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The rise of the augmented human, where biology and technology blend to offer a whole range of physical and mental enhancements, will have a big impact on business, according to MYOB chief technology officer and futurist Simon Raik-Allen.
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Augmented humans to profoundly change business, warns MYOB
17 June 2016
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Commenting on the release of MYOB’s The Augmented Human report, Mr Raik-Allen said change is inevitable and may come sooner than a lot of people think.
"We are on the cusp of an evolution revolution," he said.
One of the areas that will profoundly change with the development of more advanced human augmentation, according to Mr Raik-Allen, will be the business world.
"It’s going to be massive for business – giving rise to a whole range of new industries that we’re only just starting to imagine the possibilities for," he said.
"Imagine a version of today’s app store – the brain-app store or the body-app store – which you can connect to in order to download the latest developments in intelligence, mental performance, or simply entertainment."
Alongside the physical and mental enhancements, an embedded connection to a personal artificial intelligence could offer massive improvements in understanding, communication and productivity.
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"For business, this adds a whole new dimension to the information-driven economy, which has already driven so many opportunities globally," Mr Raik-Allen said.
"Our knowledge and capabilities will be enhanced, our physical and mental abilities will be raised to new heights, and the opportunities for us to experience, communicate and share will be unparalleled."
Although some of the ideas may seem like the stuff of science fiction, the report’s predictions are based on the evolution of technology currently in development, or even in use.
"Part of my job is to think about the future, and how businesses in particular might prepare for it," Mr Raik-Allen said.
"Looking 20 or 30 years into the future not only helps us start preparing for what might be coming along, but also gives us new ways of thinking about what we are doing now, and the processes and preconceptions that might be holding our business back.
"The more our technology and our humanity start to merge, at some point, we’ll become indistinguishable from the technology itself. Even our biology will begin to fade. And that will be the rise of the new human."
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