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Humans and machines merging - 7/15/2008 9:18:47 PM   
Vendaval


Posts: 10297
Joined: 1/15/2005
Status: offline 		This article is quite fascinating and would make a good premise for a sci-fi film or 3.
 
 
"Scientists: Humans and machines will merge in future"

July 15, 2008
London, England (CNN)

Bostrom is a philosopher and a leading thinker of transhumanism, a movement that advocates not only the study of the potential threats and promises that future technologies could pose to human life but also the ways in which emergent technologies could be used to make the very act of living better.

"We want to preserve the best of what it is to be human and maybe even amplify that," Bostrom said.

Transhumanists, according to Bostrom, anticipate an era in which biotechnology, molecular nanotechnologies, artificial intelligence and other new types of cognitive tools will be used to amplify our intellectual capacity, improve our physical capabilities and even enhance our emotional well-being.

The end result would be a new form of "posthuman" life with beings that possess qualities and skills so exceedingly advanced they no longer can be classified simply as humans.

"We will begin to use science and technology not just to manage the world around us but to manage our own human biology as well," Bostrom said. "The changes will be faster and more profound than the very, very slow changes that would occur over tens of thousands of years as a result of natural selection and biological evolution."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/07/15/bio.tech/index.html

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So in this gray haze we'll be meating again, and on that
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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/15/2008 10:00:56 PM   
TheHeretic


Posts: 19100
Joined: 3/25/2007
From: California, USA
Status: offline 		      Ok, I admit it.  I'm already on the waiting list for a bionic upgrade for the Heredick.

    Ok, ok.  I expect to see Bluetooth implants come along any time now.  As for our brains becoming obsolete, I'm not buying it.

< Message edited by TheHeretic -- 7/15/2008 10:04:09 PM >

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/15/2008 10:04:59 PM   
Leatherist


Posts: 5149
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Status: offline 		Garbage in-garbage out.

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 1:16:43 AM   
Shadow-tiger


Posts: 1775
Joined: 6/8/2008
From: California
Status: offline 		Back in the day I loved the genre that took this to extremese. They called it Cyberpunk. These days the merging of human and machine is already happening. There are prosthetic legs that not only work as well as the origional, in some cases they're better.

The time line from that article is rather fascinating. In my opinion it's not only optimistic, but a bit biased towards the idea that everyone is going to want the latest and greatest. Lots of tech out there that people grab up, but not everyone wants it. Usually just the people who can get the most use out of new tech, or the adherents who like living on the bleeding edge.

FTA: By the 2030s, Kurzweil said, humans will become more non-biological than biological, capable of uploading our minds onto the Internet, living in various virtual worlds and even avoiding aging and evading death.

In the 2040s, Kurzweil predicts that non-biological intelligence will be billions of times better than the biological intelligence humans have today, possibly rendering our present brains obsolete.

Guess what, even if the tech is there I doubt very many people relative to the global population will even be in a position to take advantage of it. Add another fifty or more years to any of these numbers before one gets a real start at widespread acceptance. To me the single biggest change that can be made is improving overall health of the population, increasing the average life span.

ETA: Come to think of it, the single biggest nanotech break through would be one that tweaked the human brain ever so slightly. Fewer mistakes, higher capacity for handling information. Never mind the medical possibilities. Never mind the completely fubar things an unscrupulous researcher could come up with ... as the article put it: Technology has always been a double-edged sword.

< Message edited by Shadow-tiger -- 7/16/2008 1:22:35 AM >

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 3:21:14 AM   
DomAviator


Posts: 1253
Joined: 4/22/2008
Status: offline 		Yeah and in the 1950's they predicted that by 2000 everyone would have a nuclear reactor in their own home, and be driving an atomic car and flying to work with a rocketbelt... Didnt happen did it?

I dont think anyone is too keen on the idea of becoming one of The Borg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZEJ4OJTgg8

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 3:34:42 AM   
BrokenSaint


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Status: offline 		I love the idea. While I've always went with the philosophy of keeping as many of my original parts as possible, that's mainly due to the fact that replacement parts even now are pretty shoddy compared to originals. When that changes you can bet I'll be signing up for a bunch of them. The idea of uploading your consciousness or a representation of it to the web acheiving a perpetual electronic existance is quite intriguing.

That being said I'd wager we're still very far from this sort of thing becoming an issue. Sure technology expands at an ever increasing rate with each breakthrough, but eventually we're still held back by our limitations in terms of processing power, and specialization. Acheiving a technological singularity I highly doubt will happen in my lifetime, nor do I think it will happen in the lifetime of my great great grandchildren.

