/sci/ - Science & Math

>>11262913
>But man-machine hybrids will retain a biological component derived from human beings only as long as the human-derived biological component remains useful. When purely artificial components become available that provide a better cost-versus-benefit balance than human-derived biological components do, the latter will be discarded and the man-machine hybrids will lose their human aspect to become wholly artificial. Even if the human-derived biological components are retained they will be purged, step by step, of the human qualities that detract from their usefulness. The self-prop systems to which the man-machine hybrids belong will have no need for such human weaknesses as love, compassion, ethical feelings, esthetic appreciation, or desire for freedom. Human emotions in general will get in the way of the self-prop systems' utilization of the man-machine hybrids, so if the latter are to remain competitive they will have to be altered to remove their human emotions and replace these with other motivating forces. In short, even in the unlikely event that some biological remnants of the human race are preserved in the form of man-machine hybrids, these will be transformed into something totally alien to human beings as we know them today.

>The same applies to the hypothesized survival of human minds in "uploaded" form inside machines. The uploaded minds will not be tolerated indefinitely unless they remain useful (that is, more useful than any substitutes not derived from human beings), and in order to remain useful they will have to be transformed until they no longer have anything in common with the human minds that exist today.

>>11262917
>Some techies may consider this acceptable. But their dream of immortality is illusory nonetheless. Competition for survival among entities derived from human beings (whether man-machine hybrids, purely artificial entities evolved from such hybrids, or human minds uploaded into machines), as well as competition between human-derived entities and those machines or other entities that are not derived from human beings, will lead to the elimination of all but some minute percentage of all the entities involved. This has nothing to do with any specific traits of human beings or of their machines; it is a general principle of evolution through natural selection. Look at biological evolution: Of all the species that have ever existed on Earth, only some tiny percentage have direct descendants that are still alive today. On the basis of this principle alone, and even discounting everything else we've said in this chapter, the chances that any given techie will survive indefinitely are minute.

>>11262920
>The techies may answer that even if almost all biological species are eliminated eventually, many species survive for thousands or millions of years, so maybe techies too can survive for thousands or millions of years. But when large, rapid changes occur in the environment of biological species, both the rate of appearance of new species and the rate of extinction of existing species are greatly increased. Technological progress constantly accelerates, and techies like Ray Kurzweil insist that it will soon become virtually explosive; consequently, changes come more and more rapidly, everything happens faster and faster, competition among self-prop systems becomes more and more intense, and as the process gathers speed the losers in the struggle for survival will be eliminated ever more quickly. So, on the basis of the techies' own beliefs about the exponential acceleration of technological development, it's safe to say that the life-expectancies of human-derived entities, such as man-machine hybrids and human minds uploaded into machines, will actually be quite short. The seven-hundred year or thousand-year life-span to which some techies aspire is nothing but a pipe-dream.

Is Ted right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxEwI1bjZqU

>>11262913
Id take a harem.
Since I’d probably have the latest gadgets, I’d ask for something a bit more sentimental from my past as a fleshy human. Maybe a restored blanket from when I was a child

https://www.unz.com/akarlin/aubrey-de-grey-getting-more-optimistic-on-life-extension/

>>11262913
>What will you wish for on your 1000th birthday
I would like the latest model of artificial eyes, so I can see an even wider frequency range.

>>11262913
Death, probably. Certainly not rutting like a brainless monkey for the 131534th time.

>>11262913
I'll go around and PERSONALLY early clamp all the umbilical cords of any children being born that year. I'll make sure they receive at least 10 vaccines immediately after birth, and that they're circumcised. If I really rush between each I might be able to prevent breastfeeding by inducing the birth with pitocin.

Everyone older than 100 gets the guillotine

>>11262913
I've already done it. Why do you think I fuck with you mortals throughout time and space? Gotta get my kicks somehow.

>>11262913

I'll laugh so hard at his expiry.

bio-bump

>>11262913
I don't get the modern conviction that one must stay alive as long as possible. My grandparents are 80+ and they're fucking miserable. Lifespans may increase over the next 100 years or so, but that doesn't mean that healthspans will do so as well.
Better to die young, in an unexpected manner, than to vegetate slowly towards a humiliating, drawn out death in a hospital bed.

>>11266742
>biofags being smug
>meanwhile, bacteria are adapting to our antibiotics

>>11266742
As per usual, chemistry just sighs and watches on as the relentless bulli goes back and forth. Thinking of that revised edition textbook with the odd isotopes slowly sliding into the correct spots for a new compound.
Marvelous.

>>11262913
More birthdays

>>11266861
So who's gonna fix that? A fucking neutron-shooting egghead?

>>11262917

>In short, even in the unlikely event that some biological remnants of the human race are preserved in the form of man-machine hybrids, these will be transformed into something totally alien to human beings as we know them today
>and in order to remain useful they will have to be transformed until they no longer have anything in common with the human minds that exist today

Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) deform your soul. As spice, they were rare just one drug - they'd mix multiple SCs which had all sorts of other effects via other receptors.

There's a feeling of freedom and power when not just your humanity, but your identity as a physical object is destroyed. You become an observer within yourself, and somehow the commands to work your body are relayed from your mind without your consciousness or control. It's like playing a video game - you don't feel the floor under your feet or the wind in your hair.

I welcome this state again. I don't mind being told what to do.

I've read about DREADDs, and combined with DNI they'd allow total control of your feelings and thoughts. Spice will be shit in comparison.

>>11262920

How is evolution an argument against transhumanism?

>>11262922

>The seven-hundred year or thousand-year life-span to which some techies aspire is nothing but a pipe-dream

So why have natural organisms evolved those lifespans in literal pre-Stoneage conditions? Why won't techies lifespans at least equal a tortoise's or sperm whale's lifespan - how do they survive so long despite us killing so many of them?

>>11262913
I hope growth in this sector is maximized to a significant degree throughout the decade. The more people we can get on board, the more investors fund these things, the faster we'll get these treatments. I really want to see this happen.

>>11266853
>My grandparents are 80+ and they're fucking miserable.
Are you retarded? Getting old is literally dying.
What they are trying to do is to eliminate diseases of old age (which is the aging itself)
Research the subject just a little before you dare to open your mug about it. It's an universal rule not many people follow.

>>11266853
That is what traditional medicine already does. We seek to keep people healthy instead.

>>11262917
Bullshit, this idea that emotions and cognition are seperate is ludicrous. AI will no doubt be intensely emotional in its own way.