Saturday 16 June 2012

I, Cyborg



In the near future, possibly in our lifetime, humans will merge with technology to a degree in which our intelligence and lifespan may be supplemented indefinitely. Already breathtaking experiments have been carried out, such as those done by Kevin Warwick, in which the human nervous system has been interfaced with electronics. Robot arms have been controlled, via the internet, directly by a human brain. The neural signals from one subject have been transmitted into the circuitry of another so as to provide a sort of telepathy. Only recently New Scientist reported that mobile phones embedded under the skin of cadavers operate with the same functionality as those held in the hand and one only has to consider the brilliance of the Cochlear Implant (a device which restores hearing to the deaf) to postulate that telephony will, with a simple implant, soon be indistinguishable from telepathy. Rats can be controlled remotely and moths are being grown with chips in their brain in order to act as spy planes. Once you dig deeper into the subject you'll realise we are standing on the precipice of abilities that will make us god-like. The mind boggles at the ethical issues that coincide with it all. On the world stage these concerns are being debated by figures such as Warwick, Ray Kurzweil, Hugo de Garis. Is it just us, or does Garis feel like the evil scientist of the bunch? : less successful, more apocalyptic, defecting to the Chinese government (with their track record for human freedom)...
We for one welcome the next phase. This isn't science fiction. This is Transhumanism. This is H+.


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