The Moron's Guide To Transhumanism, Human Enhancement And Why It's Fucking Awesome.
472 replies, posted
[QUOTE=s0beit;31999080]I believe their primary function is to display the HUD that we all see while playing the game. He sees all that stuff as well, that's what the glasses do. They aren't there to make Jensen look like a pimp.[/QUOTE]
The same functionality could be done with lens-projection glasses, perhaps with a short range wireless connection or even a wired socket (say, on the skull by the ear). Even granting some kind of brain implant so that the device can monitor body functions, there's no need to make it more invasive by tying it to skull-mounted lenses, when non-implanted glasses using the same technology and connected to said brain implant in some fashion could provide the same result. There's just no point to gratuitous implantation when more conventional means will do the job.
[QUOTE=s0beit;31999080]The technology will happen, I don't think anyone denies that though I do agree that it isn't currently possible, that's not really up for debate. We knew that already.[/QUOTE]
My point is that a lot of people are really jumping the gun on this. The technology isn't even close to being ready, yet we have people performing hazardous procedures of questionable utility (like sticking magnets in the fingers). People are supporting transhumanism not because of the benefits it could provide, but simply because it's really cool, and that's misguided and potentially harmful to early adopters.
[QUOTE=lorden;31999089]EMPs only really cause major damage to devices that have lots of wiring or long antennas. An EMP on something like a tiny, simple electrical device would do barely anything, if at all. Of course, I wouldn't want to take that chance with something like my brain. Just saying though. Tiny electronics are resistant to the effects of an EMP. If one hit the US, simple electronics like flashlights and things similar would still work, depending on the distance to the pulse and the intensity. Things like radios, modern cars, anything with large motors (wire coils in the motor would act like an antenna for the pulse) would be most likely irreversibly damaged.[/QUOTE]
You'd be surprised, the military has contracts on hardened versions of even the most basic things in the case of nuclear attack. The big problem is that even tiny fluctuations can destroy sensitive electronics, and then you need brain surgery to fix it.
Cranial implants are the most far-fetched of augmentations, I think. Neuroscience is nowhere near the level to make it practical, and needing brain surgery to implant and to repair the extraordinarily delicate machinery that would be required would be difficult at best.
Ew ew ew no.
I don't want to have some kind of cybo-robo-halfrobothalfblackman penis or some shit.
[QUOTE=lorden;31999089]EMPs only really cause major damage to devices that have lots of wiring or long antennas. An EMP on something like a tiny, simple electrical device would do barely anything, if at all. Of course, I wouldn't want to take that chance with something like my brain. Just saying though. Tiny electronics are resistant to the effects of an EMP. If one hit the US, simple electronics like flashlights and things similar would still work, depending on the distance to the pulse and the intensity. Things like radios, modern cars, anything with large motors (wire coils in the motor would act like an antenna for the pulse) would be most likely irreversibly damaged.[/QUOTE]
I suspect date rape by neodymium magnets will be on the rise.
The only practical "augmentations" if you call them that I can think of coming around any time soon are existing ones like hearing aids to boosts one hearing range, tone perception, hell possibly rudimentary language translation. Or optical implants if we advance far enough in that field.
Replacing an existing body part with a synthetic one is plain stupidity, now modifying it to increase function or repair lost function is fine if side effects are negligible. .
There was a big argument in Sensationalist News a while back about this stuff. There seems to be this divide of 'Pro-Transhumanists' and 'Anti-Transhumanists' and I feel strange and alone being in the middle. I see the advantages to the idea of Transhumanism, I see how great it could be, how much it could help us (how downright awesome it could be). But at the same time I see the dangers in it (that are indeed prevalent in every new technology that has ever been invented and ever will be invented); humanity has a way of perverting technology originally intended to be used for good.
When you start putting things like chips and computerised technology into people (ESPECIALLY if it's interfaced with the brain) I think those risks start to become incredibly large. I recall reading a news article a while back about how insulin pumps have wi-fi connection (which raised some immediate flags in my mind). Some guy managed to hack into an insulin pump's wi-fi and found, if I'm remembering correctly, that he would be able to shut off the pump, or alter the level of insulin it put out into the body. You could basically kill someone doing this.
