#198 / Hybrid Reality

There is such a thing as the Hybrid Reality Institute. According to its website, this institute "explores human-technology co-evolution and geotechnology, and their implications for society, business and politics." At least one of the principals of the Hybrid Reality Institute, Ayesha Khanna, is connected with the Singularity University, a university in the Silicon Valley "focused on a future when machines outsmart humans." Ayesha Khanna and her husband, Parag Khanna, have authored a book called Hybrid Reality.

Generally speaking, the Khannas seem pretty pleased with the way things seem to be going in the "hybrid" world that is emerging. A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle quotes them as saying, "the more technologies we look at, the more hopeful we can be about the future."

I'm less sanguine. Have they checked out fracking? That's a new technology, and it doesn't seem so hopeful to me.

I think it's abundantly clear that human actions can create whole new realities, never imagined or created before, and that such new realities can include "hybrid realities" in which non-human elements are coupled with our biological bodies.

However, as with all our human creations, any reality we create is ultimately dependent on a world that we didn't create, the world of Nature, and a little humility seems in order.

Humility seems particularly appropriate when we consider our past record (not to mention our current problems and future prospects).