The Human API

Are we en route to a human API?

Are we already mer­ging with machines, or is that just a sci-fi delu­sion? The lines between humans and tech­no­logy are blur­ring at an accel­er­at­ing pace, push­ing us toward a future where bio­lo­gic­al and digit­al sys­tems are deeply integrated. 

But what would it mean if we became the inter­face — a human API, dir­ectly linked to the ever-expand­ing digit­al ecosystem?

Here we go:

The Human API

An Application Programming Interface (API) pro­tocol in soft­ware devel­op­ment allows dif­fer­ent sys­tems to com­mu­nic­ate. It enables seam­less inter­ac­tion between pro­grams and defines how inform­a­tion flows between them. 

“An applic­a­tion pro­gram­ming inter­face (API) is a pro­tocol inten­ded to be used as an inter­face by soft­ware com­pon­ents to com­mu­nic­ate with each oth­er. An API may include spe­cific­a­tions for routines, data struc­tures, object classes, and vari­ables.”
Source: Wikipedia ¹API. (2023, November 23). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​API

But could the same prin­ciple be applied to humans and machines? 

Could we devel­op a biological/​electrical inter­face allow­ing real-time, bid­irec­tion­al data exchange between the human brain and digit­al networks?

Even pub­lic rela­tions vis­ion­ary Brian Solis has explored the idea of the human API. Speaking at Le Web in Paris, he argued:

“What if the medi­um wasn’t just the device, the medi­um was us? At the cen­ter of the IoT and Big Data are the very people who fuel the con­stant exchange of inform­a­tion. At the same time, it cre­ates a human net­work, where we become nodes and the inform­a­tion that ties togeth­er people and devices feed new exper­i­ences and changes our beha­viour over time.”
— Brian Solis

Once purely the­or­et­ic­al, this concept is no longer the domain of sci­ence fic­tion; we are becom­ing part of the machine — and the machine is becom­ing part of us.

The Merging of Human and Machine

The tra­ject­ory of tech­no­lo­gic­al pro­gress sug­gests that this integ­ra­tion is inev­it­able. We are already aug­ment­ing our nat­ur­al cap­ab­il­it­ies with tech­no­lo­gies that enhance cog­ni­tion, memory, decision-mak­ing, and phys­ic­al ability. 

Consider the fol­low­ing devel­op­ments that are inch­ing us toward a transhuman future:

These advances raise fun­da­ment­al questions: 

Are we extend­ing human exper­i­ence with tech­no­logy, or is tech­no­logy advan­cing through us? Are we build­ing a bet­ter world or simply train­ing the machines to replace us?

Transhumanism: The Inevitable Evolution?

 Transhumanism is the belief that human­ity should enhance itself through sci­ence and tech­no­logy, over­come bio­lo­gic­al lim­it­a­tions, and redesign the human experience. 

“Transhumanism, abbre­vi­ated as H+ or h+, is an inter­na­tion­al intel­lec­tu­al and cul­tur­al move­ment that affirms the pos­sib­il­ity and desirab­il­ity of fun­da­ment­ally trans­form­ing the human con­di­tion by devel­op­ing and mak­ing widely avail­able tech­no­lo­gies to elim­in­ate age­ing and to greatly enhance human intel­lec­tu­al, phys­ic­al, and psy­cho­lo­gic­al capa­cit­ies. […] Transhumanist thinkers study the poten­tial bene­fits and dangers of emer­ging tech­no­lo­gies that could over­come fun­da­ment­al human lim­it­a­tions, as well as study the eth­ic­al mat­ters involved in devel­op­ing and using such tech­no­lo­gies. They pre­dict that human beings may even­tu­ally be able to trans­form them­selves into beings with such greatly expan­ded abil­it­ies as to mer­it the label ‘posthu­man’.”
Source: Wikipedia ²Transhumanism. (2023, October 29). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​T​r​a​n​s​h​u​m​a​n​ism

Transhumanists fore­see a posthu­man future, where aging, dis­ease, cog­nit­ive lim­its, and even mor­tal­ity are obstacles to be engin­eered away. This vis­ion often pro­vokes eth­ic­al debates — after all, what does it mean to be human if we rewrite the fun­da­ment­al rules of biology?

