Argument : Is Transhumanism right?

[daniellos3]

 

 

I created an argument. Is Transhumanism right? (Human enhancement), (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism)

 

I think i have proven that it is, argument is below, if you disagree to my point of view then please enlighten me with your point of view of this matter.

 

Argument : Is transhumanism right?

 

Yes it is.(my opinion from thinking logically)

 

thousands of years ago when the human species started using fire and later on tools to enhance their daily problems evolution began.

 

The humans started thinking about how things worked thus figuring out problems that could enhance their ability to understand and progressing to more advanced/complex problems wich led to our time, the time of technology and advanced knowledge of physics and biology, now our progress has led to a point where we can cut the limitations of our current brain and physical abilities to a point where we dont have to face a problems in understanding certain things that will lead to a point where we dont have any more problems thus making our lives superior to anything in existence. And then we can live perfect lives with no disadvantage in any stage, we can live happy with no worries of anything, only love will exist and love is the key to happyness and happyness is what all humans pursuit.

 

Main problem : Religious conflict :

 

God hasnt been proven to exist. And Transhumanism will solve every problem in existence, mortality is one of those problems and there are millions of hundred times nore complex problems, so if your afraid of being transhumanized, fear not because the odds of becoming immortal due to the humans enhancement of the functionity of the brain such as unlimited memory, perfect concentration, speed of accnowledging/understanding, Combining things that you already know to come up with a solution to a given problem/self figured. This is all i can think of now, just use your imagination to see how far the human brain could expand, or compare a 1hz processor to a 5ghz Intel core i7. And if there is a god and a devil you will not be judged because the only way to be judged is to die wich as i said is not likely. I could go on babbling about religious arguments of how god couldnt exist and there is no soul but im just going to skip that.

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Please state your opinions below after having read my point of view of this matter.

Edited October 14, 2009 by daniellos3

[toastywombel]

Interesting points, and you have a good case. There is a problem with your argument though. You are arguing that trans humanism is "right". What is right? You have left that undefined. So all the arguments you have made for trans humanism are not comparable to your moral standard but to the readers. This can weaken your argument.

 

Furthermore, it is important to ask the question. What is the goal? Immortality? I don't know how I would feel about that, is the mind of a man meant to be immortal.

 

Also how would these advancements or augmentations be implemented? Would they government subsidize certain upgrades to everyone which is fair? Or would it be privatized? If it were privatized, augmentations would be very expensive and most likely only attainable by the wealthy. There could be billionaire tycoons who make themselves "invincible" because they can afford it. Imagine the class warfare issues? How would you feel if the rich had an augmented brain and were smarter than us all. And no matter how hard we study we could not be smarter than them. Wealth would be super-intelligence. I think that is wrong.

 

Interesting points, and this is an interesting debate of thought. I don't think most of the retaliation to this comes from religion. I am an agnostic and I disagree strongly with most all religious organizations/corporations, but even I am nervous about human upgrading. The upgrades offer great possibilities, but who would get the upgrades? Whoever had them would ultimately have the most power. Man is easily corrupted by power. It would be nice to believe our lives could be "perfect", but then we would be god. I don't know if our society is ready for that.

 

"If there were no God it would be necessary to create him."

-Voltaire

[daniellos3]

Sorry for not making myself clear. Right as in : should we use this technology to enhance our physical/mental capabilities to the max making us into some sort of biomechanic beings? There are always sacrifices that have to be made for the greater good, but what are we really sacrificing? Nothing. We arent sacrificing anything, the only people who would think so are religious people who would think that "we arent meant to be changed and if we change ourselves GOD will abandon you and send your soul to HELL for mocking his creation. Therefore they would be the ones that think this is all wrong because we will anger an unproved to exist superior being. well we are already changing our selves to the greater good, for example plastic surgeries and if you lose legs/arms you can get bionic arms/legs and soon Artificial arms/legs which is a total transformation from disabled to able and transhumanism is the exactly same thing, changing ourselves for optimal ableness wich would be the next step in evolution, we would no longer hold the disadvantages of homo-sapiens we would be something else, homo-"something involved with biomechanics and nano-technoloy" i would guess. But what you said about the rich/powerful people is inevitable at moment, that is an unsolved problem we need to solve as well before this will all come true so that they wont rip it from the masterminds and control the world. Lol this almoast sounds like a science fiction but it isnt, this technology is very real.

