Human augmentation refers to technology that enhances productivity/capability of the human body. It can be broadly classified into two types:

Physical Augmentation: This class focuses on increasing the inherent physical capabilities of a person by implanting a technology within his body. It includes:

• Sensory Augmentation: It is a category of physical augmentation that includes human senses such as hearing, vision, and perception. Examples include Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, smart contact lenses, electronic nose, etc.

• Appendage & Biological Function Augmentation: It includes the use of exoskeletons and prosthetics to enhance or replace appendage and biological function of the human body. Some examples are cochlear implants to replace non-functional auditory nerves, the surgical augmentation of eyes, etc. The technology has found applications in cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

• Brain Augmentation: This technology focuses on altering the human brain. A common use of technology includes treating seizures. More extensive applications involve memory storage, decoding neural patterns, synthesizing speech, etc.

• Genetic Augmentation: This category of human augmentation facilitates somatic gene and cell therapies for the treatment of children with severe combined immune deficiency and related diseases.

Cognitive Augmentation: Cognitive augmentation refers to technologies that improve human thought and decision making. It also includes physical implants that deal with cognitive reasoning. It also includes accessing information and exploiting traditional computer applications for creating smart spaces. Another scenario that involves cognitive augmentation includes the use of artificial intelligence to facilitate decision making and learning among humans.

As the applications of human augmentation are spreading across industries, organizations are taking a plunge to utilize it for improving their business processes. However, in order to ensure beneficial incorporation of technology with business operations, it is important to consider the following factors:

• Security: When augmenting a human asset instead of a device, organizations need to pay thorough attention to possible security risks and ways to tackle these risks.

• Privacy: Human augmentation technology requires intimate knowledge about the concerned person. This may lead to privacy concerns such as data breach. Thus, organizations should formulate extensive strategies to ensure the privacy of collected data.

• Compliance: It is important for organizations to have knowledge about the laws and regulations pertaining to human augmentation in their state. It is advisable to seek professional assistance to ensure compliance with the laws.

For more information about applications of modern technology for business organizations, call Centex Technologies at (972) 375 - 9654.