Cyborg Luddite Steve Mann: Technology That Masters Nature is Not Sustainable

Steve Mann is sometimes called the first cyborg. Other times he is called the cyborg Luddite because of the stress he puts on choosing which technologies to embrace and which ones to abandon in order to be in harmony with nature. Whatever the case may be, I was super happy to get him on Singularity 1 on 1. During our conversation with Steve we cover a wide variety of topics such as: his early interest in both nature and technology; his MIT thesis on humanistic intelligence; his digital eye glass EyeTap camera and display technology; his inventing and usage of HDR imaging technology; augmented reality, mediated reality, augmediated reality and the long and short-term adaptation issues thereof; rethinking the relationship between nature and technology; why he is sometimes called the cyborg Luddite and his call to use less of televisions, elevators, automobiles and air-conditioning; his take on the technological singularity; surveillance and sousveillance; existemology – existential epistomology, learning by doing and learning by being; the hydraulophone; the differences between live blogging, logging and glogging. My two most favorite quotes that I will take away from this interview with Dr. Mann are: “I am not saying more or less technology – I am saying appropriate technology. Instead of technological excess – we should have technology that is balanced with nature. Instead of replacing nature with technology – we should balance it. Instead of replacing intelligence with artificial intelligence – we should use humanistic intelligence…” […] “I think that the only way we are ever going to understand AI is through HI. I think that the only way we are ever going to understand computers is to become a computer. And I think that the only way to understand measurement (at least as children) is to become the ruler.”