implanting technology into our bodies, yes or no?

[Robopop]

We have to keep in mind that there are major threats to our progress like depleting resources, peak oil, global terrorism and unexpected threats(comet impact, gamma ray burst, climate changes). All of these problems need to be solved or handled competently if we are to survive as a species.

 

[Arclight]

I think the only informed people that would be totally against this homotechno transformation would be the neo-luddites and technophobes.

This is incredibly presumptuous of you to say.
I am neither a Luddite nor a technophobe and I assure you, I am Informed.

Read my earlier post. Intuitively I just know that whatever technology in this respect that becomes available will not be for all.. but for those who can afford it.
It is being developed with one goal, and that is to make money.
It will be purchased by those who already harbor feelings of elitism.

You are wrong.. I am not a technophobe at all.. I am a human-phobe

 

[Robopop]

This is incredibly presumptuous of you to say.
I am neither a Luddite nor a technophobe and I assure you, I am Informed.

Read my earlier post. Intuitively I just know that whatever technology in this respect that becomes available will not be for all.. but for those who can afford it.
It is being developed with one goal, and that is to make money.
It will be purchased by those who already harbor feelings of elitism.

You are wrong.. I am not a technophobe at all.. I am a human-phobe

You can be against this particular concept of technology(man merging with machine) but not be a against all other technological progress, so you are right, I should not have said that informed people who are against this idea of merging man and machine are neo-luddites or technophobes.

 

[Robopop]

I am neither a Luddite nor a technophobe and I assure you, I am Informed.
You are wrong.. I am not a technophobe at all.. I am a human-phobe

I didn't want to personally insult you and call you a luddite or technophobe. I am wrong for lumping luddites/technophobes who are generally against all technological progress with people with are against this particular technology( man merging with machine).

But we are already upgrading technology to advance humans, I know the very wealthy can get it first, but eventually, can't the technology become readily available when it gets cheaper.

 

[Timeless]

I can imagine in the future for those artificial eyes will probably have a "word from our sponsors" advertisement before you go back seeing your environment.



Where the technology goes, the market goes.

 

[yenom]

Have you ever heard of Ray Kurzweil, he is an inventor and futurist who proposes that our society will reach a technological singularity by 2029. He proposes the idea that technological progress is exponential instead of the more "intuitive" linear view most people have of future progress, but he has his critics too.

I think the only informed people that would be totally against this homotechno transformation would be the neo-luddites and technophobes.

Yea I have read it (The Singularity is Near). Most of his ideas are ahead of his time. But most people I think are still against biological and machine integration, as it would make them less than 100% pure human.

 

[Schaph]

In general I'm against implanting technology into my body for anything other than artificial prosthesis or other medical purposes. Call me old fashioned.

However, I would be interested in some sort of neuro-interface technology as an alternate i/o device to other technologies because the current technology in that respect is still rather round-about and inefficient.

 

[Rainne]

Do you support implanting machine parts into the human body to improve our abilities and performance, or do you oppose it? Would this move us more and more towards the Borg and less human?

Yesss, I seriously hope I live to see the day when humans can become part cyborg. =)

I found Ghost in the Shell quite an interesting take on what could happen.

That show is my dream world.

 

[Robopop]

I can't wait until we have fully realistic virtual reality.

 

[Katsuni]

I can't wait until we have fully realistic virtual reality.

A la shadowrun? XD

Keep in mind that there can be ALOT of problems with such too... as shadowrun also shows >.>

Alright so I'm using a fantasy/sci-fi series to explain, but it does give a good idea of alot of the issues that may be faced, so a little backstory for those unfamiliar.



In shadowrun, the internet ends up crashing due to several reasons, which aren't really important. Whot happens though, is they update the material infrastructure to be dedicated purely for online interfacing, much, much faster, and so on. This new internet is dubbed the matrix (long before the matrix movies were out, by about 20 years )

The matrix allows people to browse via an avatar; information is stored in a 3D space with representations of everything. So for example, a nordic based company may store their sensitive information in a 'castle', or dungeon keep, with their anti-virus software appearing as mythological figures, such as Fenrir.

If one were to hack into the site, then the programmer would create tools which are fitting for their avatar usually; to break the ICE - Intrusion Countermeasures, yeur avatar may end up swinging a sword at these fenris wolves, but the programming going on in the background is essentially that the antivirus software is attempting to delete, remove, or isolate the attacking program, whereas the attacking program is adapting and changing to meet the challenge presented to it. So it may LOOK like a sword fight against a mythological creature, it's just program code adapting to compete with each other.

In a fully immersive virtual reality world, that's whot yeu could probably expect, honestly.

