The Second Big Bang
Technology is putting humanity on a path to infinity.
In recent years, there has been an increasing push towards developing digital copies of humans, or digital twins. This technology offers the potential to advance humanity in unique and fascinating ways. In its latest Hype Cycle, Gartner places the “digital human” of the accent, yet still early on it’s precarious path forward. Yet, the functional digitization of the human cognition and experiences provides a tantalizing perspective for the decentralization of humanity itself—beyond the individual and beyond the earth.
Simply put, digital twins recreate the physical world. They can help us test new ideas and scenarios that match our human reality. And importantly, reducing the physical risk for trial or engagement. For example, if we want to test out a new medical treatment, we can use digital twins to see how it would affect a person before trying it out on anyone for real. Clinical trials can be modified, more rapidly conducted, and simulated in ways that can supplement human-based trials, drive insights and even new therapies.
This also has implications for things like space exploration. If we want to send people to Mars, for example, we can use digital twins to test out the journey and even become “techno-astronauts” to travel the distance without the functional and physical constrains that this trip would place on humans. The implications, digital twins offer the potential to expand humanity to a multi-planetary species. If we can create digital copies of ourselves, we can send them to other planets to start new colonies.
Digital twins can also help us to monitor and manage complex systems, such as power grids or transportation networks. By having a digital copy of these systems, we can more easily spot problems and find solutions before they cause any major disruptions.
In addition, digital twins can help us to better understand and protect our environment. For example, by creating a digital copy of an ecosystem, we can study it in detail and look for ways to improve it or make it more resilient.
But the digital twin doesn’t stop with our external reality. The ability to craft a human digital twin is at the forefront of technology and innovation and provide what may be the next step in both population and humanity.
Beyond the vast complexity of the digital twin lies the implications of duplication. Yes, the first copy is challenging—even insurmountable by some estimations—but subsequent and multiple copies provide the basis for ubiquitous, highly functional, technology-based human or H(t). Together, with biological humans—H(b)—we have two constructs that begin to establish a new reality at this based in biology and technology. And at the very heart of this dynamic is the technology-based digital twin with virtually unlimited reproducibility. I might need 1,000 copies of myself the uniquely ponder a new investment or life choice. Or crowd sourced applications will go the path of DALLE 2, “text to video” platforms to let technology do the heavy lifting. And the emergence of GPT-3 (and GPT-4) also shines an intense spotlight on the evolution of our—technical H(t) self—and how our augmentation with transformation and redefine many aspects of humanity. Essentially, it’s this combination of H(b) + H(t) that drives a functional civilization to a population that is infinite—a rapid expansion to a new reality.
Yes, an expansion, not unlike the first Big Bang, that was elemental and structural. During this first split-second reality, the expansion of the universe occurred at a transformative rate that was effectively far faster than the speed of light. Today, as we commonly speak to rapid, exponential innovation and change, we must realize that technology’s impact on the very essence of humanity constitutes the next Big Bang—an explosion where carbon and silicon intermingle in a new caldron of functionality, creativity and transformation.
Updated on 1.12.2023
