Into an Unknown World

　　A、Brain chips mean we are struggling to distinguish our own thoughts from ideas implanted by advertisers.Self-driving cars restrict old.school human drivers to special recreation parks.And the optimal(最佳的)number offingers is 12.5.

　　B、Confused?It’s a vision of the world in 25 years，as dreamed up by today’s researchers in computer-human interaction(CHI).

　　C、CHI normally means investigating better ways for people to interact with devices we have now,but last week attendees at the annual conference in Toront0，Canada，got ahead of themselves.They created an imaginary conference agenda for 2039 that predicts the kinds of challenges we will face with future computers--many of which will be implanted.

　　D、“It’s meant to be sort of the fringes(边缘)of human--computer interaction research，what’s really edgy or provocative，”says Eric Baumer of Cornell University in Ithaca，New York，who dreamed up the idea of the conference.“There’s a lot of retrospective thinking about the past，but there’s not as much thinking about what are the futures toward which we think we’re working.”

　　E、We used the abstracts to create a list of the questions we—or more accurately.our cyborg descendants--might have about computers in 2039.

　　Is it weird when my organs talk to each other?

　　F、In an abstract entitled“My liver and my kidney compared notes”，IBM researcher Michael Muller,based in Cambridge，Massachusetts，looks at what happens when the implanted monitors on people’s intemal organs—a network he calls Arterionet--are able to share data and pool knowledge to offer enhanced health tips.

　　G、His conclusion：“While most users were skeptical.many users proposed additional features that could lead to greater acceptance and compliance with such recommendations.”

　　H、It’s worth thinking about how people might deal with health tips from organ monitors.Wearable technology that tracks your activity or your health status is slowly gaining popularity while researchers earlier this year implanted power-generating silicone strips on the hearts，lungs and diaphragms(横膈膜) of live cows，pigs and sheep.Muller says the biggest challenge to creating Arterionet will be figuring out how to fit the artificial intelligence in a sufficiently small and safe package.

　　Why do plants need their own Facebook,again?

　　I、To understand this question，you need to know about Plantastic，the brainchild of Bill Tomlinson and his colleagues at the University of California at Irvine.

　　J、In their abstract，they reason that to make our food supply more sustainable，it may make sense to grow more fruits and vegetables close to home.But certain crops thrive when they’re grown in large quantities or alongside certain other plants--too tall all order for the average farmer.

　　K、Enter Plantastic，which would advise what plants would work best for your area and tell you what people in the neighbourhood are growin9.Nanochips on plants would feed data back to the site.That information in turn could be used to 1earn more about what grows best in which environment.

　　L、Assuming people will want to know whether this adds anythin9，Tomlinson’s team created a fictional(虚构的)study that looks at l o backyard gardens over two growing seasons.It suggests that using Plantastic will increase yields by 4 to 12 percent.

　　M、Tomlinson’s graduate student Juliet Norton is working on an early version of what the online system might look like.

　　Autonomous cars have made driving so boring--what shall I do instead?

　　N、Andreas Riener at the Institute for Pervasive Computing in Linz.Austria，has written an abstract that starts with a bold view of the future：“The first self-driving car cruised on our roads in 2019.Now,20 years after,it is time to review how this innovation has changed our mobility behaviour.”

　　O、This vision is rooted in a real trend.Self-driving cars have been making headlines for several years now.They are legal to drive in the state of Nevada.and Google’s driverless car has already racked up hundreds of thousands of practice miles.

　　P、Reiner’s contribution is to explore how this will change us.He predicts that once the robots take the wheel everywhere.many of us will lose interest in driving altogether.Fewer of us will own our own cars.Those who do won’t waste as much time pimping them out or driving around iust for fun.People who still love cars might have to seek their thrills in special“recreation parks”.where they can drive manually in an artificial environment.“If the vehicles of the future are only a means to get from A to B，this car culture would get lost.”he says.

　　Did I just think up that idea or did an advertiser implant it?

　　Q、Multiple contributors to CHl 2039 ponder the future of brain implants.Whether it involves capturing input from each of our senses or recording neurons(神经元)directly in the brain，they assume that this one is a question not of if but when.And that could bring opportunities--and challenges.

　　R、Shachar Maidenbaum of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem，Israel，envisions devices that could record our day-to-day experiences and then allow US to share our memories with one another,revolutionising courts，classrooms，and our social interactions.

