Computers to merge with humans

BBCNews has this recent post on the subject of human-machine interface, both positive yet with a caveat:

By 2020 the terms "interface" and "user" will be obsolete as computers merge ever closer with humans. It is one prediction in a Microsoft-backed report drawn from the discussions of 45 academics from the fields of computing, science, sociology and psychology.

It predicts fundamental changes in the field of so-called Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). By 2020 humans will increasingly interrogate machines, the report said. In turn computers will be able to anticipate what we want from them, which will require new rules about our relationship with machines...

...Boundaries between humans and computers will become blurred over the next decade as devices are embedded in objects, our clothing or, in the case of medical monitoring, in our bodies...The ever-present network will channel mass market information directly to us while disseminating our own intimate information.

However, the report also warns that this coming 'era of so-called hyper-connectivity' 'will mean a growth in "techno-dependency". This ever more intimate relationship between humans and computers will be a double-edged sword'.

Read more at 'Computers to merge with humans'
-