Taming Technology with The transHuman Code

In a time of increasing computerization through A.I. and machine learning, one might be forgiven for being concerned about human displacement. Do we really need media sales people in an era of automatic buying and selling? The answer is yes!

Co-authors David Fergusson and Carlos Moreira have written a book called The transHuman Code: How To Program Your Future whose basic premise is that, according to Fergusson, “we should always be creating a world for us, not technology, to thrive.” Humanity as we know it is being transformed so this concept, “points to the belief that our best future will come from a transformational relationship with technology—one that we control and not one that requires us to surrender to it or its products and services.” 

 “The platforms that we have come to heavily rely on today for shopping (Amazon), socializing (Facebook), and searching (google) were coded by and are controlled by a select few,” Fergusson continued, “The transHuman Code is proposed as a collective movement to manage the ongoing relationship between humanity and technology coded by all of us.”

Start the revolution. And, as in all good revolutions, it has a Manifesto:

1.       Privacy - Securing the privacy of every human being is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, personal data conveyed over the Internet or stored in devices connected to the Internet is owned and solely governed by the individual.

2.       Consent - Respecting the authority and autonomy of every human being is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, personal digital data will not be used as research, rationale, enticement or commodity by any entity or individual, except with the explicit, well-informed, revocable consent of the individual owner of the data.

3.       Identity - Valuing the identity of every human being is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, everyone everywhere has the right to be known and validated by the possession of a government-issued digital identity, which can be authenticated and used only by its owner.

4.       Ability - Advancing human faculties is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, to that end, the secure, approved, and accountable aggregation of personal information and resources to increase our individual abilities is a fundamental objective of technology.

5.       Ethics - Improving the human condition is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, a universal code of ethics reflecting the highest order of human values will govern the development, implementation, and use of technology.

6.       Good - Advocating and innovating the greatest good for all humanity is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, technology, no matter how advanced, will never supersede the spiritual purposes or the moral rights and responsibilities of any human being anywhere.

7.       Democracy - Democratizing human vision, ingenuity, and education is paramount to realizing the full potential of our future. Therefore, technology will remain humanity’s greatest collaborator but never represent humanity itself.

Carlos Moreira explained that, “In the absence of a ‘Global Governor of Technology’- an individual or body that decides what technology, when and where - the developers, enablers and users of technology (that’s all of us) must assume the responsibility to program our future.” 

Are we building a future of technological grandeur at the expense of what makes us magnificent, or we are building a future of human grandeur with the help of magnificent technology? What we choose will determine whether our future is bleak or bright.

This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com