“Transhumanism advoc­ates for the advance­ment of sci­ence and tech­no­logy to over­come human lim­it­a­tions and pro­motes the devel­op­ment of new bio­tech­no­lo­gies to enhance human poten­tial.”
Source: Dictionary of Global Bioethics ³Have, H., & Neves, M. (2021). Transhumanism (See Enhancement; Transplantation; Genetic Engineering). Dictionary of Global Bioethics. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​0​7​/​978 – 3‑030 – 54161-3_499

Popular cul­ture has played with these ideas for dec­ades. The concept of the cyborg — a hybrid of bio­lo­gic­al and arti­fi­cial sys­tems — was first coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline. They envi­sioned self-reg­u­lat­ing human-machine sys­tems designed to sur­vive the harsh envir­on­ments of space. But today, cyborgs are no longer just a concept for astro­nauts — they are already here.

“A cyborg is a cyber­net­ic organ­ism (i.e. an organ­ism that is a self-reg­u­lat­ing integ­ra­tion of arti­fi­cial and nat­ur­al sys­tems). The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline used it in an art­icle about the advant­ages of self-reg­u­lat­ing human-machine sys­tems in out­er space.”
Source: Bionity​.com ⁴Cyborg. (2023). Bionity​.com. https://​www​.bion​ity​.com/​e​n​/​e​n​c​y​c​l​o​p​e​d​i​a​/​C​y​b​o​r​g​.​h​tml

The para­dox of transhuman­ism is that it exists bey­ond tra­di­tion­al mor­al cat­egor­ies of “good” or “bad”. It is neither a uto­pia nor a dysto­pia — it is simply what comes next.

“Transhumanism, a mod­ern form of Enlightenment techno-uto­pi­an­ism, has evolved into diverse sub­sects, with poten­tial for viol­ent con­front­a­tion as tech­no­lo­gic­al innov­a­tion and human enhance­ment threaten the future of human­ity.”
Source: Zygon ⁵Hughes, J. (2012). The Politics of Transhumanism and the Techno-Millennial Imagination, 1626 – 2030. Zygon, 47, 757 – 776. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​1​1​1​/​J​.​1​467 – 9744.2012.01289.X

The Cybernetic Renaissance

We are in the midst of a cyber­net­ic renais­sance, a his­tor­ic­al moment in which humans and machines are con­ver­ging in once unima­gin­able ways. Like every tech­no­lo­gic­al shift before it, this trans­form­a­tion is met with both excite­ment and fear.

Public anxi­ety over tech­no­logy-induced stress, pri­vacy con­cerns, brain alter­a­tions, and AI con­trol reflects a tech­lash remin­is­cent of past soci­et­al reac­tions to indus­tri­al revolu­tions. Some argue for legis­lat­ive restric­tions to slow down AI’s pro­gress, while oth­ers sug­gest out­right bans on advanced bio­hack­ing, neur­al implants, and AI-driv­en decision-making.

And yet, if his­tory teaches us any­thing,  tech­no­logy nev­er moves back­ward. No civil­isa­tion has ever will­ingly giv­en up an advance­ment that extends power, con­nectiv­ity, or longev­ity. The fear of a medi­ev­al cyborg dysto­pia is a com­pel­ling nar­rat­ive, but I believe some­thing far grander is unfolding.

We are not los­ing our human­ity — we are tran­scend­ing it.

If the digit­al inform­a­tion revolu­tion reshaped how we inter­act with know­ledge, the rise of the human API may redefine what it means to be human entirely. Whether we embrace this shift or res­ist it, one thing is sure:

We are already becom­ing part of the machine — or vice versa.

Learn more: The Human API

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