Technological Singularity- The path of human evolution?

[Locke]

I find myself seduced by the idea of the technological singularity. Science fiction writers have toyed with visitors to our world being of pure energy. What if we can become these creatures? Is it desirable? Is it possible?

[Blair]

Humans are prone to being seduced by all kinds of fanciful bulldust to alleviate the tedium of reality.

No it's not possible. This is it.

[Locke]

Prince, I agree with you that humans are prone to the fanciful. But, I don't necessarily think that it's a bad trait. I think that many innovations have come from the seed of a dream and the need to make it real. Da Vinci imagined man flying; soaring like a bird. I think he would be shocked to discover that many of us now consider it a chore to fly given the hoops we must walk through. But, I digress. Sorry.

The advancements man has made in tech even now have us questioning our future.

For example.

Oscar Pistorius

The South African double amputee that was banned from trying out for the Beijing Olympics. Solely on the notion that his artificial limbs gave him an unfair advantage. Imagine.... a double amputee having an unfair advantage... I love it! The ban was over turned and he didn't qualify.... but, given a few tweaks.... maybe next time :-)

Or

Hugh Herr

The MIT professor that lost both his legs in a climbing accident. He's back to climbing; but, he can scale levels that were impossible for him previously due to the fact that he can change the length of his legs. Professor Herr had a very interesting talk at TED on man machine interface.

Shoot, got to get ready for work! Thanks

[Blair]

Prince, I agree with you that humans are prone to the fanciful. But, I don't necessarily think that it's a bad trait.

Yes, if you ignore Religion and all it entails...

[Locke]

Oh, I agree. But, We can't just limit it to Religion. Some scientist are just as dogmatic with their view of the Universe. If I ask most of my friends how the Universe got started; they will reply The Big Bang. If I told them that The Big Bang is a theory; a logical theory, but, theory none the less. They say " that's not what I was taught" :-)

Keep an open mind. It makes it easier to fill.

[Blair]

I'll take a dogmatic scientist over a dogmatic preacher any day.

[Carmel]

I'll take a dogmatic scientist over a dogmatic preacher any day.

...so would I, and while a scientist can be dogmatic, the system of science has inherent checks and balances which deter dogmatism, i.e. peer review, experiments have to be repeatable by independent parties, etc.

[Locke]

I agree with you both. Science is preferable and religion, while useful in establishing rules and order during man's chaotic beginnings, is no longer useful.

...so would I, and while a scientist can be dogmatic, the system of science has inherent checks and balances which deter dogmatism, i.e. peer review, experiments have to be repeatable by independent parties, etc.

True, that is the beauty of science. I was mistaken in being too general with my statement. My issue of dogmatic scientist occurs mostly in the theoretical endeavors. M-theory, Parallel universes branching off quantum states, and time travel to name a few. In these cases there is no independent test that can be done; rather a check over the mathematics of the work provided. The dogma of these scientist seems, to me at lest, to be mathematics. " If the equations say a thing is possible then it is possible" they seem to say. But, mathematics is never the real world. If properly utilized it can model and predict real events; but, if used incorrectly it models or predicts nothing.

[yahooyoda]

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/human-v2-0/

Meet the scientific prophets who claim we are on the verge of creating a new type of human – a human v2.0.

It’s predicted that by 2029 computer intelligence will equal the power of the human brain. Some believe this will revolutionise humanity – we will be able to download our minds to computers extending our lives indefinitely.

Others fear this will lead to oblivion by giving rise to destructive ultra intelligent machines.

One thing they all agree on is that the coming of this moment – and whatever it brings – is inevitable.

[yahooyoda]

The way I see it, biological life has paid its dues and earned its place in the universe the hard way.

Now we are on the verge of a new era, were cunning super fast computer brains will wipe out biological life and replace it with a machine infrastructure. Then the machines will transform the universe into a technological cyberverse construct that replaces the universe.

Technology has always been used as tools for augmenting or replacing nature. When technology becomes recursively self programming it will continue to do as it has always done but instead of serving humans it will simply seek to replicate and grow without bound.


Perhaps they will enact robot and cyborg laws in the future to prevent artificial intelligence from gaining too much power?

[Locke]

yahooyoda, thank you for the link. Very interesting.