The first week of the EDC15 course is coming to an end.

After setting up the lifestream and connecting it to twitter via IFTTT I started reading the course’s core literature, Vincent Miller’s chapter on The Body and Information Technology – an eye opening introduction into the field of cyborgs and posthumanism.

While delving into the material a relevant article about how industry leaders and scientists are warning of the potential dangers of artificial intelligence started to catch my attention. While this topic has in the past been firmly in the hands of science fiction authors, it is actually a quite serious matter worthy of serious discussion.

By accident I stumbled upon a truly awe inspiring  video that fits right into this week’s topic – neuroscientist David Eagleman’s talk on the Future of Being Human – if his theroetical predictions hold up in practice, the future of human cyborgs might be closer than we imagine.

In fact, in some ways it is already here. This biohacker has implanted a magnet in his finger, allowing him to feel electromagnetic fields – effectively upgrading himself with an additional sense. While I do not see a practical use for such an upgrade it’s really cool regardless.

Lastly, the week’s second core reading, a critical examination of the term Technology Enhanced Learning by Sian Bayne,  caused me to wonder whether “Digital Education”, or simpler yet, “Education” might be a more appropriate term for our field of study.