As a 16-year-old who never knew dial-up Internet and learned "to google" as a verb in Grade 1, try explaining to a group at least 40 and older that humans will need a database in their brains to accommodate ever-increasing information and social media in the near future.
That's exactly what local 16-year-old Squamish air cadet Jama Hanson did this past Sunday (March 20) at the Regional Effective Speaking Competition in Vancouver.
Hanson said that in the future, instead of grabbing the iPhone or Blackberry connected to all the information we seek, we will tap into our own internal databases implanted in our brains.
Whether it's directions to a destination, a recipe long forgotten, a friend's birthday or the result of that poll you read this morning, instead of at your fingertips, it will be inside you.
Picture Star Trek's Commander Data after he's asked a question. According to Jama, that could be you.
"It's kind of weird to think of, but rather than have an iPhone you would just be able to call somebody by using a thing in your head," she said.
Hanson said installing databases for information in the human brain is a necessary step to keep up with today's advancing technology.
"Social media is helping advance technology by sharing ideas and it's advancing itself very, very fast," she explained. "But it's to the point that technology is going too fast for our brains - so we're going to need to have some kind of data storage in our brains in order to keep up."
"If we want to have all the information we desire in our mind, if we want to have something that will store it all, we have to have a mechanized brain instead of an organic brain."
One of the problems with this idea, which Hanson addressed in her speech, was how could anyone's intelligence be gauged if everyone implanted a database in his or her brain.
"Would this put us all on the same level because essentially we'd be like machines?" she asked. "You wouldn't be able to tell because everyone would just google everything you're asking them and in that sense, it seems kind of cheap almost."
She acknowledged the system would literally take away the integrity of learning and certain games wouldn't be possible.
"You couldn't have trivia nights and at that point, personal questions would become harder than accessible information."
Hanson won the bronze medal, competing against eight other well-spoken air cadets from across the province. She said her topic, although unique and intriguing, may have turned off some of the judges who are from a different generation than she.
"I'm pro-social networking and pro-technology, but older people tend not to be because I don't think they would know how to handle it," she said.
"After the winners were announced, the organizer said she thought I should have gotten second because she really liked my speech, but thought that it was kind of scary."
Hanson represented 835 Griffin Squadron, based in Squamish. The effective-speaking program is designed to provide air cadets with the opportunity to increase their self-confidence and their ability to reason, organize and express ideas.
"Being an air cadet has definitely made me more confident," she said. "It's a very tightly knit and diverse group, and I've made a ton of new friends that I hang out with at school and we go to events together."
Effective speaking is just one of the many Air Cadet programs. Others include drill, survival, principals of flight, navigation, first aid, ground school and more.
