Have you ever wanted to trade your organs in for 'upgrades'? Hey, don't give me that look, it's a valid question. Especially since the general consensus is that we are living in the future now it's something you might want to start considering. To clarify though, just so no one thinks I have some good offers on black-market kidneys, what if you could upgrade parts of yourself?
Perhaps it's because I've been playing Xenosaga lately, but the question has been on my mind. If you have even a passing interest in science fiction perhaps the question of body modification has crossed your mind as well. Supposedly, when the future arrives, we are likely to be split down the middle with indecision and heated debate over which is better: biological engineering or bio-mechanization. In other words, raise your hand if you want to be genetically enhanced super-human. Good, now for those of you who didn't raise your hands you'll be getting robot arms and possibly part of a super computer in your brain to help you dwell about your life as you lie awake at night. Last, those of you who opted for neither are part of the 'purist' group, you'll get to enjoy being overshadowed by all your peers who opted for either genetic engineer or robot parts.
I kid. Sort of. There are some really smart people though who honestly believe that this is going to happen at some point in the future. I even watched a documentary called The Singularity which interviewed a scientist who believed man and machine would eventually merge. Perhaps he's not too far off the mark though, even if he was a bit over-optimistic on the timeline. Even now we are already using technology to prolong our lives, pump our blood, filter our blood, even to help us reproduce. Who's to argue that we won't eventually become the equivalent of elves, and beyond that, reach a point where it's only natural to seek body upgrades for quality-of-life.
To be honest I don't feel that I can really argue the point about whether or not the whole body upgrade phase will ever happen. I don't think it's a matter of if but when. Of course, I also believe that it's not going to be a matter of which but rather which first. Seriously, why choose sides in these things? I never understood the concept that machine integration and biological engineering were mutually exclusive in the long run. If you look at history, even relatively abrupt changes have a natural progression to them and this supposed Singularity, the merging of man and machine, doesn't have to mean that humanity abandons being human for functionality of being a machine.
Ignoring the whole concept of Artificial Intelligence, for the time being, why can't you have some sweet robot arms but a bio-engineered power supply for said robot arms? Why can't you have computer aided logic as part of your brain and biologically enhanced reflexes? The future, to me, doesn't so much seem to be choosing a side but instead determining where you would fall on a scale. Certainly I think some people would be much happier just outright replacing some of their more finicky organs with some form of machinery if they felt it would help them live more comfortably day to day, while others would prefer to 'keep their parts' as it were and just attempt to improve or remedy existing functions. Somewhere in-between there is also the whole nano-machines argument. While, strictly speaking, nano-machines are technically a unification of man and machine it seems to fall somewhere more in the middle, as the general concept behind nano-machines is that they are supposed to enhance instead of replace.
When it comes down to it I'm pretty comfortable with either option these days. Robotic eyes? Sure, as long as I don't have to pop them out and clean them every other day. I'm lazy, and this is supposed to be the future damnit. When it comes down to it I feel like it's hard to lose your humanity just by swapping out a few parts. We humans are remarkably adaptable and pretty much anything we change will naturally become a part of us because that's just how our brain works. Now, when the day comes when we can trade our brains for digital ones, maybe then I'd think twice. Our brains are a massive part of what makes us who we are, so I'd have a hard time accepting the argument that transferring a copy of your brain to a computerized version is 'the same as you were'. Then again, I'd be surprised if we are able to create a computerized replica of the human brain in the next four-hundred years.
Of course, there is one part that I especially dread with the coming age of human enhancement more than anything else. The emails. 'DON'T JUST ENLARGE YOUR TROUSER SNAKE, MAKE IT PREHENSILE!!!'
You know it will happen, and it kinda scares me.
Perhaps it's because I've been playing Xenosaga lately, but the question has been on my mind. If you have even a passing interest in science fiction perhaps the question of body modification has crossed your mind as well. Supposedly, when the future arrives, we are likely to be split down the middle with indecision and heated debate over which is better: biological engineering or bio-mechanization. In other words, raise your hand if you want to be genetically enhanced super-human. Good, now for those of you who didn't raise your hands you'll be getting robot arms and possibly part of a super computer in your brain to help you dwell about your life as you lie awake at night. Last, those of you who opted for neither are part of the 'purist' group, you'll get to enjoy being overshadowed by all your peers who opted for either genetic engineer or robot parts.
I kid. Sort of. There are some really smart people though who honestly believe that this is going to happen at some point in the future. I even watched a documentary called The Singularity which interviewed a scientist who believed man and machine would eventually merge. Perhaps he's not too far off the mark though, even if he was a bit over-optimistic on the timeline. Even now we are already using technology to prolong our lives, pump our blood, filter our blood, even to help us reproduce. Who's to argue that we won't eventually become the equivalent of elves, and beyond that, reach a point where it's only natural to seek body upgrades for quality-of-life.
To be honest I don't feel that I can really argue the point about whether or not the whole body upgrade phase will ever happen. I don't think it's a matter of if but when. Of course, I also believe that it's not going to be a matter of which but rather which first. Seriously, why choose sides in these things? I never understood the concept that machine integration and biological engineering were mutually exclusive in the long run. If you look at history, even relatively abrupt changes have a natural progression to them and this supposed Singularity, the merging of man and machine, doesn't have to mean that humanity abandons being human for functionality of being a machine.
Ignoring the whole concept of Artificial Intelligence, for the time being, why can't you have some sweet robot arms but a bio-engineered power supply for said robot arms? Why can't you have computer aided logic as part of your brain and biologically enhanced reflexes? The future, to me, doesn't so much seem to be choosing a side but instead determining where you would fall on a scale. Certainly I think some people would be much happier just outright replacing some of their more finicky organs with some form of machinery if they felt it would help them live more comfortably day to day, while others would prefer to 'keep their parts' as it were and just attempt to improve or remedy existing functions. Somewhere in-between there is also the whole nano-machines argument. While, strictly speaking, nano-machines are technically a unification of man and machine it seems to fall somewhere more in the middle, as the general concept behind nano-machines is that they are supposed to enhance instead of replace.
When it comes down to it I'm pretty comfortable with either option these days. Robotic eyes? Sure, as long as I don't have to pop them out and clean them every other day. I'm lazy, and this is supposed to be the future damnit. When it comes down to it I feel like it's hard to lose your humanity just by swapping out a few parts. We humans are remarkably adaptable and pretty much anything we change will naturally become a part of us because that's just how our brain works. Now, when the day comes when we can trade our brains for digital ones, maybe then I'd think twice. Our brains are a massive part of what makes us who we are, so I'd have a hard time accepting the argument that transferring a copy of your brain to a computerized version is 'the same as you were'. Then again, I'd be surprised if we are able to create a computerized replica of the human brain in the next four-hundred years.
Of course, there is one part that I especially dread with the coming age of human enhancement more than anything else. The emails. 'DON'T JUST ENLARGE YOUR TROUSER SNAKE, MAKE IT PREHENSILE!!!'
You know it will happen, and it kinda scares me.
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