Abstract
A core element of modern human society is its capacity to rapidly and efficiently communicate through multiple digital formats. Today, we are witnessing exponential progress in our ability to communicate essentially instantaneously on a global scale. When we extrapolate along this trajectory, particularly in view of the equally exponential advances being made in the domains of nanotechnology, nanomedicine, and AI, it appears logical that the communication platforms we use today in the form of smart phones, etc. will continue in their sophistication and miniaturization to the point where they cease to be external devices and become intimately and seamlessly integrated with our biologies. Specifically, the future discipline of neuralnanorobotics (via a set of hypothetical, for now, nanorobotic species designated as endoneurorobots, gliabots, and synapobots) might facilitate a direct and seamless interface between the human neocortex and the cloud/edge, referred to here as a Brain/Cloud Interface (B/CI). This new paradigm may enable us to access the full breadth of human knowledge and engage in fully immersive entertainment and with high-resolution fully sensorial avatars, with the potential capacity to literally experience portions of other individual lives through “transparent shadowing” (TS) applications. Further, at the societal level, B/CIs may assist in ameliorating the loneliness epidemic (as virtual digital presences/experiences will be essentially indistinguishable from reality) and facilitate the propagation of human empathy worldwide. This may result in reduction of potential conflicts and enhanced cooperation. This chapter will explore these paradigm-shifting possibilities for cognitive augmentation toward envisioning what may be possible within the next few decades.