The Boundary Between Human and Digital

This is the last part in our eight-part series on the boundary between the digital world and our own, human existence. Our goal was to show that this boundary is thin and shifting all the time. The idea that there is a “real life” that exists independently of our online digital existence is at least questionable. Here, we have covered the following topics:

The blurry line between virtual space and real space, as we experience it.
The fears we have over the emergence of two types of robots that have the potential to kill: autonomous drones and self-driving cars.
How we have already begun to personify big artificial intelligences in order to make them more acceptable to people.
The potential ability to upload human minds into computers of some kind.
The increasing prevalence of wearable computing. Are we at a tipping point?
Using digital tools to sense and perceive the physical world.
The fusing of human and electronic to replace or enhance mobility and/or senses.

Nobody likes to be too predictive, but with all these trends happening, it’s fair to say that in ten years our world will be far different from where we are now. Many people will be online all the time, even when they are outside walking around, or riding in their self-driving vehicle. The information we receive from the real world will be enhanced with digitally contextual facts. Of course our ability to be constantly distracted will be even higher than it is today.

From the point of view of developers and creators of digital content, we need to be even better at providing information in the proper content to be used when users actually want it. The model of people looking up a website on a computer, taking notes on a pen and paper, and then going out into the real world is long gone. The use of apps on mobile to navigate is common, but with wearable computing may not last. Yet we still create websites and web content as if that is what people will do. We make the most important facts difficult to find and hard to use on a mobile device. The current approach will not be effective in the near future, and the winners will be content creators who adapt quickly.

Updates – even during the course of developing this series, changes have happened. New stories have emerged on every topic we’ve covered, along with some that are more general. Here are a few we’ve selected to get you up to date. For the moment.

Virtual reality, virtual space

This Wired article argues that Google’s own technology has leaped past Google Glass, and that Android wear will be a more acceptable and popular form of wearable computing.

A tech columnist reviews the new virtual reality headsets being demoed at the most recent consumer electronics conference and concludes that virtual reality is getting closer, but is still not quite here.

Second Life creator Linden Labs is promising a new social network based in virtual reality.

Mozilla is working on a Firefox browser that works with virtual reality devices.

At the other end of the tech spectrum, Google has released a plan for a virtual reality headset you can make out of cardboard, rubber bands, and an android phone.