I think if we start heading towards a technological singularity that we need some form of regulations put in place. The companies that build these new parts need to be COMPLETELY transparent. No bullshit corporate secrets. The designs to their technology need to be publicly available to everyone to see, the technology itself needs to be inspected and compared to the designs to make sure everyone matches up.
And there will be people who don't want to become 'post-humans' and if this is the case they shouldn't be forced to. It shouldn't be a case of society alters itself to the point whereby the 'original' humans aren't accepted anymore, can't get jobs, etc.
[QUOTE=sltungle;32000094]There was a big argument in Sensationalist News a while back about this stuff. There seems to be this divide of 'Pro-Transhumanists' and 'Anti-Transhumanists' and I feel strange and alone being in the middle. I see the advantages to the idea of Transhumanism, I see how great it could be, how much it could help us (how downright awesome it could be). But at the same time I see the dangers in it (that are indeed prevalent in every new technology that has ever been invented and ever will be invented); humanity has a way of perverting technology originally intended to be used for good.
When you start putting things like chips and computerised technology into people (ESPECIALLY if it's interfaced with the brain) I think those risks start to become incredibly large. I recall reading a news article a while back about how insulin pumps have wi-fi connection (which raised some immediate flags in my mind). Some guy managed to hack into an insulin pump's wi-fi and found, if I'm remembering correctly, that he would be able to shut off the pump, or alter the level of insulin it put out into the body. You could basically kill someone doing this.
I think if we start heading towards a technological singularity that we need some form of regulations put in place. The companies that build these new parts need to be COMPLETELY transparent. No bullshit corporate secrets. The designs to their technology need to be publicly available to everyone to see, the technology itself needs to be inspected and compared to the designs to make sure everyone matches up.
And there will be people who don't want to become 'post-humans' and if this is the case they shouldn't be forced to. It shouldn't be a case of society alters itself to the point whereby the 'original' humans aren't accepted anymore, can't get jobs, etc.[/QUOTE]
the thing is, if the companies manufacture the things for masses, then they couldn't sabotage their own work. If a doctor somewhere along the line notices something's fucked up, or someone is fucked up by it, the company will get in trouble.
It's like a company that provides insulin. If they poison the insulin, they'll get in a fuck ton of trouble, not to mention who would buy from them anymore? It'd be economical suicide.
[QUOTE=Ac!dL3ak;32000145]the thing is, if the companies manufacture the things for masses, then they couldn't sabotage their own work. If a doctor somewhere along the line notices something's fucked up, or someone is fucked up by it, the company will get in trouble.
It's like a company that provides insulin. If they poison the insulin, they'll get in a fuck ton of trouble, not to mention who would buy from them anymore? It'd be economical suicide.[/QUOTE]
I'm not talking about rejection, or poison here, I'm talking more about... control. Doctors aren't computer scientists (although, I'd imagine in a post-human world a new breed of doctors would pop up proficient in both biological systems and medicines, and the ways of electronics). How is a doctor to know that some secret wi-fi channel hasn't been slipped into the design?
And of course you could ask why. What motives would anyone have for wanting to take control of people? It seems like 'evil' people are only confined to stories: books, TV shows, movies and games. People in reality always seem to have some reason for what they do, right? I mean usually people seem to have some kind of justification for what they do (however wrong or twisted it may be).
But in reality there ARE evil people with the desire for power. I mean right now you have dictators like Gaddafi (well, I guess you can't call him a dictator any more given what has transpired of late). There have been people in the past like Hitler. Some people are genuinely just bad - monsters who want control and power, and I GUARANTEE you that without absolute transparency and some form of regulations the technology dreamed up by pro-transhumanists will eventually be abused, just like all other forms of technology are.
