“Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.” ~ Alfred North Whitehead

Human-machine integration is a state where the boundary between humans and machines is blurred. It's a world where humans and machines coexist in a seamless, symbiotic relationship. In this state, machines act as a powerful, invisible force that augments human intelligence and enhances decision-making. Rather than replacing humans, machines become an extension of our abilities.

Why?

Let’s try to understand why we need to do this. Humans, by nature, are naturally designed to choose the path of least resistance or "effort”. We keep finding efficient and better solutions to our problems. As we quoted Mr. A. N. Whitehead above “Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.”

While humans have strengths in perception, emotion, pattern recognition, and reasoning, machines excel at high-speed, complex processing and accessing large data sets. By augmenting human capabilities by giving them the capabilities of a machine, humans and machines can work together to accomplish tasks that would otherwise be impossible. They can work in unison to create ideas and decisions.

I believe that in the future, AI systems will take on the vast majority of routine tasks, freeing up humans to focus on creative and collaborative work. This will require us to retrain our brains to utilize the neocortex to its full potential, using it for problem-solving, innovation, and communication. In the future, the human brain will not be diminished or obsolete but rather augmented and enhanced by technology.

What?

Human-machine integration refers to a state where machines work seamlessly for humans, in order to augment and support them. For example, humans can make use of machines' vast amounts of data and powerful computing capabilities to make better decisions, while machines can learn from and adapt to human preferences and behaviors. In this ideal state, humans and machines collaborate and complement each other, leading to more effective and efficient outcomes.

The most crucial aspect of this - how machines would be able to weave themselves in the background and arm us with the right information at the right time with the right context. We will no longer need to say that “Yeah, let’s Google it”, we will already have that “Google it” information with us. By removing the communication and information boundary, we will be able to act as one single entity along with machines. As famously said by Alan Cooper - "Good technology should be like a windowpane. It should enhance your view of the world without drawing attention to itself." I believe this shall be the state where machines or technology do not take our attention to help us.

The idea of human-machine integration is closely related to the notion of machines being able to perceive and understand our environment in a similar way to how humans do. This requires not just a single device, but rather a network of connected devices and technologies that can act in unison to provide the right information at the right time. This final phase of information technology evolution can be thought of as a sort of invisible layer of support, surrounding us and augmenting our capabilities in a seamless way.

Imagine a surgeon who has information about a patient's medical history, current condition, and interpretation of different markers, when they are in an emergency room. They could potentially make life-saving decisions more quickly and accurately. Or imagine you are going to a party, and there is this person, Josh, who is apparently someone working in your dream company. By noticing Josh, the device can give you a nudge that you should initiate a conversation with Josh on the country’s geopolitics because that is what he has been writing around over Twitter for the past 3 months. All this without needing to open your phone, and do all the stuff on your own. Isn’t that something you’d want?

J. C. R. Licklider, in 1960, wrote about “Man-Computer Symbiosis” where he envisaged “in not too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled together very tightly, and that the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today.” I am sure, we are still a bit far away from his end goal but we are on our path. We will go deep into his stuff in our later notes.

How?

If the future of technology is indeed one of human-machine integration, then we need to break down the barriers that exist between humans and machines. This means that we need to develop technology that can communicate and interact with humans in more natural and intuitive ways. We need technology that can understand human needs and behaviors, and that can adapt to the ever-changing nature of human communication and behavior. In short, we need technology that is flexible, adaptable, and deeply connected to the human experience.

We need to make the interaction between humans and machines as natural and unobtrusive as possible, allowing humans to focus on what's most important to them while still benefiting from the capabilities of machines. Instead of humans having to interact with machines through specific devices and interfaces (current-day mobile phones, and laptops), we need to create a more holistic approach where machines are seamlessly integrated into our lives. The goal is to create a world where technology is not separate from us, but rather part of us, and we can tap into the power of machines without having to think about it.

To achieve human-machine integration, we also need to work on the way machines perceive and understand the world around them. For instance, machines need to be able to accurately interpret human gestures and facial expressions, detect subtle changes in sound and light, and understand the significance of all these things. We need machines that can understand the complexity and nuance of the human experience so that they can effectively interact with us and support us in our daily lives. A lot of work has been going on in this for a while, and we need more attempts to conquer it ahead.