Technological convergence is accelerating and allowing humanity to move from slow and erratic biological evolution to fast and precise technological evolution. The expression “emerging technologies” is used to cover new and potentially powerful fields such as biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology. Although the expression might be somewhat ambiguous, several clusters of different technologies are advancing exponentially and will be critical to humanity's future. NBIC is a common abbreviation that stands for nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science. Other technologies like robotics, quantum computing, and space technologies can be added towards an accelerating “technological convergence” that might lead to a “technological singularity” as proposed by US engineer and futurist Ray Kurzweil. According to Kurzweil, we will reach a “technological singularity” by 2045, when we will be able to transcend many of our current limitations and move from biological humans to technological transhumans, both on planet Earth and beyond.
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Since the Big Bang, the universe has been in constant evolution and continuous transformation. First there were physical interactions, followed by chemical reactions, then biological processes, and finally now technological evolution. As we begin to ride the wave into human redesign, the destination is still largely unknown, and the opportunities and threats are also growing.
Biological evolution continues but it is just too slow to achieve the possibilities available today thanks to technological evolution. Natural selection with trial and error can now be substituted by technical selection with engineering design. Humanity’s monopoly as the only advanced sentient life form on the planet is coming to an end, and will be supplemented by a number of posthuman incarnations, including enhanced humans, transhumans, robots and cyborgs, as we approach the “technological singularity”. Moreover, how we re-engineer ourselves could fundamentally change the ways in which our civilization functions and raise crucial questions about our identities and moral status as human beings.
The famous astronomer and astrobiologist Carl Sagan popularized the concept of a Cosmic Calendar about three decades ago. In his 1977 book, The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence, Sagan wrote a timeline for the universe, starting with the Big Bang about 15 billion years ago. Today, we think that it all started about 13.7 billion years back, and we keep updating and improving our knowledge of life, the universe and everything. In his Cosmic Calendar, with each month representing slightly over one billion years, Sagan dated the major events during the first 11 months of the cosmic year (see Table 1).
Table 1. Cosmic Calendar: January – November
| Big Bang | January 1 |
| Origin of Milky Way Galaxy | May 1 |
| Origin of the solar system | September 9 |
| Formation of the Earth | September 14 |
| Origin of life on Earth | ~ September 25 |
| Formation of the oldest rocks known on Earth | October 2 |
| Date of oldest fossils (bacteria and blue-green algae) | October 9 |
| Invention of sex (by microorganisms) | ~ November 1 |
| Oldest fossil photosynthetic plants | November 12 |
| Eukaryotes (first cells with nuclei) flourish | November 15 |
Source: J.L. Cordeiro based on C. Sagan (1977)