You've gotta be careful when you start venturing into things this large. Transhumanism would be one of the largest, if not THE largest single jump we've made as a species and you can't treat such a jump lightly.
[QUOTE=sltungle;32000296]You've gotta be careful when you start venturing into things this large. Transhumanism would be one of the largest, if not THE largest single jump we've made as a species and you can't treat such a jump lightly.[/QUOTE]
True that. It would probably be the biggest jump humanity ever made since we discovered how to hold fre without burning ourselves...
I personally will love to see the advances made in this field of science, but I most certainly won't want to be first in line for it... Let the first few people work out the prototypes......
[QUOTE=Stren;31992090]Medical ID bracelets, like anyone with a severe allergy, pace maker or anything else of the sort already has to wear. And of course you don't need to feel magnetic fields, but what if you could? It'd change your perception of an awful lot of things, you'd be more aware of technology around you and most of all, you'd learn a few things.[/quote]
No you won't? It's a new sensation, so is jumping off a skyscraper, doesn't mean it's good.
[editline]29th August 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Supacasey;31998779]I'd imagine it was people like you back in the dark ages that said the same thing about medicinal research.
Good luck trying to deny collective curiosity.[/QUOTE]
uhh, there's a big fucking distance. Your post is ridiculously stupid.
Why must people do this unprofessionally?
Imagine some other kind of surgery, like a heart of brain surgery being a new and flashy thing and then there are amateurs who want to do it just because it's "cool".
This is pretty hard to compare to anything, it's like piercing but more serious.
Still they're only giving a bad picture of the entire thing and mostly just harming themselves.
transhumanism is cool but the only reason you nerds like it is because you won't have to bother working out or going outside, ever
[QUOTE=DuncanFrost;32002318]transhumanism is cool but the only reason you nerds like it is because you won't have to bother working out or going outside, ever[/QUOTE]
Yeah we'd just sit inside all day and be like "hell yeah I'm a cyborg" and jerk off all day
and if we got bored we could just go online and be like "Sup guys I'm a fucking cyborg" and laugh for hours
oh shit what am I doing with my life
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;32002164][img] http://filesmelt.com/dl/transhumanism.gif[/img][/QUOTE]
you're right
from now on when I say, "transhumanism is awesome" i should remember to add "but the world is still terrible for poor black people and that's bad"
I just realised something about artificial limbs and muscles, a major factor in them is that they have to be more energy and space efficient than biological muscles, but I don't even know how efficient biological muscles are.
I'm sure there's plenty of research into this, sports science is a field pretty much designed around it, but given that most motors we make really aren't that efficient and efficiency of mechanical transducers isn't getting any better with progression towards the singularity, it's very likely that artificial muscles won't be practical.
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;32002164][img] http://filesmelt.com/dl/transhumanism.gif[/img][/QUOTE]
How2ConquerEarth
1. Nuke planet
2. Machine army
[QUOTE=Devodiere;32003190]I just realised something about artificial limbs and muscles, a major factor in them is that they have to be more energy and space efficient than biological muscles, but I don't even know how efficient biological muscles are.
I'm sure there's plenty of research into this, sports science is a field pretty much designed around it, but given that most motors we make really aren't that efficient and efficiency of mechanical transducers isn't getting any better with progression towards the singularity, it's very likely that artificial muscles won't be practical.[/QUOTE]
i really, really, really doubt that mechanical limbs would be made with motors
I would assume that they would use actual artificial muscles, triggered by electrical impulses or some other such wizardry.
Besides, assuming that motor technology never gets any more efficient, battery technology does.
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;32003711]i really, really, really doubt that mechanical limbs would be made with motors
I would assume that they would use actual artificial muscles, triggered by electrical impulses or some other such wizardry.
Besides, assuming that motor technology never gets any more efficient, battery technology does.[/QUOTE]
Maybe, still needs to be space efficient and that's not an easy thing.
Artificial motors though, as far as I know don't exists in any real sense. Probably a few prototype ones around but no-one has ever made one that is good enough for any real applications. Hydraulics and pneumatics are common but they would require a whole other system just to support their use, trading the organic muscle's circulatory system for a hydraulic one would be insane.
