I love how Yahtzee described it in the latest Zero Punctuation-
"Deus Ex: Human Revolution centralizes the debate surrounding transhuman augmentation. "Would you," it asks, "supplement your body with machinery.""
"What do you mean, would I? I already wear spectacles and a wristwatch, and I always carry a phone, which I'm currently in the process of duct-taping to the side of my head. Anyone who talks about technological development being "unnatural" deserves to be abandoned in the wilderness wearing nothing but a fig leaf. But even if I weren't biased, if there's a conflict growing between a group of people with ocean liner pistons for forearms and a group of people who insist that everyone should be forced to be as shit as they are, I know which side I'd rather be on. Hey, I've got a better name for the pro-humanity movement: The Sore Losers' Club!"
[QUOTE=Glorbo;32202104]I love how Yahtzee described it in the latest Zero Punctuation-
"Deus Ex: Human Revolution centralizes the debate surrounding transhuman augmentation. "Would you," it asks, "supplement your body with machinery."
What do you mean, would I? I already wear spectacles and a wristwatch, and I always carry a phone, which I'm currently in the process of duct-taping to the side of my head. Anyone who talks about technological development being "unnatural" deserves to be abandoned in the wilderness wearing nothing but a fig leaf. But even if I weren't biased, if there's a conflict growing between a group of people with ocean liner pistons for forearms and a group of people who insist that everyone should be forced to be as shit as they are, I know which side I'd rather be on. Hey, I've got a better name for the pro-humanity movement: The Sore Losers' Club!"[/QUOTE]
uh that's a deliberately glib answer for the sake of comedy
I don't think anyone actually thinks this issue is that simplistic
The only people who would refer to a technological singularity as a "nightmare world" don't understand what it is to begin with.
[editline]9th September 2011[/editline]
Fucking read some Kurzweil, goddamn.
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;32202132]uh that's a deliberately glib answer for the sake of comedy
I don't think anyone actually thinks this issue is that simplistic[/QUOTE]
No, but it shows some of the hypocrisy of the matter. As in, people are "afraid" to improve their functioning body but are somehow not frightened by glasses or watches or cochlear implants or cars or bikes or whatever is already improving your bodily functions.
[QUOTE=Glorbo;32202203]No, but it shows some of the hypocrisy of the matter. As in, people are "afraid" to improve their functioning body but are somehow not frightened by glasses or watches or cochlear implants.[/QUOTE]
how is that hypocrisy
being frightened or at least uneasy is perfectly normal. there's a very, very big difference between wearing glasses and replacing your arms with prostheses
like implant rejection, obsolescence, solar flares, badly-written drivers, expense, being locked into a specific manufacturer if you want to upgrade (think apple), buyer's remorse, and any number of psychological issues that may ensue from having parts of your body replaced
and that doesn't even get into the societal implications
[QUOTE=Glorbo;32202104]ocean liner pistons for forearms[/QUOTE]
The probability of me not stealing this for my WIP is absolutely zero.
Human upgrade completed.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/nLLOC.png[/IMG]
This article has a strong "Help! Help! The world is changing and I don't like/understand it! Everyone should go back to the good old days!" vibe.
[QUOTE=Nerts;32202531]This article has a strong "Help! Help! The world is changing and I don't like/understand it! Everyone should go back to the good old days!" vibe.[/QUOTE]
You'll be like this too someday.
we all will
[IMG]http://playstationlifestyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/feature-Deus-Ex-Human-R.png[/IMG]
I'm sorry, I can't hear your whining over the sound of how augmented I am.
[QUOTE=Lankist;32202159]The only people who would refer to a technological singularity as a "nightmare world" don't understand what it is to begin with.
[editline]9th September 2011[/editline]
Fucking read some Kurzweil, goddamn.[/QUOTE]
Kurzweil isn't really a great source for transhumanism though.
I mean he understands the philosophy and he's a brilliant computer scientist but he loses a lot of points for all his alternative medicine nonsense.
Can't wait to get a videogame like minimap at the edge of my vision. I will never get lost again.
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;32202549]You'll be like this too someday.
we all will[/QUOTE]I will try and have the decency to shush and let people who know what they're talking about debate it.
I have mixed feelings about Kurzweil.
Which are summarized by this picture:
[IMG]http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6779/9222701.jpg[/IMG]
Once again Facepunch ignores the article and instead relies solely on the image macro used by the OP for information
Waaah people want to make themselves better. Waaah I don't want other people to be happy.
[QUOTE=chrishind10;32202557][IMG]http://playstationlifestyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/feature-Deus-Ex-Human-R.png[/IMG]
I'm sorry, I can't hear your whining over the sound of how augmented I am.[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l316/lankist/ONcpE.gif[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Zeke129;32202798]Once again Facepunch ignores the article and instead relies solely on the image macro used by the OP for information[/QUOTE]Because we went over everything in the previous thread. There is simply nothing to debate or argue about. Anything they could say was already covered.
