Conceiving Neo-AnthropoGenic Psychology

Ever wonder what it would be like if the science fiction of your childhood were real? Well, that’s the way it is for me and other members of my generation caught between the tidal waves of Boomers and Millennials. We didn’t have a war to rally behind or protest. Our war was Cold, and it was leftovers at that. We’ve generated few world leaders as yet who have risen to the heights of historical. Instead, we’re made up of a lot of impossible dreamers, weaned on Pong, PacMan and Space Invaders, and determined to get to Mars. Our future was laid out for us on the big screen in movies like Star Wars, RoboCop, 2010, and Blade Runner. And we took it seriously.

We were the dreamers turned explorers as we set out on ancient digital ships like the Commodore 64 and the Apple IIC, boards that would shake the confidence of any surfer today. We had no fear, and that served us well in navigating toward lands better left alone, trailing thread behind us, as we sewed together the Web envisioned by our forebear engineers. As more people came aboard, something wonderful happened. Instead of shrinking what was available, it only increased the possibilities. The framework may have been laid by others, but we built the Internet and an even larger “we” continues to define it today: A global intelligence. From this new speed-of-light collaborative intelligence have come new technologies across all fields that reach beyond the personal contribution. The possibilities in medicine, longevity, computer and space sciences, to name a few, have become whatever we can imagine collectively. We have taken control of our own evolution. And there are billions more waiting to join.

New technologies can increase physical and mental abilities. They can ease the rigors of life, and not only extend life, but make that extension more palatable and enjoyable. What it cannot do is accelerate the evolution of the psyche, or the mind. Understanding how these changes impact us as people is the central tenet of Neo-Anthropogenic Psychology. There have been decades of research devoted to the developmental bases of behavior, but somehow they forgot the chapter on the once-disabled, now-augmented super-human. Take Nigel Ackland. With a prosthetic hand that can hold an egg, turn 360 degrees, and shake (or crush) your puny human hand, it is hard to decide who is disabled. Perhaps as this technology progresses, there will be elective surgery for augmentation.

Neo-Anthropogenic Psychology seeks to understand why it is when we see a mechanical “dog,” we can alternately fear it and feel sympathy for it, despite its lack of resemblance to an actual dog. Further, after using drones and their partners on the battlefield, what happens when the robot soldier returns home from war? How do they find job satisfaction competing with other soldiers for jobs? There are calls for more autonomy in the field of war, yet are we ready to grant them their independence?

But NAG Psychology doesn’t concern itself with just the battlefield or the augmented human. There is also the prospect of the deep reaches of space, where many elements of new technology literally mean the difference between life and death. Even studying the impact of social media as the primary connection between a Mars-traveling spacecraft and their human family and friends at home can create a baseline of sanity necessary to complete the mission. As a species, we are moving further from the Earth in more than the literal form.

Technology is a fundamental learning, and building the foundation for what this does to our developing psyche can set us on a strong trajectory for this inevitable change. Ignoring it can leave our civilization open to the erosion seen onscreen only a short time ago, an erosion that cedes our temporary self-evolution to the machines we’ve built to enable it.