Some Sapien picks up a phone

The phone has to be the worlds greatest invention.

The ability to pick up a device in one part of the world and communicate to with a person in another part of the world instantaneously, is nothing short of miraculous. The concept of the phone has evolved into a data collection, storage and transmission device that renders other devices redundant or accessories to the phone. What is the next step in the evolution of the phone?

Sure, two way radio and the telegraph preceded the telephone. However only the phone requires no extensive training or technical knowledge and the equipment required to make a phone call ( from the end user's prospective) is relatively cheap and simple to use.

With the advent of the cell phone, phones have become untethered from the infrastructure that supports them. Cell phones are also small and light enough to carry around with us like a wallet or a purse. It won't be long before they actually replace wallets. Purses will take longer to replace for reasons I won't get into.

What I'm getting at is that the phone has evolved into an everything device. It's a still camera, a video camera, a mini-computer, a GPS locator, a game machine ... and on and on and on. You can't eat a cell phone but it won't be long before biodegradable devices are created. Many people have even given up the "land line" since a cell phone effectively eliminates the need for one, even for connecting to the Internet with a computer.

Speaking of the Internet the advent of VOIP technology has created a kind of infrastructure war between, Land Line companies, Wireless Companies and Cable companies. With the coming of 3G and WiMAX all of the players will end up sleeping with the enemy.

The phone is now not a tethered object locked to a specific geographic location, but has become an essential portable device required for the efficient functioning of society. The phone and the cell phone number have now become part of the person. Soon, the person an the phone must merge and the first cyborgs will be made.

In the near future it will not be genetic engineering that will be the most controversial debate topic but whether or not to allow the embedding of cell phone technology in the human body.

Teenagers will no longer be begging for piercings or tattoos, but for the best embedded phones available.

The technology will be called Telepath-e.