Merging with machines inevitable, scientists say
By Futuretalk

Today, we are entering the beginning stages of a society that many futurists believe will not end until man and machine become completely integrated into a single being – an enhanced human.

The biotech revolution, from 2010 to 2020, promises to correct many of our biological flaws including vulnerability to disease and telltale signs of aging. Doctors will re-grow cells, tissues and organs to replace aging body parts; and by as early as mid-2020s, most humans can look forward to an extended healthy lifespan of 200 years or more.

Molecular nanotech marks the next step in our march towards this futuristic society. From about 2025, we will enjoy home-replicators that provide food, clothing, and essentials at little cost; and tiny nanobots that roam through arteries and veins keeping us forever fit and healthy.

The final stage of achieving this remarkable future lies in supercomputers and artificial intelligence; powerful robot-like machines that many predict will outthink humans by 2030. These silicon marvels will possess reasoning and logic similar to our own, but can share data and knowledge millions of times faster than we can with our slow human language; a desirable feature that many humans will want to incorporate into their bodies, experts say.

Author Ray Kurzweil, in The Singularity is Near, says, “Between 2035 and 2050, we will merge our knowledge, skills, and personalities with our silicon cousins. This will produce a superior human that thinks, reasons, and communicates far more efficiently than today’s humans.”

When we combine computer intelligence with rapid innovations in biotech and nanotech, we see a future where the distinction between humans and machines begins to blur. During this transitional time, experts say, we will escape today’s frail limited bodies and evolve into powerful ageless “housing units”. By mid-2030s, nearly everyone will enjoy perfect health with an indefinite lifespan, and without any fears of unwanted death.

Most people will welcome these advancements with open arms. However, techno-conservatives say there may come a time when tomorrow’s powerful machines might understand us better than we understand ourselves and they could manipulate us – even replace us.

But positive futurists believe this will never happen. J. Storrs Hall, in his book, Beyond AI: Creating the Conscience of the Machine, says there’s no need to fear artificial intelligence. When machines reach the point where they can outthink us, technology will also allow enhancement of human brains enabling us to always remain superior to our machines. Enhanced human brains can be made stronger than AIs, Hall says.

Most forward-thinkers do not envision machines soaring into the future as a separate species. As our silicon friends acquire “smart” new components, we may want to incorporate those parts into our bodies. Over the years, we will become more like our machines. We will still consider ourselves “human,” but eventually we will morph into a human-machine configuration indiscernible from our machines.

If this “magical future” unfolds in the timely manner suggested above, by mid-century, many people reading this piece could be enjoying a grand life using their increased intelligence to re-design the planet, visit space colonies on moon and Mars, develop timetravel technology, or search the galaxy for advanced life-forms to exchange knowledge with.

This article will appear in various print media and blogs; comments welcome. See other published work by Futuretalk at http://www.positivefuturist.com and click on the “published work” tab.

I can see why you and other senior citizens like such articles. You don't have to die but can look forwards to over 100 years of the same. So who is going to pay for it all when over 80% of the population is over 65? Answer-People will be working till they are 165. Just think of that. Still slogging away 9-5 every day after 130 years and you'll be able to retire in less than 20 years. There are too many problems with old age and if they can be solved, it will probably be next century though with possibly over twelve billion people, having people live longer may not be desirable. Soylent Green anyone?

There is this silly idea that our brains can be replaced by a computer and we can all be many magnitudes smarter. Computers are OK at doing ONE task and even then they can suffer serious problems. Even Bill Gates admits his own computer crashes. Walk into a crowded room. Your brain is controlling all your involuntary body functions and so keeping you alive. It is also processing half a dozen things in your mind at present as well as your ability to walk, something that even smart robots struggle with. As you enter the room, your brain processes the sight of fifty people, searching for faces you know. It also listens in on dozens of conversations, processes maybe a hundred scents. It also processes touch, the ground you walk on, your clothes, every part of your skin in contact with anything, even air. Your brain is also processing the temperature as further thoughts enter your mind based on what you see in the room, working out endless possibilities and only allowing the main ones to come to the forefront of your brain. And so on. Give a thousand different jobs to do continuously to the smartest computer on earth and it would crash within seconds, trying to do what we take for granted.