[QUOTE=DudeGuyKT;31988141]I think people that think transhumanism is messing with the natural order are dumb. I mean, if you think about it, ever invention ever has been to improve on something. Now, we're inventing things to improve on ourself. How is that any different? I mean, we're using medicines to improve ourselves. This is just that on a grander scale. If we have the ability to propel the human race forwards, why not do it?[/QUOTE]
totally agree with that. To quote one of Neal Asher's books: "We're doing what nature does, but we do it faster and more efficiently".
[editline]29th August 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;32002164][img] http://filesmelt.com/dl/transhumanism.gif[/img][/QUOTE]
Good grief, what a load of shite. I wonder how well the Arab spring would have gone without computerised missiles, the internet and satellite comms.
[QUOTE=Aerkhan;31989582]Fuck I'd pay that guy to implant magnets in me.
And stab my left eye out to implant a camera and LED light there (Eyeborg).[/QUOTE]
That's a bit pointless, losing an eye would prevent you from seeing things in three dimensions.
I honestly don't mind the use of prosthetics for amputees and the likes but when you start to replace perfectly fine arms legs and eyes for technologically superiors counterparts, that's what worries me.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;32003946]That's a bit pointless, losing an eye would prevent you from seeing things in three dimensions.[/QUOTE]
Technically you only see in 'two' dimensions (your vision is only a two dimensional representation of a 3D universe), but yeah it would remove depth perception and ruin your vision.
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;32002164][img] http://filesmelt.com/dl/transhumanism.gif[/img][/QUOTE]
Because only white people can be rich :downs:
[QUOTE=Devodiere;32003760]Maybe, still needs to be space efficient and that's not an easy thing.
Artificial motors though, as far as I know don't exists in any real sense. Probably a few prototype ones around but no-one has ever made one that is good enough for any real applications. Hydraulics and pneumatics are common but they would require a whole other system just to support their use, trading the organic muscle's circulatory system for a hydraulic one would be insane.[/QUOTE]
well yeah its not like im saying we already have to means to make augmented limbs and the corporations are just keeping it from us or some shit
[editline]29th August 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Mabus;32003969]I honestly don't mind the use of prosthetics for amputees and the likes but when you start to replace perfectly fine arms legs and eyes for technologically superiors counterparts, that's what worries me.[/QUOTE]
Why?
[QUOTE=Mabus;32003969]I honestly don't mind the use of prosthetics for amputees and the likes but when you start to replace perfectly fine arms legs and eyes for technologically superiors counterparts, that's what worries me.[/QUOTE]
Because humanity can and always will be able to do better.
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;32002164][img] http://filesmelt.com/dl/transhumanism.gif[/img][/QUOTE]
Transhumanism has the potential to develop into a post scarcity society.
Don't forget that we can fix all the problems in the developing world, we merely chose not to.
Crushing vacuousness is part of being human, no one category of humanity shares that burden wholly.
I doubt most people on facepunch, and the planet, will be wealthy enough to pay to have their limbs replaced with augmented ones. Who knows the risks? Can you imagine not being able to sweat?
[QUOTE=redBadger;32006664]I doubt most people on facepunch, and the planet, will be wealthy enough to pay to have their limbs replaced with augmented ones. Who knows the risks? [B]Can you imagine not being able to sweat?[/B][/QUOTE]
How is that relevant at all?
I can't imagine having mechanical arms, either. Fortunately, machines have a far greater temperature tolerance than most biologic forms.
[QUOTE=Contag;32006682]How is that relevant at all?
I can't imagine having mechanical arms, either. Fortunately, machines have a far greater temperature tolerance than most biologic forms.[/QUOTE]
because we're designed to sweat so we can consume more energy for a longer amount of time and at a greater pace; another reason why we've lost most of our hair. Replacing arms replaces sweat glands, and we, for the most part, wouldn't be able to consume that energy.
I think...
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
