pop science idea

Was discussing an interesting topic with a friend the other day. Posting this as a reference post.

Many technologies today are artificial analogues of comparable biological systems. That is to say, the camera is essentially a poor representation of the human eye, or the flash drive, data base or operating system clunky man-made abstractions of our brain. Indeed, all these technologies have greatly enhanced our collective human experience, but when matched with the acuity of the real human eye, or the shear processing power of an organic brain, they all fall way short.

Much of modern applied science has followed this notion of synthetic abstraction. However, instead of simulation, why not assimilation? Why not actually use a biological eye as a camera lense? or a chip implant that would harness the expansive memory features of our brain for its limitless storage capacity and raw processing power?

Of course the camera wouldn't literally have an eyeball in it, but would instead contain a biologically synthesized optic nerve with cones and rods instead of a CCCD sensor. The acuity would be optimized well beyond human scope to say that of a cat which has well documented night vision capabilities or a fly that has thousands of lenses packed into the space of a pinhead. The list of possible augmentations are endless.

To take the camera example a step further what's to say the images captured by this enhanced camera couldn't be wirelessly uploaded directly to our brains negating the need for roll film or a flash card. Can you imagine the limitless storage capacity a human brain offers capable of storing an entire life's experiences?

We are all walking computers and cameras, why not develop technologies that enhance these basic biological functions instead of trying to contrive ersatz versions of them? Or vice versa, use what evolution has created to enhance our synthetic technologies many fold.

This is obviously not a new idea and I have no concept of the mind boggling technical hurdles facing something like this but simply something that came up in conversation that I had never really given much thought for before. It certainly makes for an interesting jumping off point for science fiction geeks and otaku.