[extropy-chat] Warwick: Could future computer viruses infect humans?

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

Very interesting article on Silicon.com (found via KurzweilAI): Kevin
Warwick, professor of cybernetics at Reading University, warned the
day will come when computer viruses can infect humans as well as PCs.
"We're looking at software viruses and biological viruses becoming one
and the same," he said. "The security problems [will] be much, much
greater... they will have to become critical in future."
If humans were networked, the implications of being hacked would be
far more serious and attitudes towards hackers would be radically
changed, he added.
"For those of you that want to stay human... you'll be a subspecies in
the future," he said.
Warwick believes that there are advantages for a human being to be
networked to a computer.
Networking a human brain would mean an almost "infinite knowledge
base", he said, adding it would be akin to "upgrading humans... giving
us abilities we don't already have".
http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=/news/news_single.html?id%3D3958
http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39125887,00.htm