Transhumanism...

Have you never seen the 6 Million Dollar Man on TV?

The Six Million Dollar Man - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I saw my first Texas Instruments IC in 1968. There has never been any doubt in my mind that humans will have microprocessors implanted in their craniums and artificial muscles and exoskeletons in my lifetime.

I'm 63.

Ethics are fairly flexible when they involve something we want.

I'm old enough to remember the fuss made by ethicists and clergymen when the first heart transplant was performed. Now no one would question it. So, Pig parts? - bring em on. Technological augmentation? - Yes, please.

Ethics adapt to what people want, look at our changed attitudes to contraception, abortion, homosexuality, high level bombing of civilian cities, video/game violence, bank bailouts, million dollar salaries for executives or even our reliance on slave labour for much of our textile manufacturing.

I'm all for technological innovation, but what about the dilemmas that these innovations bring? Are we preparing the upcoming generations to deal wisely with such things? As a teacher, I'm concerned that we are not. This next generation seems to be unable to think critically about things and just accepts them as they come along. In the classroom I attempt to start some dialog about such issues, just to get the kids thinking about what they may encounter in the future...especially since there is a high likelihood that they may work in a job that doesn't yet exist.

Do you really want all of your children to look, act and think the same? If everyone were beautiful, then would no one be? If everyone were to live forever, then how would we accomodate everyone on this planet? How do we deal with the unknown side effects of procedures (gastric bypass, for instance, is beginning to show some really ugly side effects that were not imagined a few years ago).

Hi Dag,

What surprises me (and rings false) is the claim that international organizations and the military are keeping an eye out etc.

You ask, is the science and engineering there?

In my opinion, no. Far from it. Augmentation technology is a myth, however there is existing technology with weapons potential, ie it is very possible to induce disabilities, rather than abilities.

Is it true that "international organizations and the military" have been blindsided by the makers of this gear, with the false fear of "transhuman forces" and how to deal with them? While in fact the actual disability-inducing crap is actively being used as a weapon by organized crime. Or some terrorist organization. IMHO.

"actual disability-inducing crap"

I'm not sure what you are referring to? (weapons?)

chris

I'm talking about the existing 'neural interfaces' technology including the gear that is publicly known as therapeutic devices: VNS, DBS etc.

This is injectable gear: there's also pneumatic insertion tech that makes it feasible as a weapon of opportunity.

A generic device anywhere on your body can give you 'shocks'. I mean electric shock sensations. If placed on a specific nerve it can do a whole lot more. Dandy means of coercion if there's no way to get rid of it, ie, if medical professionals will refuse to look for the gear, and will also report that you're crazy just for asking.

Thats interesting. Check out this link http://humanityplus.org/projects/ These guys stress ethics and I think that is very important when consdering augmenting our abilities with non human stuff.

I get very suspicious when people start throwing the "ethics" question around, especially when the only answer to the question, "What is the moral authority on which you base your judgment of ethical (or non-ethical) activity/product/etc.?" is, "If you have to ask, you don't understand."

Just calling something unethical does not make it so...What is the primary ethical principle being violated?

I couldn't agree more. Without a moral authority, ethics is totally subjective. So what do we do? How do we make our decisions on how to proceed with technology and how do we determine the appropriate relationship with man and technology?