Redefining Everyday Words

We all expect computer terminology to evolve rapidly, but we're on the verge of a wholesale rewriting of concepts that were hitherto unassailable. Our reality is changing faster than the words used to describe it. "Computers" were once people that performed calculations, not the machines they used. In 50 or 60 years, the word "computer" may again represent a sentient silicon being. But the oldest words in our language already fail to describe our current reality.



Words like "corn" and "food" now represent something engineered in a lab and not just grown in the fields. Is it still "corn" if it includes genes from a cotton or peanut plant? Is a dietary supplement (such as a nutrition drink) a food? Is cereal crammed with vitamins equivalent to your grandfather's corn flakes? Do athletes on performance-enhancing drugs represent anything more than world-class chemistry research?



What is a "human" when humans can be cloned? Is a human human by virtue of its genes or its method of conception? If a fetus is some day reared in an artificial womb, will we redefine what it means to be "born"? What is a "heart" or "heartbeat" when a surgically-implanted device can pump your blood?



We are already inundanted with relatively mundane redefinitions as technology evolves. Legal and political entities are already arguing over what it means to "do business in a jurisdiction." Are you "located" where you live, where the transaction occurs, where the server resides, or where the consumer resides? As another example, Congressman Rick Boucher (D-Va) is proposing a bill specifying that downloading an MP3 file does not constitute a "performance" for the purposes of copyright law.



We already face an enormous array of legal, political, ethical, moral, and religious questions. To discuss them intelligently, we must redefine existing words at an unprecedented rate. We are rapdily moving away from science fiction into uncharted linguistic territory. Computing power will become a property of matter itself. We will redefine words like "grow", "evolution," "animal," and "flesh." When we can create, destroy, and transport matter at will, it will no longer seem evasive to say, "That depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."



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What will force us to redefine language most rapidly? Biotech? Genetic Engineering? Computer Science? Politics?