And fuck, Lankist, you've come back in force. Every single thread I've read since you came back has had a post from you in it. At least one.
Just a bunch of old men fearing the future. Makes sense, since the future will end them eventually; we are the future, a new age. Our moral beliefs of all people deserving life no matter who they are, even though it is a very good thing, has meant that those who would normally be picked off by the wild hunter-beasts, those with "complications", are alive and well. In the ancient ages before we gained our sense of morality, the "weak" would die sooner than the stronger, as dictated by the forces of Nature. Survival of the fittest aided in the ways our species eventually became the highly-adaptable intelligent creatures we are today, but with our reason and morality came a force that gradually drew us away from Nature's restrictions and laws, and as we grow stronger technologically we are coming closer to the next "stage" of evolution. Now that we are reaching the cusp of Augmentation, this next stage of evolution is not necessarily the type of evolution we imagine when we hear the word.
It is not simply an evolution of the species, but of the self. Before, the man was the result of the parents, the blending of two bloods (I know blood isn't the source of life, this is just a metaphor), but in time perhaps Augmentations could let us become more than then joining of two, giving us mastery of who we are, allowing us to evolve as individuals as well as as a species. If we wish to be strong, we could be strong. If we wish to be smart, we could be smart. If we wish to put on trenchcoats and fight some conspiracies, then we could get experience and level up abilities. But we need to make our choices to determine who and what we become; will we pick Rifles or Computers? Or will we pick Swimming, which turns out to actually be kinda useful?
Regardless, being able to choose and adapt is what makes us human. Even though some claim that being able to change and adapt what we are would spell the death of mankind, they are half-wrong. Sure, it would make mankind less of a specific species, but it wouldn't destroy humanity. For you see; humanity is not a species, but a state of being, the ability to choose and adapt. Having choice removed and adaptivity stunted is the real threat against humanity, the risk of sustained stasis will eventually cause us to melt and rot into nothingness, causing us to lose our humanity.
We must also fend against a similar threat; that of absolute unity. There must be individuals, there must be many. Having everything as one, one mind, one soul, one body; these things will purge individuality from all except one, one single individual. The threat of absolute individuality, where everyone acts utterly independant of one another, can only lead to collapse and clusterfuck. Being individual yet connected is the right way forward, balancing unity and individuality together so that we can act individualy yet also work together, alternating between unity and individuality.
Alternatively; Old Men. Warning. Warning. Old Men.
[QUOTE=ironman17;32203007]Just a bunch of old men fearing the future. Makes sense, since the future will end them eventually; we are the future, a new age.
Alternatively; Old Men. Warning. Warning. Old Men.[/QUOTE]Within the week there will be old men, running the world.
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;32203108]Within the week there will be old men, running the world.[/QUOTE]No, within six months.
[QUOTE=ironman17;32203007]Just a bunch of old men fearing the future. Makes sense, since the future will end them eventually; we are the future, a new age.
Alternatively; Old Men. Warning. Warning. Old Men.[/QUOTE]
But with transhumanism, rich old men could become immortal machines and rule the world forever.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;32203190]But with transhumanism, rich old men could become immortal machines and rule the world forever.[/QUOTE]Within the week.
[editline]9th September 2011[/editline]
(We covered that issue already, in the previous thread. Like I said. Nobody takes these people seriously, why do you think we're just making jokes?)
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;32200844]This. Fuck Luddites, I'd be happy to split off into a species composed entirely of smart, happy, capable people.
We're humanity goddamnit, we're better than animals and as such we shouldn't need to waste millions of years waiting for natural evolution.[/QUOTE]
Eugenecist.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;32202798]Once again Facepunch ignores the article and instead relies solely on the image macro used by the OP for information[/QUOTE]
[quote]
Ever since I became a newsman, I've researched events, developments and trends that are so bizarre, so frightening, so twisted and so unbelievable that they are nearly impossible to cover without being dismissed for "sensationalism."[/quote]
sounds like shitty enough journalism to me
I don't understand how this guy can present all this stuff about transhumanism in a way that most people would be interested and begin to look forward to it's mainstream introduction, and then he attempts to pass it all off as "evil nightmarish stuff."
Really weird, really.
Trans-humanism is possible the best thing that could ever happen to humanity, it would be a big FUCKING shame if fuck-ups like them would prevent it.
[editline]9th September 2011[/editline]
Oh, and if we end up as Strogg, Scar for Makron 2200
Transhumanism is what will hopefully let me see out of my left eye again.
And if not via bionics, stem cells.
I hate robots.
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