As we begin a new year, the National Post takes a five-part look at the future technologies that are coming sooner than we think. They’re still not flying cars (unfortunately), but these innovations can and likely will transform how we eat, what we wear, how we heal and even how we indulge in vice.
Perhaps the most famous prosthetic limb in the history of science fiction belongs to Luke Skywalker.
In 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back (spoilers) the young Skywalker’s hand is sliced off by Darth Vader at the height of an epic lightsaber duel. Yet only a few scenes later, Skywalker’s missing hand has been replaced by a life like prosthetic — complete with what appear to be robotic tendons in the wrist — which possesses the sense of touch. So sensitive is the new hand that when an android pokes it with a needle, Skywalker recoils in pain.
Just like so many other technologies that were thought to be the stuff of science fiction just 33 years ago and only possible in a futuristic world of spaceships and energy swords, prosthetics not unlike those of Luke Skywalker are now closer than ever to becoming a reality.
Indeed, last year, researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland announced plans to outfit a male patient with an artificial hand connected directly to the patient’s nervous system, enabling him to not only control the artificial hand, but to feel via touch signals embedded in the skin of the prosthetic.
According to the British newspaper The Independent, the patient, a man in his 20s living in Rome, lost the lower part of his arm following an accident. By attaching the artificial hand to the patient’s nervous system with electrodes through the median and ulnar nerves, researchers believe the man will be able to control the hand with his thoughts.
Around the world, advancements in prosthetics are accelerating. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a new artificial retina technology known as the Argus II that can restore partial sight to people suffering from a specific type of blindness known as retinitis pigmentosa.
Scientists at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles believe they are close to being able to restore a person’s memory capabilities with microchips inserted in the brain, while a San Diego-based company expects to be able to create a human liver via 3D printing technologies sometime in 2014.
These are just a few of the latest developments in a bionic scientific revolution that will one day help the blind to see, enable amputees to walk again and even restore memories to those affected with serious brain illnesses. And it’s closer than you think.
It seems the next evolution of humanity will be technological, rather than biological.
“In a way, we’ve crossed the threshold of discovery, where we’ve spent the last millennium or so discovering new things, to where we’re now at the point where we’re gaining control over them … we’re entering a different era in our species” said David Evans, chief futurist at Cisco Systems Inc.
“We’re no longer at the mercy of evolution or biology. With technology — nanotech and biotech and gene therapy and new emerging material sciences and 3D printing and so on — we’re entering a new era for our self evolution. Very soon, I think there won’t be any part of the body that won’t be either augmented, replaced or improved, should we choose to do so.”
While many of these technologies are not expected to become mainstream in the next 12 months, Mr. Evans says humanity is gradually moving forward on a path of self-evolution, one which humbly began with cosmetics and tattoos but could eventually lead to not only futuristic prosthetics to help the disabled, but a world where the elective replacement of healthy body parts becomes commonplace.
The first modest steps of this evolution, according to Mr. Evans, began with the “adornment” phase of human history, where people would augment themselves with cosmetics, tattoos and jewelry. Today, humans are en masse entering the second, or “wearable technologies,” phase of this evolution, as seen by devices such as smart watches and Google Glass camera glasses.
However, scientists are already working on the technologies in the next phase of our evolution: embeddables, which could range from 3D-printed cages small enough to trap a virus, or tiny glucose sensors capable of fitting inside a red blood cell.
But where things begin to get more challenging is with the fourth phase, which Mr. Evans describes as the “replacement phase,” where humans can choose to upgrade or augment their biological body with technologies that can make them see better, run faster or increase their brain functions.
We’re entering a different era in our species
“You can certainly see in certain areas, whether it’s something like athletics or the military, where it’s not simply about augmenting with an exoskeleton or a bionic addition, but rather a replacement where the replacement technology is powered by your own biological systems,” Mr. Evans said.
Imagine a world where someone could choose to replace a healthy human eye with a robotic eye capable of seeing in infrared, or which featured a night vision lens to assist nighttime driving. Imagine a baseball pitcher electing to replace his biological throwing arm with one made of a near-indestructible plastic compound that adds a 25% speed boost to his fastball.
On a more practical level, 3D printing is already showing signs that the democratization of manufacturing is on the verge of ushering in a new era of prosthetics.
Mihaela Vlasea, a PhD candidate and lecturer in the mechanical and mechatronics engineering department at the University of Waterloo, is one of a number of researchers working with 3D printers to create new implants and replacement joints out of state of the art raw materials.
Ms. Vlasea’s research team is working with a specific calcium polyphosphate powder material developed by material specialists at the University of Toronto and doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Because the powder behaves similarly to bone, and is biodegradable, the implants Ms. Vlasea is helping to design are created to promote bone growth as they decay, essentially helping the bones around the implant to regenerate.
As we replace humanity, piece by piece, we need to not forget about our own humanity
The implants designed using the 3D printer are being tested on sheep, and Ms. Vlasea said she hopes to begin human testing as early as 2015.
“It’s a very exciting time,” she said. “Currently when surgeons do a joint replacement, they have to cut healthy tissue as well because they have this general sized implant that is not necessarily customized to what the patient needs. The idea for our implant is to address early stages of joint damage and basically replace those areas with this bone implant and a culture of cartilage on top.”
Still, in the race to improve the human body, Mr. Evans said we must be careful not to lose sight of our humanity, and to use these new technologies in ways that benefit everyone, without creating new divisions within society.
“What we don’t want to do is create a new digital divide because someone has a new capability that someone else doesn’t have or someone has the money to buy a prosthetic that someone else can’t afford,” he said.
“Ensuring that the humanity stays in the equation is very important. With the path that we’re on, increasing life span is an inevitability, and using these technologies and capabilities wisely will serve us well … as we replace humanity, piece by piece, we need to not forget about our own humanity.”