James Adams

When Elon Musk took to the stage at the California Academy of Sciences on Tuesday, he gave the world the first insight into his vision for mapping and ultimately controlling the brain. Three years ago, Musk formed Neuralink which was specifically created to respond to the threat that Musk’ believes is posed by the imminent threat of thinking machines powered by AI. Musk believes that phase of the information revolution could mark the end of humanity as robots outpace humans in intelligence and pace of evolution. His answer is to fully understand exactly how the brain works and, in the process, he believes that the new science will find the cure for many of humanity’s most deadly illnesses such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and PTSD.

Imagine this: One day in the near future, you innocently upload a picture to Facebook that shows you enjoying a summer picnic. A former friend with a grudge, or perhaps an ex-lover, copies the image, and uploads it to a software solution called DeepNude. The program strips the clothes from your fully clothed picture, and creates a new picture of you, naked. The picture of you in your birthday suit gets uploaded to social media, and then distributed to friends and family, as well as enemies and complete strangers. Your life is now one of instant humiliation, embarrassment and shame. The recently released app DeepNude is the latest shot against privacy from the digital Wild West.

A romantic dinner for two, five years from now: Karen is sitting across the table from Ryan. Sipping her oaky but floral Chardonnay, she reflects on just how great life is these days. Ryan is everything she ever wanted in a man. His skin tone is exactly the color and feel she was looking for. His conversation is interesting, ranging sensitively from Tolstoy to cheeseburgers. Thanks to facial recognition, he always knows her mood. It’s almost uncanny how he’s always there to give just the right amount of empathy, just at the right time, or even slightly earlier. He knows her likes and dislikes, her interests and her expertise. At last, she has found her intellectual equal. And the sex.

In the past year, scientists have used gene editing techniques enabled by a technology called CRISPR to grow eye retinas, treat cancer, and create twin babies. CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, a group of DNA sequences found in the genomes of organisms like bacteria and archaea. Essentially, CRISPR is a gene editing tool that can be used for everything from curing previously incurable diseases to creating bigger tomatoes or leaner bacon. Offering the hope that body parts may be built from scratch, CRISPR raises the possibility that our bodies will never wear out.