[Mr Skeptic]

Well, if what you are looking for is religious arguments, the Bible says that God set man's lifespan at 120 years (which very few have surpassed). Then, extending your life past that would be going against what God said, which would be "bad".

 

As for your claim of "immortality": Being biologically immortal doesn't mean you're not going to die. First, you can still be physically destroyed, though you can make it much harder to do. Second, living requires energy, and just how do you intend to get energy after the heat death of the universe? Living for billions of years and then dying with the universe, doesn't quite make you immortal. Close, but not quite.

 

Why not just make a secular argument: transhumanism is just another form of self-improvement.

[toastywombel]

Yeah it is amazing that this technology is out and is possible. I totally agree there are many good applications of transhumanism, but I am glad we can agree that it opens the door for abuse, but then again all technology does to some degree.

 

And immortality could be possible if certain technologies were achieved such as a computer that could simulate the brain, and expand upon it. One may be able to effectively copy their consciousness to this type of computing system. If a computer of such were designed it would most likely be based off of quantum computing. This would allow you to have thoughts traveling across your mind (now being a computer) at the speed of light or faster, as opposed to the normal human brain in which thoughts travel across one's mind as electrical signals at about 200 mph. In conclusion, time stops for an observer traveling at the speed of light according to the theory of relativity, thus making it possible for one to have an infinite amount of thoughts in any given time, thus making one immortal for all practical purposes because time would not be a limitation.

[daniellos3]

MrSceptic, thanks for stating your opinion, about that thing "being physically destroyed", your wrong because if we were so smart we wouldnt make mistakes resulting in death/injury.

[bascule]

Why is this thread in biology?

 

This post brought to you by a long-time transhumanist. That said...

 

Of course transhumanism is right. It's already happening today. Are your eyes bad? Get glasses, and you can have cyborg vision... 20/15. Superhuman! Glasses not your style? Get contacts or laser surgery.

 

Missing an arm? Get a robotic replacement. Heart going bad? Get a simpler one that doesn't even need to "pulse" to pump blood. Humans can build better pumps than biology.

 

you can still be physically destroyed

 

What if you make a backup copy of yourself?

[daniellos3]

i thought this would match best with biology, because this is a biomechanic technology... where should this thread have been?

[bascule]

Engineering or General Discussion seem like two likely places

[Mr Skeptic]

MrSceptic, thanks for stating your opinion, about that thing "being physically destroyed", your wrong because if we were so smart we wouldnt make mistakes resulting in death/injury.

 

Oh? What if someone decided to murder you? And, of course, hunt down and destroy any backup copies you have of yourself? You can't make yourself destroyproof. Obviously, you could make it exceedingly unlikely to be destroyed by natural causes (well other than the end of the universe).

[daniellos3]

Haha yes there is a flaw in my view of immortality, well if someone would decide to murder a transhuman then the transhuman must have done something to the other, but if his logic is right which it is then he wouldnt harm him knowing the possible risks, unless he wanted to take risk for his/her own advancement which is his/her own fault if he gets killed by his/her victim of harming unless of course a person with Schizophrenia or other such mental cases would kill him due to his/her mental problems.

[toastywombel]

Haha have any of you guys played Deus Ex? the original one not the sequel, which was terrible compared to the original. It is an amazing video game with a great story line which involves social issues caused by human augmentation.

[daniellos3]

Never heard of it =)

[bascule]

Haha have any of you guys played Deus Ex?

 

Yes, Deus Ex had vaguely transhumanist/singularity-type themes