And what do you mean when you say people will "merge" with their technology? We'll be able to put intelligent machines -- nanobots -- into the bloodstream. By the late 2020s, these devices will have significant computing, communications and robotic abilities. Nanobotic white blood cells could download software for a particular pathogen and destroy it in a matter of seconds, compared with hours for our biological white blood cells. And you could have billions of nanobots go into the brain through the capillaries. [They] will enhance our cognitive functions and really expand human intelligence.

We will be able to go beyond the limits of biology and replace your current "human body Version 1.0" with a dramatically upgraded Version 2.0, providing radical extension of life.

What will Version 2.0 be able to do that we can't do today? One scenario would be virtual reality from within the nervous system. Nanobots could shut down the signals coming from your own senses and substitute the signals you would be receiving if you were in the virtual environment. You can move your virtual body in the virtual environment, and this will incorporate all five of the senses as well as neurological correlates of your emotions. You can go there with another person for any kind of encounter. And you can have archival experiences.

So will the importance of our biological intelligence diminish? The nonbiological portion will grow [by a factor] of 1,000 per decade, and the biological portion will ultimately be very insignificant. People look at this and they are alarmed, because they think, I'm going to become a machine. But they are thinking of the machines they know today, which are very crude machines.

What's the future of the IT professional? The good news is IT is going to become more and more important. Ultimately, everything of importance will be comprised of IT. There's a trend toward specialization, so what IT people can do is to try to get professionals in a number of highly specialized pursuits to be able to communicate with each other and have their computer systems communicate with one another.