Can you imagine a CEO without a cellphone? Can you imagine a CEO without a smart phone? No question I’m sure if you searched long enough there are exceptions but it’s an exception for a reason. If you want to keep up with the times you have to be with that time. If you walk around the streets of NYC you will literally see homeless people with smartphones. We live in an age where paradigm shifts happen faster then ever before. We are experiencing technological, cultural, socioeconomic change faster then any time in history. Because of exponential growth, this will not slow down, in fact the rate of change will only increase (it’s hard to imagine since our brains think linear, but just because our evolved monkey brains has a hard time grasping something doesn’t make it any less of a reality).
There are a lot of nightmare scenarios and science fiction stories that detail the events of laws being passed that will force people to surgically implant microchips into their bodies and/or brains. I come bearing news, that will never happen. Instead, most of humanity will do so without any force required. That may sound like a big claim to make and may immediately think “I would never do it” but imagine this scenario, Bob is your OKAY co-worker. He goes day-by-day but is by no means exceptional. Bob goes in for surgery and comes out and several days later is objectively a better employee. Why is this? Well Bob had surgery that allowed him to literally boost his processing power which has resulted in him working faster. He also spent money on an add-on which allows him to monitor/influence his emotions. As a result, Bob has become more consistent of an employee operating at a faster/more efficient rate. Naturally, Bob will only continue to improve while everyone else slows down unless everyone else does what Bob does.
If you don’t change you will be left behind. This will have a direct impact on your economic lifestyle, your social life, your role in society, as well as numerous other ways. Now, does that mean there won’t be glitches, errors or hacking? Most likely no, there will be plenty of that. But as monumental and large as the problems may be, I presume the solutions will be just as monumental and just as quick. An entire sector in the economy will form to manage and enhance the new hybrid lifestyle. You don’t ask people “do you have a smart phone?” you ask “what kind of phone do you have?” Eventually, the question won’t be “have you become a hybrid?” it will be “which operating system/upgrade are you running on?”
There’s also another reason we will do so, survival. Why? Technology is exponentially growing (if you want to look up more about this, look up “Moore’s Law.” If you are truly curious and want to explore more of this I would look up what the chief director of technology of Google [Ray Kurzewil] has to say on the matter). Will technology evolve so far that it will generate a consciousness of it’s own (artificial intelligence)? IF this happens (what I’ve said before this paragraph is irregardless of this happening or not), A.I would be a separate conscious being whom unlike us, would be growing exponentially. To put that in more blatant terms, it as a potential species would be drastically improving while we would be limited to our biological limitations. Would a more evolved creature we essentially created be hostile to us? It’s hard to say, but there is no disputing what we do to other sentient beings. We know dolphins are a thinking, self-aware being to the point they have their own language, , but despite this we pollute in their homes. What’s to stop A.I. from growing so far that it wouldn’t be such a big deal to harm our lives if it meant improving theirs? One way to stop a potential catastrophe is by merging with it so we too would grow exponentially. If we are on the same playing field, our chances of survival is much greater and we can live on as a species.
Almost everyone in the tech world does not ask “if” they ask “when”, and when this time happens we will voluntarily merge with machine. Why? Because when machines prove to us they can improve their lives we have few hesitations in making them part of our lives. Even if we are hesitant, there will be others who will not be and they will quickly seek the benefits. Eventually in order to compete in society we too will make the leap and perhaps this will be the decision that saves us from potential extinction.