Human Augmentation: Creating the Future of Humans

DX originated from the concept proposed by Swedish Professor Erik Stolterman in 2004, which posited that "the penetration of IT will transform people's lives for the better in every aspect." Indeed, the widespread adoption of digital technology has made our surroundings more convenient. DX represents, in a sense, the evolution of "tools." It has not only transformed people's lifestyles but has also reshaped their values.


The transformation of the Papal conclave (papal election) due to the advent of smartphones is well illustrated by these two photographs. The significance of these photographs goes beyond merely indicating the widespread use of smartphones. Cameras existed in 2005 as well, but perhaps due to the solemn atmosphere, no one pointed their cameras at the event. However, with the advent of smartphones, taking photos and sharing them with others became commonplace, thereby altering people's values. The Pope, once an object of reverence, became a subject for photography, with photos easily shared among friends (Figure 1).


In this way, the evolution of tools has influenced our lifestyles, values, and even our culture.


However, while tools have evolved at an incredible speed, research indicates that human physical and psychological characteristics have hardly evolved since 10,000 years ago, and have not kept pace with the societal and environmental changes brought about by the evolution of tools. Human physical and psychological characteristics are both biological and genetic traits we are born with and traits formed by our environment. The field of "evolutionary psychology" mainly focuses on the former and examines human psychology and behavior patterns. According to Satoshi Kanazawa, a British evolutionary psychologist, human evolution occurs gradually over an extended period, so we have hardly evolved at all since we lived on the African savannah 10,000 years ago.


For example, many modern people have a tendency to prefer high-calorie foods such as meat and cake and suffer from obesity and diabetes. This is because, throughout most of human evolutionary history, obtaining sufficient calories was a significant challenge, so our sense of taste evolved to favor high-calorie foods, and this preference has been passed down to modern people. Consequently, even in today's society, where tools and societal structures have developed and food is abundant, the reshaping of our sense of taste has not kept up, and this misalignment manifests as lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes.


However, technology that enables the update of the human body through "Human Augmentation" is beginning to emerge. If DX represents the evolution of tools, Human Augmentation represents the evolution of the human body itself. For example, there is potential to modify our taste preferences for high-calorie foods, potentially altering the inherent traits that lead to obesity and diabetes.


What makes this possible is the convergence of NBIC (Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology, and Cognitive Science). This term refers to the set of technologies proposed in the early 2000s by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Science Foundation as "21st-century high technologies for enhancing human capabilities."


Among these, the advancement of information technology has been widely felt through the progress of DX. Additionally, in recent years, driven by the development of information technology, fields such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and cognitive science have also advanced significantly. The combination of these fields is creating the foundation for realizing Human Augmentation. How will these technologies update humanity?

According to Professor Junichi Rekimoto and his colleagues from the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo, the elements augmented through Human Augmentation are presence, body, perception, and cognition.


Drawing inspiration from this, we aim to reorganize the elements updated by Human Augmentation as follows. First, the elements that are updated by Human Augmentation are...