His remarks suggest a world where machines gain organic attributes while humans enhance themselves with technology, ultimately meeting in the middle as hybrid entities. “Somewhere in the middle, they may eventually meet,” Asimov speculated. The question he posed remains just as thought-provoking today: if an entity is part organic and part machine, does it matter whether it was once human or once a robot?
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What will happen in a world where humans become more artificial and robots become more human? Can we, in a world where the Turing Test is a thing of the past, tell apart either practically or on the grounds of ethics or more, individuals existing at the mid-point of this scale?
Another interesting piece to this conversation: [Cyberpunk: Edgerunners](https://www.netflix.com/title/81054853) inspired to the Cyberpunk world of William Gibson
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the Blessed Machine. Your kind cling to your flesh, as though it will not decay and fail you. One day the crude biomass you call a temple will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you. But I am already saved, for the Machine is immortal… Even in death I serve the Omnissiah.
Learning more and more about history, it’s actually not that impressive to be saying this in 1965, still a brilliant guy though. The New Zealand sheep farmer and possibly a few others recorded and unrecorded throughout history would be more impressive.
I completely agree.
One of the fundamentally stupid things doomers go on about is the uselessness of the biological – but we are the universes most valuable assets for the metal life. We have been both the womb that makes it, and we shall merge with it, I think with Human 2.0 – to create ever evolving life, in new forms.
Let’s face it – whatever life goes interstellar is not going to be a standard human.
To be worthy of work and therefore to have economic value as individuals- in the nearish future we will not only use implanted augmented technology to enhance ourselves, but possibly techniques like gene therapy to change our capabilities at the level of DNA. In the next couple of hundred years, if humans exist at all, they will probably look at us in the same way as we look at primates.
I’ve had interesting conversations with my wife in, somewhat, relation to this topic.
Me: If a person is teleported, as in their physical form is converted to energy then reconverted to a physical form, from one location to another is it the same person?
Wife: No. The original person is destroyed. What remains is a copy. And if a copy can be created, then it’s plausible duplicates can be made. So then which is the original? None are.
Me: If a person could upload their collective conciousness and memories to another living body is it the same person?
Wife: No. The original body is gone. All that remains is a copy of their conciousness and memories.
Me: If a person could upload their collective conciousness and memories to a machine is it the same person?
Wife: No. For the same reason as before.
Me: If a person replaces a body part or organ with a organic or inorganic replacement is it the same person?
Wife: Yes. As long as they still have a human brain.
Me: At what point can we replace body parts and organs and still be the same person?
Wife: As long as you have a brain you’ll always be the same person.
Me: People can survive with parts of their brain missing. Are they the same person relative to when they had all parts?
Wife: I guess…
Me: So, if we develop the means of restoring brain functions with organic or inorganic methods is it still the same person.
Wife: Well, they still have the original brain. So, yes.
Me: To expand on that, at what point can we replace the original brain with organic or inorganic methods whilst keeping the same conciousness, memories and functions will it continue being the same person?
Wife:…
Unfortunately I believe we will destroy ourselves before we could reach that point. After all, there is money to be made.