We have raised our telescopes and marveled at what we have found. We have built microscopes and learned even more. Based on research, it appears things have been evolving for billions of years. If one accepts what the evidence seems to indicate, the history of the universe goes a little something like this.
Somewhere around 15 billion years ago the big bang occurs. Particles were created. They evolved into gasses, stars, galaxies, solar systems, planets, and eventually, life. On at least one planet, life then continued this steady progression of change. Bacteria arose. Algaes. Vertebrates. Land dwellers. Air dwellers. Primates. Homo Sapiens. Language. Culture. Agriculture. Technology.
The end?
I don’t think so. No matter how much we are fond of humanity, no matter how much we take pride in our existence, there is vast room for improvement. The result of this progression, should it continue, is the removal of Homo Sapiens as the dominate, most powerful, intelligent creature we know of. We are not the end all be all. We are not the best possible. Now is not a good time to discontinue evolution.
What’s next?
Perhaps Primo3M+ Our bodies are terribly fragile. They are pretty well built to handle moderate temperatures on dry land, but crumble and die when exposed to extremes. When we have reversed engineered the body and the brain, we will be able to augment it and improve it. In a brilliant essay, Ray Kurzweil suggests that eventually, via nanomachines, we can eliminate the need for a heart, lungs, red and white blood cells, platelets, pancreas, thyroid and all the hormone-producing organs, kidneys, bladder, liver, lower esophagus, stomach, small intestines, large intestines, and bowels. We could improve the skin skeleton and brain. We could build ourselves to be impervious to most forms of destruction. Can such a thing still be called a human? Perhaps Homo Supremis or Posthuman are better terms.
The real kicker comes when we have finished reverse engineering the human brain and start making it better & faster. Once we can slow down our subjective reality and control our senses, we have established a kind of internal immortality in which we could assume any avatar we wish. I could feel what it is to be an alligator one day and a dinosaur the next. At this point, the human form is useless in many ways. What good is it to swim in a river when a million years pass between each stroke? We will need bodies able to interact with reality much faster. Perhaps, we won’t need bodies at all. It all depends on where the sense of self comes from - a highly debated issue.
This is all just a starter. I will attempt to defend and explain the Transhuman / Extropian position here to any interested. The position states that this transition and emergence (commonly referred to as the singularity) is not a bad thing, but to be welcomed. It is perhaps the very purpose of life. Up for discussion is how much change we can make and still be human, the dangers of the tech involved, the likelihood, the technical pheasability, and the ethics involved. What place will regular old humans have in a world where Posthumans exist? What happens when shared perception and hive minds become possible? What is the essence of awareness and conciousness? Can such be copied? Can it be stored? Does the medium in which such is stored matter?
This stuff may all seem far out, but the latest futurists supsect (based on models charting the exponential growth of progress/capability and extrapolating from there) these changes will be on us somewhere around 2030. I will be in my 50’s. Not so far off . . .
DaLovin’ Dj
