We are already taking preliminary steps into integrating technology into increasing our lifespan through items such as artifical hearts and a variety of technological gadgetry, but how far should we push towards integrating external technological influence and maintaining our natural mortality?
Transhumanism offers some interesting perspectives and some that are a extreme sci-fi (in my opinion), but I think it is interesting to explore.
It does seem that machine and man may be the next evolutionary integration phase.
It’s the age old battle of consciousness vs form. Form has extreme properties of impermanence. Consciousness on the other hand is more stable. Long life is good, and it is efficient, but not completely necessary. There will probably reach a point in which the continuation of our forms (and processes thereof) that carry our consciousnesses will need to survive longer in order to further human progression. It is my hypothesis that by the time that happens, the technology will have already been available to extend life much further through time.
Suppose that, through genetic alteration, the same results could be achieved as through merging man and machine. Since the overlying form itself is not altered, is this really a change, or is it taking another step to reaching human perfection?
Or is all that just semantics?
I have read an article where they implanted a chip in a monkies brain and he controlled a mouse cursor on a computer screen using just his mind. That is some mechanical telekenesis if i ever heard.
I also read a news article where a guy implanted some kind of recognition chip inside his arm. And whenever he was nearing his office the door would open for him and the lights would come on and there was a voice recognition for him etc.
i prefer the term Posthuman over transhuman, but i think it is a pipe dream… there is still a large segment of our culture that believes in Cartesian dualism, which i don’t, in fact the mind and body are one and the same… that being said, we will continue to extend our body with inventions just like when we invented guns in to extend the reach of human hands. but to think that one day we will be able to download our consciousness into a computer is pure baloney…
I think we will get a computer to percisely simulate our conciousness, and any requirement beyond that is balony based on some idea of consitency of human idenity.
Sure the transporter just kills you and makes a copy of you on the other end, but wait a couple months and the same will happen to you natural. We’ll give machines human rights when they can scream in fear.
Sorry this post is all over the place- I blame caffine.
I think we will get a computer to percisely simulate our conciousness, and any requirement beyond that is balony based on some idea of consitency of human idenity.
Sure the transporter just kills you and makes a copy of you on the other end, but wait a couple months and the same will happen to you natural. We’ll give machines human rights when they can scream in fear.
Sorry this post is all over the place- I blame caffine.
We will probably see more and more integration of technology into our bodies over the next few decades. Unless genetic engineering makes more significant progress, in which case, that will influence our lives more and more. Either way we will probably have more and more opportunities for body modification. Which is great. It’s another avenue of creative expression and personal transformation.
Just as long as you avoid the first few generations of any new technological advancement. It takes them a while to get the bugs out. You don’t want to be the guy with the malfunctioning computer in your brain, making you kill people.