Our bodies are still incompatible with most materials and even people who have transplants of HUMAN organs from very close donors often end up taking anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their life. Putting metals, plastics, nanostuff into us is asking for trouble, even if the latter can be built of materials which aren't toxic. A simple EMP could knock out machines and stop a Matrix style machine revolution happening. Anyone has machines inside them, it will knock them out too, probably killing them.

In case you haven't noticed, diseases because of their short life spans evolve very quickly and can overcome our cures for them. Malaria still infects MILLIONS each year, despite all we can do and is building up an immunity to the drugs we use to treat it. MRSA stalks our hospitals, killing people who only went in for a minor operation. Some say AIDS is beginning to mutate and become survivable but it is only decades old as a human disease. It makes you wonder what is going to follow it? Contagious cancer? Mosquitos with ebola virus? And so on.

Defending Futuretalk Optimism

The majority who read the Futuretalk newspaper column are seniors and ‘boomers and their comments, which rank about 3-1 favorable, often focus on the belief that with good care and lots of luck, they could live to enjoy the “magical future” that is mentioned so often in the articles.

Personally, I believe that by the time civilization reaches the 2030s, older people, having benefited from stem cell therapies, genetic engineering, and molecular nanotech miracles, will possess the same physical abilities as a 20-year-old.

The only people requiring healthcare benefits at this time will be those who have rejected enhancements, and they will eventually disappear as they die out.

In this writer’s eyes, life extension goals are simple – to slow down and eventually eliminate all diseases, including aging. Nobody likes to be handicapped with sickness, disease, or an aging body, and tomorrow’s technologies promise to remove these conditions.

I admit that Futuretalk articles focus heavily on positive aspects of technologies and touch very lightly on the negative. This is by design, which I believe helps older people gain hope for the future and promotes a desire to take better care of their health.

Comments welcome.

A look at history will tell you that sociological changing technological innovation is mostly un-anticipated. One has only to look at futuristic predictions from magazines and newspapers of 100, 50, or even 25 years ago to see that maybe one percent of that predicted has come to pass... not a strong percentage to bet on. Merging with machines has been anticipated for a long time.. and we now have it.. pace makers, insulin pumps, dialysis machines, hearing aids,... all types of prosthetics.. and how many of those using them would be much happier without that dependence? So why would any sane person, today or in the future, willfully sacrifice a healthy functioning body part for replacement with a prosthetic even though it might offer enhanced abilities?
Sane and rational... probably none! The not so sane and rational.. probably many.. the same regressive mentality as those who adorn their bodies with cave man art, eat or inject anything that will alter their sense of reality, punch holes in their bodies where nature did not intend, to hang ornamentation, and buy eight thousand pound SUV's to haul one overweight body daily to a desk job fifty miles from their home are the likely candidates. Unfortunately for mankind and the planet they may be in the majority!

Genetic engineering will allow for human enhancements in morphology and intellectual capacity. What will eventually happen is the creation of entirely new species that will render the human model obsolete. Whatever the more efficient, biologic or solid state nervous systems, will be tasked to control the various beings, and machines. With the ability to network electronically, intelligence will be a collective condition, with all sensory and memory functions accessible to all, every individual will be an extension of the collective mind. Present model human beings will be relegated to the status of a domestic pet or a protected and managed wild species. The quickly evolving future beings or being will eventually take on godlike qualities. The whole process from human to god could take place over the span of a century or two.

No thanks. We are meant to die. I'm 48 and around 2040 I will pass on. I would not like becoming a "Borg".
What are you going to do with all these people with extended lifespans?

Bright future will happen

Evangelicals, pessimists and other naysayers will not slow down the exponential advance of today’s science and technologies.

Human desire for improvement parallels its survival instincts. Living in bodies fashioned from ‘designer genes’ that never age or gets sick is simply the next step in our evolution, and it will become reality during the lifetime of many alive today.

Commerce drives our will to live healthier and more comfortable. Today’s mature adults control more than $7 trillion in wealth, which represents 70 percent of the U.S. economy.

This huge financial force wielded by those who stand to gain immediate benefits from stem cell, gene therapy, and medical nanotech advances expected over the next ten-to-twenty years, will help push this forward-looking future into reality.

The choice of how we imagine the future is up to us. If we think and act positively, a “magical future” has an excellent chance of happening. Negative thoughts will get us nowhere.

Maintain faith and a bright future will be yours to enjoy.

Comments welcome.