by FourthBase » Mon Jun 22, 2015 4:12 pm
Orthodontics, lol?
I reject the transhumanist line of argument that simple restorative technologies like eyeglasses already make us transhuman. Even complex restorative technology is fine. The line has to be draw at enhancement. Straightening crooked teeth ain't enhancement. Dentures and crowns aren't enhancement. Plastic surgery? Now we're getting warm. Pacemakers? Eh...just that? Prosthetic? As long as it doesn't give you superhuman powers, aside from its own durability. Hawking gets to walk up stairs again in an exoskeleton, not leap over buildings? Sure. But the line really starts getting crossed when it comes to central nervous system upgrades, brain enhancement, AI implants, etc. The printing press did not make us transhuman, our smartphones don't, the alphabet didn't. What definitely will, is invasively fucking with our brains to make us smarter.
Up to a point the categorization is subjective and slippery. The trick is determining what that point is long in advance, some patently abhorrent shift, making it a cannot-ever-be-misinterpreted-sign-of-disconnecting-from-humanity, and then crushing any attempt to trespass. Legally crushing. But honestly, somewhere way down the line, much later this century, I expect lethal violence. Hopefully just not on the scale De Garis imagines. An infinitesimal fraction of that. But, yeah, somewhere, someday, some person is probably going to wind up being killed and society is then going to have to make the judgment call that, no, that wasn't actually a person anymore, carry on, and hopefully that will set a permanent precedent or something, and even more hopefully there'd be a retreat into the past...not necessarily a primitive past, but maybe, like, five minutes ago, technologically-speaking, but with free energy, etc. On the other hand, the fear is that that'll just be the opening act of the Worst War Ever.
Personally, I hope the ghouls intent on transcending their humanity get to the point of believing they've achieved the ability to upload themselves in as rapid and unanimous a fashion as possible, and all at once kill themselves off in an Applewhite-esque worldwide Great Uploading. Poof, problem takes care of itself. (As if the Nazis had bought all that Zyklon and built all their gas chambers for themselves, so that they could line up and walk in and enjoy the experience before everyone else got the chance. "First!", lol.) Except perhaps for the ensuing worldwide cleanup process, just to make sure, of smashing-whatever-devices-they-were-supposedly-downloaded-to-into-millions-of-pieces, or frying-it-all-in-saltwater-or-acid-or-whatever-will-permanently-destroy-their-supposed-souls. I imagine one of the more low-tech safeguards considered to discourage such a thing might be a program to emit sounds of pain and distress, like that toy robot someone posted here some years ago. I recommend getting over that shit, and getting used to the sound of wailing, dying robots.
“Joy is a current of energy in your body, like chlorophyll or sunlight,
that fills you up and makes you naturally want to do your best.” - Bill Russell