Notes taken from the Horizon Human v2.0 documentary aired in 2006; " scientific prophets who claim we are on the verge of creating a new type of human".
Is it possible to store our minds in to a machine? Will we be able to change what we are and undo who we are? Can biology and technology be combined to create another human? Can we transform the way future human beings believe?
It is possible to download our thoughts, stored memories and interface with machines. Computers will soon equal the power of the human brain. We will be able to change who we are and create a new person. This is known as singularity.
Dr Jose Delgado investigated areas of the brain. He wanted to unlock mysterious electrical signals of the brain, by placing electro signals in the brain of a bull. A radio signal works on the mind to stop him. It was a way of trying to understand the mechanics of the mind."The bull was obeying commands in his brain that were being called forth by electrical stimulation – by the radio signals – of certain regions in which the fine wires had been painlessly implanted the day before" wrote John A. Osmundsen in 1965 (wireheading.com/matador.html). Delgado's reasoning was;'“I do believe,” he said in a recent lecture, that an understanding of the biological bases of social and antisocial behaviour and of mental activities, which for the first time in history can now be explored in a conscious brain, may be of decisive importance in the search for intelligent solutions to some of our present anxieties, frustrations and conflicts.”' He also mentions “functions traditionally related to the psyche, such as friendliness, pleasure or verbal expression, can be induced, modified and inhibited by direct electrical stimulation of the brain.” Dr Delgado seemed to be quite ethical in his approach.
"Moore's law describes an important trend in the history of computer hardware. Since the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958, the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has increased exponentially, doubling approximately every two years" from Wikipedia. Our understanding of human intelligence will be complete as a result of computer and neuron science. Computers have a billion more times capability than a human.
By unraveling the mystery of the mind scientists are finding more and more extreme methods.
One scientist is measuring a rats thoughts and the way it sees the world. It is a remote controlled rat. It is guided wirelessly. A radio signal stimulates areas, such as the wiskers. Touching his left wisker tells him to turn left and vice versa. He will obey as he understands he will receive a reward. The radio signal will stimulate the pleasurable side of his brain.
Another scientist worked with one of our closest relatives, he trained a monkey to play a computer game. The scientist recorded his thinking. Using the thoughts of another being to control another machine. A form of coding is created on screen, it is like the alphabet of his brain. Could this be our future language. It looked something like this on screen ---IIII------I-I-I-I.
This form of technology has potential to understand the human brain. I would like to investigate language and its creation. How do we actually think? In words? Do we go by feeling? If our arm is itchy, do we say to ourselves 'my arms itchy', we may say it out loud for sympathy. It is very interesting how in the programme the monkey realised after a while, that to play the game he didn't need to move his arm to play the game, but his brain solely. Does this mean that we don't need our body, just our brain on its own to take control. Can a new language be formed or an original language that we have been unconscious of. The way our brain is coded is a language and form of communication. Is there a alphabet that's not been exposed. It is fascinating that we could potentially live forever. Our mind can be preserved or replicated and take control of everything around us, without a body.
Locked in syndrome is where someone is paralysed but the brain is fully intact. In the programme Eric is subject to this syndrome. He has had an electrode attached to his brain which gets amplified through an FM transmitter, which restores to Eric the power of speech. Eric thinks a sound which transmits to a computer and the computer says it. It is an understanding to create the building blocks to language.
This is a small glimpse of the moment we can be transformed into machines. Another scientist believes we can slow down the aging process by storing the content of our mind into a machine. So when we start to loose our minds, it is preserved. Providing radical life extension.
Professor Hugo De Garis believes we are not on the road to mortality but oblivion. He specialises in building human brains. This can enable humanity to build machines with capacities a trillion times bigger than human level, by looking into the most complex neuron networks. Artilects (artificial and intellects) are our future. But the concern is that we will be dominated by this power. It is predicted that there will be a war of for and against this godly formation. Arguably the war has already begun.
Between1978-1995 Theodore Kaczynski set off a series of bombs "to attract attention to the erosion of human freedom necessitated by modern technologies requiring large-scale organization" (from his unabomber manifesto in the new york times) but as a result killing 3 people and injuring 23 people. His drive was to derail a future in which humans will be transformed by technology. He was suspected of being insane because he took part in some pshcological experiments with drugs at University. However in the future he could be seen as a hero. The one man stand against technology.
There are quite dark research agencies such as DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). They have created projects that are risky. It is an agency formed from the drive to keep America in the lead. But not all of the research has been good. It was said that they created a gay bomb, where people would have substances implanted to create a overly high libido to the extent where the they rape anyone around them. And change your sexual orientation.
Professor Seth Lloyd toys with fundamental laws of nature. He has a unique vision that could spark a revolution. The idea that unlocking computer and powering it with atoms. So you are able to talk to individual atoms. It exploits a bizarre property of the atomic universe; Quantum mechanics. It will help to create multitasking. Atoms in a computer will be more powerful than humans.
Technology is developing ways of modifying human beings.
The three great scientific obstacles and challenges are the origin of the universe, origin of life and how the brain works.
Beliefs:
Approach the future with caution.
To improve the human being and society.
Technology is too powerful to stop.
It is the ultimate signs of humanity is to embrace and discover ourselves and whats around us.
In science there is no going back.
The greater moral dilemma;
-Humanity will be destroyed by technology.
-Tragedy if we do not try to build these Gods.
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