Click Here if you would Like to Upload your Brain and Upgrade to Human 2.0!

robert_timmi_55.jpgYes! …it’s looking more likely that upgrading to human 2.0 will be the next great step in human Bio-evolution before the idea of Singularity occurs. Singularity by the way is supposed to occur around 2045 assuming all targets are met and Singularity basically means non-biological intelligence or AI (Artificial Intelligence) takes over and exceeds biological intelligence; thereby evolution of human kind becomes non-biological thereafter.

Does all this sound far fetched?
Well, that’s what I first thought when I picked up a copy of James Martin’s “Meaning of the 21st Century” a highly recommended book! James gives us an overall snapshot of human development in the 21st century, mostly in terms or social, biological, technological, environmental and global economics. The book infers to GNR (Genetics, Nano-Technology and Robotics) quite frequently as this is quite clearly our next step in human development. It was by reading this book that I first learnt about the “Singularity” so I decided to carry out further research. Further research on the web, led me to a highly elite group of techno-scientists, philosophers and others interested in the Singularity, convened at a thought provoking seminal conference at Stanford, California in August 2006, to discuss the viability of Singularity occuring.

I watched with great curiosity the 3 to 5 hour video seminar and what struck me was, they all conceded that singularity will most certainly occur; the only difference was the timescale! Ray Kurzweil the most eminent Singularitarian, reckons we will reach singularity by 2045, fifteen years after brains on the computer passes the so called “Turing Test”. Turing test which is anticipated around 2029 is when I could not tell the difference between your cognitive thoughts in person, and your cognitive thoughts on the computer or internet!! Anyways, some at Stanford reckoned singularity will not occur until 2100 or further on. So maybe I could buy so more time…perhaps!

So what should a lay man with modest intelligence like myself think? After a lot of my research in the last several weeks, I reckon we would certainly have the first set of humans uploading their brains to the internet within the next 10 years at most! This is very likely to occur due to exponential technological growth at enormous speeds. Think about it! …within the last 3 years alone, we now have blogs, wikis, ipods, social networks like My space and You tube, Me.tv a new roll out will allow anyone to pretty much start a syndicated video/tv channel and mobile internet is going to be massive! And the next trend in my opinion is Virtual Reality. I believe all social networks will start taking place in virtual reality environments. Very soon, I can imagine inviting my friends in California on My space, to hangout with me over coffee at my local Star bucks here in Bristol, UK and it will feel very real indeed. Do not doubt this sort of thing, its coming or already here, it’s only a question of which social network offers me this virtual reality opportunity first!

Oh by the way, the Daily Mail newspaper here in the UK wrote an article just a week ago alerting us all to get ready for the first set of Robots! …remember iRobot? well, the Daily Mail reckons we will soon have these robots as child minders, prison wardens and other communal services, and in only 5 years time! Even if the first set of robots are clumsy and fall over themselves at first, I’m pretty certain they will get smarter and smarter over months and years once introduced in to the human system. The same newspaper also suggested some of us will evolve into Super Humans in coming years, at first I didn’t quite get it until I read James Martin’s Meaning of the 21st Century, where he suggests the first set of human brain uploads will occur within the next 10 years and lead to more global excitement than the Internet itself. The idea is, those of us who opt to upload our brains become far more intelligent beings than those who do not upload. Once you upload your brain to the internet, you essentially become super intelligent like computers and are consequently capable of carrying out extraordinary tasks, far more efficiently. For instance, you could perform much better at predicting stock price movements and act on impulse accordingly; thereby making a fortune for yourself and the firm you work for. You may be a super surgeon capable of identifying human ailments even before they are likely to occur, thereby your surgery services are the most sought after locally..etc etc.. in any professional field.

James Martin suggests super humans will be in high demand and earn fantastic salaries than normal human beings and through all this it is quite possible that super humans will live much longer, perhaps an extra 100 years or so or maybe even forever if you believe Ray Kurzweil, a singularitarian. All this happens because the new “Super Human Race” learns how to effectively adapt and deploy its newly gained intelligence over time. This also leads to sustainable and healthier lifestyles, more environmentally friendly humans and effective space exploration leading to new cosmos colonization’s. Human 2.0 it is suggested may not even need the physical body at all times as we do in human 1.0. Super Humans may simply morph between the physical body and virtual space as it suits. Hey! they figured everything is pretty much controlled by the brain. Hence, if your brain now resides in cyberspace, why even bother very much with the inferior wear and tear of the physical body! (Read: http://marshallbrain.com/discard1.htm)

So, what are you going to do when this new form of technology arrives within a decade huh?
Let me give you a clue:

Many thousands of years ago, all human beings came from a continent we call Africa. Over time, human beings evolved and started a massive migration west wards out of Africa into Europe, Asia and other continents. I believe this massive migration inevitably led to all kinds of intelligent adaptations as human beings now had to get used to harsher and colder environments in the west. His mind was forced to innovate in order to stay alive and in the process, all kinds of advanced civilizations emerged out of Africa…hence the west today.

The only problem is, he looked down on the beings he left behind in Africa and sometimes exploited them to further his own self-development. If a new Super Human species or race were to evolve this century as I think it would, its unlikely to exploit other beings along racial lines this time, instead it is more likely to exploit along knowledgeable lines. Therefore, I doubt very much that Human 2.0 will give a damn for Human 1.0 unless we entirely discard the aggressive gene before he upgrades!

That’s my 2 cents today.

May 4, 2007 · Filed Under World news

Comments

2 Responses to “Click Here if you would Like to Upload your Brain and Upgrade to Human 2.0!”

  1. Javier Marti on May 5th, 2007 6:26 am

    I liked the last paragraph…
    Doesn’t the possibility exist that if /when a new race of super-humans evolve they just choose to wipe out the “Humans 1.0″ as you mention? Most probably at that point they wouldn’t need them for anything…?
    In the other hand, couldn’t a system /network of supercapable machines be advanced enough at some point to take over the human race before humans learn to upload their brain into the machines? My question about this vision is, why would machines need humans once they reached a certain superintelligent point anyway? Wouldn’t humans become a nuisance? We need air. Rest. Food… Aren’t we too imperfect to survive? Why would a super-intelligent system allow an inferior entity any control over itself?

  2. Blackworld - Dr James Watson on October 20th, 2007 3:44 am

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