Dr. Danny Belkin

The KurzweilAI.net article Evolution and the Internet: Toward A Networked Humanity? began

The discussion regarding the fate of the human race, recently addressed in Bill Joy's article in Wired has focused mainly on the question of technologies which might endanger that future. One specific threat which has been discussed is the danger posed to humans from a superior robot species. While the discussion itself is an important and relevant one, I would suggest that robotics and other technological developments may yet, should we avoid self-destruction, free us from worry about such threats, and instead present us with a future quite different from the common "humankind manages not to destroy itself and sets out to colonise the galaxy" scenario.
 
The drive for scientific and technological development during the last century, while indeed creating great dangers to our very existence, has brought us to the brink of a major change not only in the way we live, but in who we are — both individually and as a species. In this broad field of advanced technology, communications and information technology are unique in that they facilitate the advances in technology and push us toward the immense leap that we, as a species, are set to make.
 
A similar, if slightly less complex situation occurred on this planet a long time ago.

Dr. Danny Belkin was the author of this article and has been involved in the practical and philosophical aspects of futurism, life extension, and biotechnology for several years. His initial interest in these subjects which arose during his undergraduate studies took a tangible turn following an academic paper he wrote discussing the field of programmed cell death research, which sparked his interest in the subject of societal cellular behavior, consciousness, evolution, and how these subjects relate to humanity's present and future.
 
He was born in 1973 in Jerusalem, and spent his childhood in Israel, apart from three formative years in San Francisco. Having gone through high school and majoring in Biology, he completed three years' military service before studying for a B.Sc. degree in Biology at Tel Aviv University, a Ph.D. in Immunology at the University of Cambridge and recently completing an MBA degree at Vlerick Management School, Belgium. In between he worked for several years towards helping realize some of the practical applications of biology and life extension research, taking part in setting up a leading stem cell therapy company.
 
He is interested in a wide range of fields: human and machine evolution, computers and technology, life extension, their actual and potential inter-relations, as well as current and future implications. His vision and outlook is captured by the article Evolution and the Internet: Toward A Networked Humanity?
 
More of his work can be found at www.dannybelkin.com