Transhumanism

Transhumanism is supposed to immortalize us. It involves uploading all memories and motions into computers so that we can live as human machines. This is fascinating as well as scary. Living forever is a nice ability, as long as it is in your hand to shut your system down whenever you feel like. Or you should be able to go into hibernation, self-programmed to wake up after a certain period, or when there is an emergency.

But this can also give rise to a species of super-humans that cannot be easily destroyed, that don’t tire, and that can change bodies in case some real damage occurs. In the beginning this technology will only be available to a selected few and this where the danger begins. What if a few rich people decide that only they can use the technology, and the rest of the people are turned into slaves? Humans have this tendency to enslave weaker, less privileged human beings whenever they get a chance, whether there is a valid need or not. They enslave merely to feel powerful and I’m sure no matter how much science and technology advance the basic attitude is going to remain the same.

But I am not against the idea as some people are. Lots of opportunities will be there for humans if the factor of death is removed from the same. Take for instance scientific discoveries and space exploration. If we don’t die we can continue our work for, let us say, hundreds of years. Imagine what could have been achieved if Newton, Ramanujam and Einstein could work together? What if Aryabhatta could use the latest space technology to study planets and other heavenly bodies? What mathematical fetes could Descartes have achieved with new computer software?

Of course with given scientific knowledge Transhhumanism is just a concept but it can some day really change the way we live and die, if dying doesn’t become obsolete by that time. Above all there will remain no such thing as disability, as long as we’re not talking about mental disability (but these days it is very difficult to make out who is mentally challenged and who is not). Another benefit of this technology will manifest when we totally mess up the environment. Since we won’t have biological bodies, we won’t need oxygen, and may be not even food. We’ll be able to live on man-made satellites in the sky or under water, where there is still lots of space. People who are not much inclined towards moving around will be able to share a mainframe with millions of other brains and this means millions of people will be able to live in a single room.

Sounds quite gloomy, but if you can create your own virtual reality (I assume by then technology will be able to give us lots of disk space and processing power within a single room) then it won’t be that boring.