　　S、Daniel Gruen of IBM Research，meanwhile，envisions devices that could prompt your memory when you forget something.一with some darker consequences.“Imagine in the future that you have systems that help you with memory,”he says.“At what point do you start wondering.‘Wait.I’ve had an idea.Is that really mine or is that idea coming from somewhere else?”’

　　So，what is the ideal number of fingers?

　　T.、Ever strain yourself swiping across your iPhone screen?That problem would go away if you could have an extra thumb surgically(手术地)attached to your hand.

　　U、That’s the starting point for a fictitious study of l 24 people who have chosen to augment their hands with bionic(仿生的)fingers--on average they have 13.4 digits.Johannes Schfnin9，a computer scientist at Hasselt University in Belgium，even comes to an intriguing conclusion：“The optimal finger count is l 2.5，with six normal—sized fingers on each hand and the dominant hand having an extra half-sized finger that can be moved with 6 degrees of freedom.”

　　V、It’s entertaining stuff but even SchSning admits that 25 years might not be long enough for this one to appear.

　　46.In his article.Michael Muller investigates the consequences of Arterionet’s being capable of sharing information to supply extra strong health advices.

　　47.CHI refers to the exploration ofbetter means for people to interact with today’s equipments，but during last week’s yearly meetin9，participants proposed a future vision of CHI.

　　48.To prove if Plantastic is really helpful.Tomlinson and his colleagues conducted an imaginary research which investigates l o family gardens over 2 planting seasons.

　　49.Autonomous cars have become a hot topic since many years a90.

　　50.It deserves to be taken into account that what people will do to treat the health secrets offered by organ monitoring units.

　　51.In the paper,Tomlinson and his partners infer that to increase the endurability of our food supply,it is necessary to plant more fruits and vegetable near our houses.

　　52.Bionic finger is an interesting stuff but even SchSning doubt whether it can be created during the next25 years.

　　53.At the same time.IBM research Daniel Gruen imagines some kind of equipments that Call remind you of things you forget，which leads to bad results,

　　54.We always think a lot about the past，but we seldom consider the future life we’re trying to create.

　　55.In 2019.our roads saw in the first autonomous car.And the year 2039 is the time for us to consider to what extent this creation has transformed our moving styles.

　　46.In his article.Michael Muller investigates the consequences of Artefionet’s being capable of sharing information to supply extra strong health advices.在他的文章中，迈克尔·穆勒研究了Arterionet内部能够共享信息并提供养生秘诀时带来的后果。

　　47.CHI refers to the exploration ofbeRer means for people to interact with today’s equipments，but during last week’s yearly meeting，participants proposed a future vision of CHl.CHl研究的是人们与现今设备之间的交互方法，但在上周的年会上，与会者提出了CHl的未来愿景。

　　48.To prove if Plantastic is really helpful.Tomlinson and his colleagues conducted an imaginary research which investigates 10 family gardens over 2 planting seasons.为了证明Plantastic是否真的有用，汤姆 林森和他的同事进行了一场虚构研究，研究了10个家庭菜园在两个生长季的情况。

　　49.Autonomous cars have become a hot topic since many years ago.自动驾驶汽车自数年前开始就已经是一个热点话题。

　　50.It deserves to be taken into account that what people will do to treat the health secrets offered by organ monitoring units.人们会如何对待器官监控器提出的养生秘诀这个问题是值得考虑的。

　　51.In the paper,Tomlinson and his partners infer that to increase the endarability of oar food supply,it is necessary to plant more fruits and vegetable near oar houses.在这篇文章中，汤姆林森和他的同事指出，为了增加食物供给的持久性，我们有必要在家附近种植一些果蔬。

　　52.Bionic finger is interesting stuff but even Sch6ning doubt whether it carl be created during the next 25years.仿生手指是个有趣的东西，但是即使是Sch6ning也不确定接下来的25年之内是否能创造出来。

　　53.At the same time，IBM research Daniel Gruen imagines some kind of equipments that Can remind you of things you forget，which leads to bad results.与此同时，IBM研究人员丹尼尔·格伦也构想了可以帮助你记起一些事情的设备，但使用这个设备的结果并不好。

　　54.We always think a lot about the past，but we seldom consider the future life we’re trying to create.我们总会回顾过去，但是对于我们正在努力创造的未来却少有思考。

　　55.In 2019.our roads saw in the first autonomous car.And the year 2039 is the time for us to consider to whal extent this creation has transformed our moving styles.在2019年，我们的公路迎来了第一辆无人驾驶汽车。而20年后的2039年对我们来说，正是思考这项创新在多大程度上改变了我们出行方式的时间。