inkbluesky

Scientists: Humans and machines will merge in future

* “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.”

* As scientists gain deeper insights into the genetic processes that underlie life, they are able to effectively reprogram human biology through the development of new forms of gene therapies and medications capable of turning on or off enzymes and RNA interference, or gene silencing.

* The final revolution leading to the advent of Singularity will be the creation of artificial intelligence, or superintelligence, which, according to Kurzweil, could be capable of solving many of our biggest threats, like environmental destruction, poverty and disease.

The estimates made by Dr. Ray Kurzweil for this singularity range from eight years to twenty-five. Kurzweil is not all Mary Poppins about it pointing out that with most advances in technology and medicine there are ethical issues. Transferring our conscientiousness into a machine or modding our own bodies does have elements of both promise and reason to fear. We, Homo sapiens, are not very mature - A political billboard in St. Cloud, Florida reads “Please Don’t Vote for a Democrat” over an image of the burning World Trade Center, Wis. woman accused of placing dead rat in food not to mention the people that believe things like the Apollo moon landing was a hoax, the Taliban, the Oklahoma City bombers and the “intelligent” design crowd among others. Promises to once and for all end human disease and hunger seem are seductive and not uncommon throughout history, though scientists are usually not the one’s making them. The one huge hurdle that I see in the singularity aspect is that science doesn’t understand completely what conscientious is. If they take you and put you into a machine what is it that they’re taking and putting. Update:added the graphic. I was also thinking about who would get to take advantage of these new advances and whether they should be available to some people. Considering what 24 hrs in a hospital can cost one would imagine that switching your conscientiousness over to a high tech container that lasts a few hundred years might be a little expensive. Should we do some screening so we don’t let sociopaths become new improved models or will we have found a “cure” for extreme anti-social behavior. Who does the screening based on income or mental stability. How are the standards established and who establishes them.

singular

On July 16, 1951 Catcher in the Rye was published. While the New York Times gave it a bad review it went on to become one of the most popular and most banned books in history.