Can Technology Carry Us From Mortality?
Many scientists, headed by Ray Kurzweil, have a common agreement upon the idea that one day, our technological advancement will cause things such as agelessness, world peace, and technological utopia. At the same time, many other scientists argue against this notion, claiming it to have no basis in math and is only mere psudo-science gobldygook.
Both sides have powerful arguments and supportive evidence, but what I want to know is what you all think off the top of your head about this.
Yes
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No...
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In a few years, we'll have the ability to program ourselves- quite literally- into something possibly inhuman, and yet at the same time, more evolutionary than we've ever thought possible. Already people with Parkinson's disease can get an artificial machine installed into their brain to help them in daily tasks, artificial retinas are being created for the blind, and limbs made of machinery can give us arms and legs stronger than those we may have lost. The Pentagon is paying a huge amount for army suits that control your heart rates, surrounding, temperature, etc. and can inject drugs to boost your performance in the middle of a fight. Side: Yes
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What I never understood about Kurzweil is the idea of, kind of a virtual brain. The rest I get, but not that. I have the same problem with Star Trek and that warping machine thingy. Sure, theoretically I guess you could copy someone's brain on a hard drive given enough technology, or rebuild an entire human from the atoms wherever you are sending them in Star Trek... but like, you're still dead. Isn't it just something or someone who thinks they are you and acts exactly like you? Maybe with the electronic brain thing, if you did like one part of the brain at a time or something and lived kind of in a limbo where you are both you and wherever your brain is being transferred as sort of a transition period? Meh, still seems like you're dead. I think you'd have to somehow keep the biological brain forever, and I'm not positive how one would go about that. Side: No...
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I think you'd have to somehow keep the biological brain forever, and I'm not positive how one would go about that. One theory I heard was to create micro-robotics that would greatly contribute to the immune system and decrease or eliminate agelessness. If such a thing could be done, theoretically, your biological brain could last forever, or even become healthier over time. Side: Yes
I think the last time I read Kurzweil was in the 90's, so I'm not sure if he's addressed the whole brain thing again, but that sounds more plausible. The first time I was like "great, so you kill the human and create a cyborg that thinks it's the dead guy." I do like the concept of the "natural" breakdown of cells not being natural but the result of outside forces, why should it be natural after all? Drugs would seem a more likely way to stop the breakdown than microrobots wouldn't it? How would robots accomplish this? Ignoring all disease and all other contributing factors, pretend all of that is solved. What causes the actual cells to breakdown over time and how would you stop that from occuring? Side: No...
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