Considered one of the fathers of Internet, renowned in the computer industry, awarded with the highest award of US government, co-creator of TCP/IP internet and current vice president of Google, the Phd Vint Cerf emerges as one of the most authoritative voices in the world to reflect on new technologies around the world.
The computing Scientific who the United States commissioned along with Bob Khan the creation of a network protocol that will interconnect computers in 1973 in the age of cold war who at the age of 20 will work on F-1 engines used as propellant rocket of Saturn V rocket that "visited" the moon, apart from his academic skills, he can be characterized as a very simple person having fine and good sense of humor and very elegant, like someone from an European royalty party , definitely a different personality and image projecting into the collective imagination a professional of his career.
Reflections about internet of things, the possibility of extraterrestrial life, scanning the brain, space internet and even the possibility that humans can communicate with animals were the subjects Cerf answered who recently toured South America sharing time with inhabitants of end of the world.
As will hits internet of things in the next years?
There are many companies and research groups exploring the Internet of Things. There are many "standards" and proprietary protocols in use so it will take some time ( maybe even a decade) to come to agreements on international standards for communication and control of these devices. Concerns about safety, privacy and security will dominate much of the thinking about the impact of the Internet of things. The current trend, using mobiles for remote control via apps, will likely have to change. Too many different apps for different brands of equipment will make it tedious to manage and use these devices. A major concern is the ability to update the software that is used in these Internet-enabled appliances - absent the ability to update, there will be bugs that will be exploited. I expect there will be a very vigorous exploration of applications - and the smart home or office will evolve to become the smart city.
The brain will be digitally altered as with software?
In some ways, this is very likely. The use of genetic modification to control or stimulate parts of the brain with light is already a reality. The use of CRISPR-CAS9 to make genetic modifications represents a kind of "digital" (well, "encoded") way of altering cell function. A somewhat less drastic possibility is simply that we will make use of artificial intelligence to build assistive devices and services. We will interact with these artificially intelligent artifacts more or less the same we interact with people: speech, gesture, images, text, etc.
As you imagined the future when you were 20 years old?
It was 1963 when I was 20 and we were just in the middle of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs. I worked on the F-1 engines used in the SATURN V rocket to put men on the moon and I fully expected by 1980 or so that we would be making regular launches to the moon every few weeks. I also hoped for flying cars! Well, none of that happened, but, we did get the Internet turned on in 1983 when I was 40 and much has happened since then.
Internet will expand into space?
It already has - the Interplanetary System is in operation. See www.ipnsig.org
If you had 18 years would study computer?
I would be extremely interested in software, bio-electronics and genetic engineering.
Do you believe in extraterrestrial intelligence?
Well, I think it is very likely that there is life throughout the solar system and that it is also very likely there is intelligent life. Whether we will ever encounter others is an open question because the distances and travel time are so long.
Do you think that animals will communicate with humans through telepathy or other mechanism or protocol for example internet ?
I am doubtful about telepathy. I do think we see ways to facilitate inter-species communication and the Internet can play a small role in that (mostly by supporting interactions at a distance). Getting non-humans to recognize opportunities for technically-facilitated communication will not be easy but I would say we have already made some progress with primates and mammals such as dogs and dolphins.