The theory continues that the human condition is a process with different stages, and is not in a static state. Its destiny is continuously to modify and redefine itself. In this view, the process of hominization is by no means finished and future paleontologists, in several millennia, might talk about homo sapiens as about a very primitive form of humankind. What would they think of a skeleton provided with a pacemaker? Would it still be homo sapiens or not?
In reality at this stage all we can do is speculate, with only one sure point: homo sapiens is an endangered species, and technology, which most feel was fundamental to its emergence, could paradoxically be the tool of its death. “The sword of life is intelligence. As we have lived by the sword with other creatures, so we will die by the sword in the hands of robots” (Warwick, 2000, 213).
The authors totally agree with each other about the plausibility of the disappearance of homo sapiens. Considering how dependent our society is on the internet, it is difficult to imagine what would happen in the case that the network stopped working - either by intervention, design or failure. Almost our entire economic system would collapse and we would have to build a new one. Such a process would take much time and energy. Moreover, machines, and more generally technology, are considered as synonymous with development and progress, and they are even thought by some (Gras, 2003) to have become more important than humans. Thus, would we even be able to think of our social and economic system independently of them? This would certainly be considered a retrograde step; the option is quite unthinkable.
On the one hand, the authors agree on the statement that technology is becoming so important in our individual and collective lives that it is difficult to think about any other option - which means that they agree on what the situation currently is. On the other hand, the authors disagree on what should be done about the situation. KW thinks we have no other choice than to merge with technology if we want to have a future. In his view, surviving with the internet means merging with it. During his second experiment, after being implanted with electrodes which could receive messages from his brain and transmit them to a computer, his nerve signals were transmitted via the internet to operate a robotic hand at a distance. He considers that future humans will be a sub-species, useless in a society lead by machines. Thus, to avoid becoming useless, he began to transform himself into a cyborg (see Warwick, 2002). He is looking forward to being the first of a new Cyborg super-species.
On the contrary, DC thinks that we should study other options, and that humans should preserve themselves as a species. The process we are in is far from being a natural evolution. The idea that complexity is naturally increasing since unicellular organisms became multi-cellular organisms does not convince her. It could be thought that contrary to other species, humans are able to think and to make projects. That means that what we are building - whatever it is - is the result of our choices and not a result of the pressure of evolution. Evolution is simply used as an argument to justify our choices.
There are only a few researchers and scientists like KW, openly arguing that we have to turn into something different from humankind. Moreover there is only, at present, KW, experimenting on himself with new technologies that could lead to such a goal. But there are many researchers and scientists - working on the same kind of technologies as him or on others - who are convinced that the devices they are creating are just neutral tools. They should become aware that the difference between what they are doing and what KW is promoting is not a difference of kind but of degree. They are in reality part of the same project for our future. As briefly mentioned, KW’s project to merge his brain with the Internet is just the concrete realization of what we implicitly strive for when we develop more sophisticated connections to access the net more quickly.
Amongst social scientists, there are those who think that the social sciences must be strictly descriptive. Others, like DC, clearly think that description is just part of their job, and that they have to engage themselves in defending what is important to them. On such a view, we all have a responsibility in terms of what will happen to us in the future: researchers concretely involved in building our future are clearly responsible for what they are doing. But users who accept the use of devices that are proposed to them completely share that responsibility. DC is not an exception - she is fully part of her society, with a computer on her desk and a mobile phone in her handbag - but she thinks that we cannot just let things go the way they are going without standing back from our own practices. That means trying to anticipate plausible scenarios, analyze them, wonder whether they are what we really want for our future, and, if necessary, warn about the possible consequences of our current choices.
In other words, our future must be a collective choice, a result of interaction and confrontation between the different positions. The current original collaboration between the two authors, a cyborg-in-creation, who happily faces the disappearance of humankind, and an anthropologist deeply attached to our homo sapiens condition, is a first step in the right direction to opening the debate about what our future might and should be.
In deciding on our future it is perhaps appropriate to investigate the likely outcomes. For a moment put yourself in the position of being a member of a new breed. Either you are an intelligent machine, or a Cyborg - you can choose. A group of humans is still in existence and, whether you like it or not, there are many of them. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that these humans used to be the dominant life form on earth for quite a few years and they are not overly happy at giving up their position to the new breed, even though they were largely responsible for originating it. They are trying therefore, as hard as they can, to destroy every member of the new breed. From the perspective of these intellectually inferior beings, the humans, if they can destroy the new breed then humans will again be the dominant life form - maybe next time they will not make a hash of it.
So what will you, and other members of the new breed do? Perhaps you could be nice to the humans. Even though they are intellectually inferior, and you do not respect them, possibly you might let them make all the important decisions. But that seems extremely unlikely. Indeed why should you be nice at all to these humans? Given half a chance they will probably try to end your life. Realistically it is dangerous to give humans any power at all, as they could easily use it against the new breed.