If Everyone Knew Kung Fu
I’m sure everyone remembers the scene in the original Matrix film in which Theodore Logan is injected with the knowledge of how to perform kung fu.
It wasn’t the first time science fiction has flashed information into someone’s brain – heck, it wasn’t even Keanu’s first time, as you may recall if you happened to be one of the ten people to see Johnny Mnemonic – and, given humanity’s tendency to seek out the laziest possible solution, I’m sure it won’t be the last.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmEPXXJ4sKw]
It may not happen in my lifetime, but I do actually believe we’ll one day master a method to upload knowledge directly, and it raises a number of odd social considerations.
What will school-age children do when summer vacation extends all year long? (Or maybe 10 minutes a morning, while they sync that day’s lessons?)
Will universities transition entirely to research & development for the public good?
What happens at the site of a flood/earthquake/tsunami/hurricane/war if the Red Cross or Crescent can inject the survivors with advanced medical and survival knowledge?
Do job positions that depend heavily on learned processes, like clerical work, become as disposable as McDonald’s employees if those processes can be implanted in a ten minute “training session”?
