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The Cybernetic Revolution and the Future of Technologies

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The 21st Century Singularity and Global Futures

Part of the book series: World-Systems Evolution and Global Futures ((WSEGF))

Abstract

The present paper analyzes the evolution of technology from the beginning of human history. We introduce a new paradigm to analyze the causes and trends of the global evolution. We describe the direction of technological transformations and discuss and explain the present and forthcoming technological changes. We also present a detailed analysis of the latest technological revolution, which we denote as ‘Cybernetic,’ and give some forecasts about its development up to the end of the twenty-first century. It is shown that the expansion of various self-regulating systems will be the main trend of this revolution. We argue that the technological transition of the final phase of the Cybernetics revolution will start in medicine, which is to be the keystone of technological convergence forming the system of MANBRIC-technologies (based on medicine, additive, nano-, bio-, robotics, IT, and cognitive technologies). Today, we are at the threshold to the new era of unprecedented control of a human body, considerable life extension, organ replacement, brain–computer interfaces, robotics, genome editing, etc. The authors describe the mechanisms of technological development and discuss possible risks as well as the limits of post-human revolution.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Sometimes, we denote it as the Upper Paleolithic Revolution.

  2. 2.

    See Grinin (2006a, b, 2007a, b, 2012), Grinin L and Grinin A (2013, 2015) and Grinin A and Grinin L (2015).

  3. 3.

    Namely: Medicine, Additive, Nano, Bio, Robotic, Information, and Cognitive technologies. For the convenience of pronunciation, the technologies are listed not in order of priority.

  4. 4.

    See also Appendix to Chap. 9 in Grinin L and Grinin A (2015) at https://www.socionauki.ru/book/files/ot_rubil_do_nano/online_version/9_chapter_appendix/266p.php.

  5. 5.

    In 2009, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack Szostak were awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the way chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase from terminal underreplication.

  6. 6.

    It is difficult to say how ‘perfect’ they will be and what kind of problems will appear as a result of these technologies. For example, the possibility to predict the baby's gender resulted in gender imbalance in China. As a result, there are a disproportionate number of boys. Thus, we agree with Francis Fukuyama, who believes that the future achievements of the ‘biotechnology revolution’ should be accepted with great prudence (Fukuyama 2002).

  7. 7.

    At present, there are many publications on how robots may replace humans in many fields. We agree that the changes in this sphere will be enormous; however, as it was said above, they will take several decades to occur.

  8. 8.

    URL: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/surgical-robotics-market?surgical-robotics-market.

  9. 9.

    See Appendix to Grinin L and Grinin A (2015: 288ff).

  10. 10.

    E.g., the Stormram 4, as the robot is named, is made from 3D-printed plastic and is driven by air pressure. This robot can be used in an MRI scanner. Carrying out a biopsy (removing a piece of tissue) during a breast cancer scan in an MRI significantly increases accuracy. The Stormram 4 is a stimulus for the entire diagnostic phase of breast cancer; the accurate needle control, effectively real-time MRI scanning and a single, thin-needle biopsy enable quicker and more accurate diagnoses to be made (University of Twente 2017).

  11. 11.

    ‘Cyborg’ (short for ‘cybernetic organism’) is defined as a theoretical or fictional being with both organic and biomechatronic parts (for restoration or enhancement). The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline (Halacy 1965).

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Acknowledgements

This chapter is an output of a research project implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in 2019 with support by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project No. 17-02-00521).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eurasian Center for Big History and System Forecasting, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Leonid Grinin

  2. National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia

    Leonid Grinin

  3. Faculty of Global Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    Leonid Grinin

  4. International Center for Education and Social and Humanitarian Studies, Moscow, Russia

    Anton Grinin

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  1. Leonid Grinin
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Correspondence to Leonid Grinin .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Higher School of Economics, National Research University, Moscow, Russia

    Andrey V. Korotayev

  2. Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA

    David J. LePoire

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Grinin, L., Grinin, A. (2020). The Cybernetic Revolution and the Future of Technologies. In: Korotayev, A., LePoire, D. (eds) The 21st Century Singularity and Global Futures. World-Systems Evolution and Global Futures. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33730-8_17

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