retain a place in the constantly evolving super-human-heading-towards-technology model?
P.S : Vaibhav I'm sorry if this is a bad comment compared to what u were expecting... jus having some fun if u don mind! :P
Thanks - Karan & Murali for throwing in ideas.
Murali has said what I had in mind for Karan.
And, the heart is not within the scope of this model because my proposed model discusses only the sense organs through which we perceive the outer world.
The objective is to reduce the load on the brain which is currently involved in perception. The integrated input device (skin) will be able to perform all sensory functions and thereby be able to perceive completely and send only the end product of the information processing to the brain. In a way, the skin will have a mini brain of its own. And the brain in the head can (hopefully) indulge in doing better things!!
i cannot find your story tree post!!!!
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