Now... there's problems with this. Particularly high end expensive and powerful ICE could kill the user or leave them braindead if they get in a fight with it. People often have implants, such as a HUD built right into their brain so they can see stuff like the time on command. Often these implants are connected to the matrix in some way shape or form, and this can lead to people actually hacking into yeur brain.

There's issues with viruses, and then there's the 'drug' matter... when yeur brain becomes capable of accepting whot's essentially USB flash drives to just slot right into the brain to give yeu information... how long do yeu think it'll be before someone comes up with a way to slot in 'happy' thoughts and essentially program yeur brain to be 'high'?

There's all sorts of nasty things that can go wrong, and the last thing yeu want is to have yeur brain get a computer virus, because "rebooting" may not be an option ;_;

 

[Feops]

Approve for medical purposes, but I'd rather see advancement in genetics - organ cloning and/or regeneration.

 

[Manis]

I'm reading 'The Singularity Is Near' at the moment. Kurzweil seems a little overenthusiastic but it's hard to find fault in his reasoning, I'm convinced that these sort of technologies are coming sooner rather than later. It might seem a bit unnatural or un-human or icky to some people thinking about it now, but when the time comes and you have to make the choice between accepting these technologies and rejecting them and staying 100% 'human' I don't think there'll be many people opting for an early and unnecessary death.

 

[paradox fox]

I had a dream the other night about a mechanical exoskeleton that was controlled by the mind of a quadriplegic. When he woke up in the morning a machine would get him out of bed and put him into the mecha. Then later it got upgraded to an endoskeleton that was implanted over his muscles so that he could move again. Connected to the part of the spinal cord that still worked. It was a good dream.

So I think using bionics, when necessary, is good. But if they take over us it won't be so good. I think we'll still be human, even mechanical bits included. (Does an amputee consider himself less than human just because of his artificial limb?) But to be DEPENDENT on them when it's unnecessary would suck. For instance if you get bionic eyes when your real eyes are just fine. You'd be dependent on the company for upgrades and who knows what kind of unwanted crap will come with it. Like ads filtering in. Argh.

 

[Pixelholic]

I'm down, bring on the transhumanism!

 

[jcloudz]

I envision in the future that robotics and technology will play a more and more important role in our society. We would one day intergrate technology(non-biological components) into our own bodies. Would make us less human?

human mind robot body. sorta places you a little outside the human experience that many participate in, touch, smell, seeing,taste and sound. possibly?

Do you support implanting machine parts into the human body to improve our abilities and performance, or do you oppose it? Would this move us more and more towards the Borg and less human?

will technology homogenize the human experience, and take away our individuality making us borg like? good question. possibly
legs and arms, fine but the brain? that is up to the individual.......could you imagine chatting with someone and seeing pop ups from visa or valtrex in your mind? i can see people taking liberties with advertising. maybe going back into your old memories and making their products glow brighter. imagine thinking about your moms final days, you and her but now suddenly in the corner, an extremely bright red can of pepsi and a bottle of mr clean. THIS MEMORY IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY PEPSI.

 

[guesswho]

Imagine your implant getting hacked.

 

[Rainne]

Imagine your implant getting hacked.

that sounds pretty interesting

 

[Danikov]

As technology advances, I'd expect it to get smaller, more complex and more sophisticated until it rivals cells and 'life'. I'd argue we must integrate technology into ourselves as that's the only way to keep it human.

What would you prefer? A super-intelligent human, or a super-intelligent machine?

 

[fecaleagle]

I am all for it as long as it is a voluntary thing, and I see it being very commonplace. Unfortunately, I'm certain that the technology will be used against people's wills, and not necessarily for their benefit.

As for making humans more cyborg-like or whatever, I think we are a century or two away from attaining significant technology in that regard, disregarding exogenous limiting of technological advancement.

I see control of dysfunctional organs happening within 50 years, given the simplicity of their neuronal control. Integrating chips with the CNS I think, if even possible, would take many, many centuries (nearing a millennium). Personally I think that humans are not intelligent enough to be able to ever manipulate the brain; the best we can hope for is just to fully understand how it works, which will be a feat on its own. I see artificial eyes as a very likely possibility though. The sensory aspect of the brain is not so much the problem in my opinion, but motor output is just way too complex. Even when improving human attributes becomes possible, there will many limitations. Like the mechanical limitations of increased strength on our skeletal systems, so no superstrength

And as for the hacking of the chips, I think with the future emerging of quantum computers, it will be an absolute impossibility to hack anything.

 

[A Schnitzel]

I thought this would be a hot or not poll.