I believe that the discussion from Monday the 26th is partly applicable and inapplicable. We can make certain predictions about the future of homo evolutis. I can assume that we will modify our bodies to hear and see better because we already have technology that tries to help impaired people. We can only assume that this technology will evolve to help unimpaired people hear and see even better. I believe this prediction can be made which is similar to predicting what the climate might be over a long period of time for a region that doesn’t experience too much variability. But some predictions cannot be made. For example, to what extent will we “mechanize” our self? I believe this prediction is as good as a weather prediction. We can get a ballpark figure or reasonable estimate but there is too much variability. With weather variability comes from geographical location, temperature, air pressure, etc. With trans-humanism we will see variability with people’s future view of ethics, laws, and technology. These examples of variability are non-linear and force our prediction to be inexact. The water wheel is a good example of this dilemma. We cannot determine the path of the wheel due to the non-linearity of its variables. So our discussion was applicable to predictions of trans-humanism. I believe the idea of modify the system with a bug approach is not applicable. We might be able to control certain aspects but I believe with trans-humanism this method is causing something indefinite to stay indefinite. After all, if we multiply infinity by any number what does that tell us? Of course nothing… The only way to truly be able to predict the extent of trans-humanism with a foreign object injected into the equation would change the system beyond recognition. We could claim homo evolutis will falter if grey-goo takes its course. However something this severe doesn’t help make predictions only destroy the system. For example, we could obliterate the planet completely and then we could be certain that weather would no longer exist. So I don’t believe that adding something in the system to alter it will give any good results unless we completely obliterate the system. Thus there were certain aspects of our class discussion that was applicable and inapplicable.
Answer 2
I believe the discussion from October the 28th was very applicable to my project. After all, trans-humanism is the integration of humans and machines. Robots would definitely be a possible machine to integrate into humans. We could take nanobots and have them destroy deadly viruses that could harm our bodies. I define robots as anything that has some degree of automation. I also believe that something could be part automated and part non-automated. For example, a car can park automatically for you, but at the same time you steer the car towards your destination. Why couldn’t we have a robot that detached from your arm and clean the floor. Once it is done I cleaning, it could reassemble itself back into your arm. This discussion shows the possibilities of robots and their purposes. This was very applicable because it can show us future implications of trans-humanism.
1) Introduction to trans-humanism
What tran-humanism is...
Trans-humanism is the integration of human and machine. With this integration man is more capable then without it. Trans-humanism could be implanting hearing aids that make us hear as good as dogs or eye contacts that make us see better then an eagle. Trans-humanism has occurred and probably will not cease to occur until we have all deceased. Wikipedia describes trans-humanism as , "Transhumanism is an international intellecutal and culturual movement supporting the use of science and technology to improve human mental and physical characteristics and capacities.:
Earliest scientists who brought attention to phenomena...
There have been many proponents of trans-humanism. My favorite scientist would be Enriquez. He has gone as far as calling trans-humanism the new species of man called homo evolutis. He stated, "We will likely see glimpses of this long-lived, partly mechanical, partly regrown creature that continues to rapidly drive its own evolution. As the branches of the tree of life, and of hominids, continue to grow and spread, many of our grandchildren will likely engineer themselves into what we would consider a new species, one with extraordinary capabilities, a homo evolutis."A species that is heavily integrated with machine. We can look at many science fiction writers and argue they were the first people to bring trans-humanism to our attention. However, we need credible scientists to research and show what is tangible. Also we must look at the earliest contributors to trans-humanism. Charles Darwin played a pivtol role in the theory of evolution. He showed that human characterstics were not permanent by changing. This gave some people the idea of being able to modify the body. Even the Epic of Gilgamesh talks about humans finding ways to lead to immoratility. Even though we do not know the extent to which trans-humanism will be able to further life, we can assume it will provide some more longevity.
2) What is on the frontier?
Possible applications for trans-humanism...
The possible applications of trans-humanism are endless. We can only imagine what the future holds for us. It is almost certain that man will be able to see and hear better. Research is currently being done to put nanobots into the human bodies to prevent and correct illnesses. Not only will man's physical attributes change, but also his mental aptitude. What if we had a recording device that recorded everything we have ever heard or seen. What if we could retrieve this information from a mini-hard drive stored and interfaced with the brain. One's mother probably wouldn't scold them for forgetting to do his or her chores.
How long it will take for progress to be made...
Progress is already being made on trans-humanism. We can look at many bio-engineering projects and see that they fit right into the category of trans-humanism. Even if we look at today's technology we can argue trans-humanism has occurred. After all, we do have pacemakers that regulate heart beat, and prosthetics that are mechanical.
3) Possible Issues and Implications
Ethics of trans-humanism...
Like stem cells there will certainly be issues with the ethics of trans-humanism. The main issue I see is conservative people's values of norms. They do not want their culture to drastically change with technology. Would an elderly person accept a woman with a retractable arm and purple skin? I believe that in the future there will be debates on how long people will be allowed to live with integrated mechanical body parts (assuming that these parts will promote human life span.) We cannot let everyone live forever, because of many issues that would arise. I believe it is in our nature to see both life and death. It is and should be inevitable. Besides, how many people could the earth or any system sustain, especially when you are adding people at an exponential rate.
Health concerns of trans-humanism...
There could be main issues with trans-humanism. People are already concerned with radiation from cell phones. How do we know that a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) integrated into your brain will not give you cancer over long periods of time. Also what if someone as strong and vicious at the terminator started killing people at will. Also what if people start to change the entire appearance of their body. Some people have issues with cosmetic surgery. For example, Jane Doe might have had so many rhinoplasties that her nose was no longer functional. People would want to modify their body to such an extreme is might end up killing them or lessening life rather then promoting it.
4)Probability
What will happen and what won't...
Ethics and laws will have to prevent certain things from occurring. I doubt people will be able to launch rockets from their arms or obliterate people with genocide. But as someone in class said, if there is a law someone will try and break it. I don’t believe we will be able to live forever through trans-humanism. We could run out of resources and there is probably an infinite amount of ways to die. Could we bring a person back to life if there was nothing left but dead cells and DNA? What if you body was crushed to pieces, could we bring your brain back to being? Some of these issues are philosophical, but with time we might see the end results.
Potential Roadblocks...
Roadblocks will come from law, ethics, political agenda, and religion. What if law prohibits the study of trans-humanism like stem cell research. We have possible ways of saving lives and it is being ignored because of religious and political views. Some people may also argue that the world could become unstable if enough people became powerful through cybernetics. What if we made a nanobot that we thought would promote life, but turned our changing and becoming the new "bubonic plaugue".
5) Conclusion
Trans-humanism has occurred and will occur. That is an essential point we cannot overlook. Obviously, in the future we will see more of a metamorphosis of our species into a new species that will eventually blend into a half human half machine entities. We will then start to raise questions about the ambiguity that will comes from this technological integration.
6)References
1)http://72.3.218.115/talks/juan_enriquez_shares_mindboggling_new_science.html
2)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism
3)http://reason.com/archives/2004/08/25/transhumanism-the-most-dangero
4)http://www.longevitymeme.org/topics/transhumanism.cfm
6)http://www.culturge.com/2009/02/homo-evolutis-future-of-humanity.html
7)http://www.highexistence.com/bye-bye-homo-sapien-hello-homo-evolutis/
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