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 3:51:25 AM   
Rule


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quote:

ORIGINAL: DomAviator
I dont think anyone is too keen on the idea of becoming one of The Borg

One of my friends would like to be a cyborg.

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 6:01:31 AM   
sub4hire


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Status: offline 		Kind of like Robocop

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 6:53:13 AM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		I was going to post this.   keep in mind that we are drifting into "not human" rights trumping human rights.

--  I bought a truckload of annual flowers.... I should be out planting...

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 7:07:09 AM   
sub4hire


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quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy


--  I bought a truckload of annual flowers.... I should be out planting...


Why bother to plant annuals this late in the season?

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 8:12:25 AM   
pahunkboy


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From: Central Pennsylvania
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quote:

ORIGINAL: sub4hire

quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy


--  I bought a truckload of annual flowers.... I should be out planting...


Why bother to plant annuals this late in the season?



last year we were good thru late october. in fact, October was balmy.

Lowes had them maked down.   10 cents for a 6-pack.  so I bought 60 packs- which cost $6 +  .36 tax.....   I wish I had more strenth- my hands been hurting.

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 1:47:15 PM   
Vendaval


Posts: 10297
Joined: 1/15/2005
Status: offline 		 
That is what I was thinking too.  How many people would be in the financial and personal circumstances upgrade their biological package?  The concept is fascinating but the practical application would be the hindrance.


quote:

ORIGINAL: Shadow-tiger
Guess what, even if the tech is there I doubt very many people relative to the global population will even be in a position to take advantage of it. Add another fifty or more years to any of these numbers before one gets a real start at widespread acceptance. To me the single biggest change that can be made is improving overall health of the population, increasing the average life span.


_____________________________

"Beware, the woods at night, beware the lunar light.
So in this gray haze we'll be meating again, and on that
great day, I will tease you all the same."
"WOLF MOON", OCTOBER RUST, TYPE O NEGATIVE


http://KinkMeet.co.uk

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 1:48:32 PM   
Vendaval


Posts: 10297
Joined: 1/15/2005
Status: offline 		I know a lot of geeks who would love to try out this technology and even go the full cyborg route.

_____________________________

"Beware, the woods at night, beware the lunar light.
So in this gray haze we'll be meating again, and on that
great day, I will tease you all the same."
"WOLF MOON", OCTOBER RUST, TYPE O NEGATIVE


http://KinkMeet.co.uk

(in reply to sub4hire)
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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 1:52:21 PM   
Vendaval


Posts: 10297
Joined: 1/15/2005
Status: offline 		So long as all parts, biological or mechanical are "fully functional" prepare to be assimilated.


quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

     Ok, I admit it.  I'm already on the waiting list for a bionic upgrade for the Heredick.

   Ok, ok.  I expect to see Bluetooth implants come along any time now.  As for our brains becoming obsolete, I'm not buying it.


_____________________________

"Beware, the woods at night, beware the lunar light.
So in this gray haze we'll be meating again, and on that
great day, I will tease you all the same."
"WOLF MOON", OCTOBER RUST, TYPE O NEGATIVE


http://KinkMeet.co.uk

(in reply to TheHeretic)
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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/16/2008 7:02:38 PM   
LondonArt


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Joined: 4/14/2008
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Shadow-tiger

FTA: By the 2030s, Kurzweil said, humans will become more non-biological than biological, capable of uploading our minds onto the Internet, living in various virtual worlds and even avoiding aging and evading death.

In the 2040s, Kurzweil predicts that non-biological intelligence will be billions of times better than the biological intelligence humans have today, possibly rendering our present brains obsolete.



Kurzweil has always been very much an optimist when it comes to transhumanist technology. It would be nice if he was right, I'd honestly like to see The Singularity happen in my lifetime, but I'm not betting money on it.

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/19/2008 8:36:43 PM   
underyourlash


Posts: 14
Joined: 6/5/2006
Status: offline 		Reminds me a little of the story called Man Plus, I think by Fredrick Pohl... I'm probably on both sides of the fence. The movie version of Hedwig & The Angry Inch had deleted scenes with a character who had an implanted cell phone. I'm glad they left those scenes on the cutting room floor, but seriously, if it was available, I wouldn't be surprised if it was highly sought after!  I'd say it's inevitable considering if an additional perk is attractive enough. There are some personal apps I'd love to have installed... like a personal music player in my mind to drown out the random snippets and incomplete songs my brain is always playing.  

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RE: Humans and machines merging - 7/19/2008 8:47:55 PM   
popeye1250


Posts: 18104
Joined: 1/27/2006
From: New Hampshire
Status: offline 		When I was 25 I had an appendage that I thought was a "machine."

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