Are we the last generation of homo sapiens?

MeatTwoVeg · 10-10-2016 12:26PM #1

Advances in biotechnology are likely to render our descendants more different from us than we are from the homininae we evolved from.

Should these changes be embraced or resisted?
Would you choose to re-engineer yourself to something different and near immortal if that choice was available to you?

howamidifferent · 10-10-2016 12:38PM

MeatTwoVeg wrote: »

Would you choose to re-engineer yourself to something different and near immortal if that choice was available to you?

Chrisht No! Life is hard enough without immortality or even additional longevity... :eek:

Knowing there's an end makes you appreciate the now.

The_Valeyard · 10-10-2016 12:39PM

We are the Borg. Resistance is futile.

Boom_Bap · 10-10-2016 12:41PM

Will I still love lasagne?

jacksie66 · 10-10-2016 12:41PM

This post has been deleted.

IrishZeus · 10-10-2016 12:42PM

MeatTwoVeg wrote: »

Advances in biotechnology are likely to render our descendants more different from us than we are from the homininae we evolved from.

Should these changes be embraced or resisted?
Would you choose to re-engineer yourself to something different and near immortal if that choice was available to you?

I'd quite happily take additional longevity - few hundred years or so to witness the wonders that are to come.

Immortality could be a bit much.

Rhys Essien · 10-10-2016 12:52PM

OP,I fully agree.Arnie and friends will be back in the next few decades.Its rise of the machines.We had our few thousand years.

s15r330 · 10-10-2016 12:55PM

IrishZeus wrote: »

I'd quite happily take additional longevity - few hundred years or so to witness the wonders that are to come.

Immortality could be a bit much.

Wonders?! The world is going down the toilet and its our fault.
The world would be a much better place if we weren't here!
The only way i'd take an extra few hundred years would be if proper space travel and exploration was an option.

10-10-2016 01:05PM

I aint fer embracing no homo sapiens...

IrishZeus · 10-10-2016 01:08PM

s15r330 wrote: »

Wonders?! ... proper space travel and exploration was an option.

They would be big part of the wonders that I am referring to.

s15r330 · 10-10-2016 01:13PM

IrishZeus wrote: »

They would be big part of the wonders that I am referring to.

Unless you are ultra rich, we're not gonna be experiencing those wonders.
If and when viable space travel to actual habitable planets becomes a reality, normal people will be left to scamble around in the gutter because thats all that will be left here in the coming centuries if population growth continues!

IrishZeus · 10-10-2016 01:14PM

s15r330 wrote: »

Unless you are ultra rich, we're not gonna be experiencing those wonders.
If and when viable space travel to actual habitable planets becomes a reality, normal people will be left to scamble around in the gutter because thats all that will be left here in the coming centuries if population growth continues!

You're a bit of a pessimist today, aren't you?

s15r330 · 10-10-2016 01:16PM

IrishZeus wrote: »

You're a bit of a pessimist today, aren't you?

Normally i'm the total opposite

Summer wind · 10-10-2016 01:25PM

I am a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton. I am out there. I can't be bargained with, I can't be reasoned with. I don't feel pity or remorse or fear and I absolutely will not stop.....EVER until you are dead.

Yes I think re-engineering ourselves is totally the way to go.

Your Face · 10-10-2016 01:29PM

Later Homo.

ScumLord · 10-10-2016 01:41PM

I don't know if it will lead to a borg like human race that's half machine. Bionic implants are getting better and better, but I don't see too many people removing a perfectly good flesh arm to have one that a powerful grip. It's not like a bionic arm would allow you to lift heavy weights, it's still attached to a flesh and blood shoulder and body, so the limits are still there. To make a bionic human that could run twice as fast would probably mean replacing the two legs, hips and probably the spine as olympic runners are reaching the limits of what the human nervous system can achieve sending signals from the brain to the legs.

I've heard other stories that we might be able to link our brains up to the internet and be able to do advanced maths as an app plugged directly into our brain, and while that may be useful from time to time, how often do most people use anything more advanced than multiplying? And won't AI be doing all those kind of jobs anyway?

I think we'll be able to extend our lifespans but until we understand the brain better that extended life probably won't be all that great.

The Wolverine · 10-10-2016 03:03PM

ScumLord wrote: »

I don't know if it will lead to a borg like human race that's half machine. Bionic implants are getting better and better, but I don't see too many people removing a perfectly good flesh arm to have one that a powerful grip. It's not like a bionic arm would allow you to lift heavy weights, it's still attached to a flesh and blood shoulder and body, so the limits are still there. To make a bionic human that could run twice as fast would probably mean replacing the two legs, hips and probably the spine as olympic runners are reaching the limits of what the human nervous system can achieve sending signals from the brain to the legs.

I've heard other stories that we might be able to link our brains up to the internet and be able to do advanced maths as an app plugged directly into our brain, and while that may be useful from time to time, how often do most people use anything more advanced than multiplying? And won't AI be doing all those kind of jobs anyway?

I think we'll be able to extend our lifespans but until we understand the brain better that extended life probably won't be all that great.

Bionic eyes and maybe ear implants and replacements for bad organs would.be the main thing i reckon

4068ac1elhodqr · 10-10-2016 03:17PM

Yes, H+ (trans-humanism) is a real thing,
I'd expect 'VR' to actually become more significant
than regular mobile & desktop web, within a few years.

jimgoose · 10-10-2016 03:17PM

All this has happened before, and will happen again. You know Mitochondrial Eve is a hybrid human-Cylon, right??

Ted111 · 10-10-2016 03:18PM

Lots of nano machines permeating your tissue and blood stream - diagnosing and treating infections, cancer etc.
Super computer memory. Telescopic eyesight. Lasers in your finger tips. Rocket propulsion in your legs. Left hand replaced by a tin opener.

Maximus Alexander · 10-10-2016 03:37PM

Yeah as I get older and bits of my body stop working, if the technology is around to patch them up and make me live longer I'll be all aboard for that. Of course. I'd be up for immortality too, if it was going. I find the universe far too interesting and entertaining to remove myself from it if there's any alternative. At least if you're alive you have options, once you're dead; you're dead.

ScumLord · 10-10-2016 03:47PM

Which would people prefer though. The doctors remove your own eye and replace it with a bionic eye. Lets say the bionic eye comes with some tricks like being able to zoom in on stuff and see in the dark.

Or an injection that brings your own eyes (both of them) back to how it was when you were twenty with perfect 20/20 vision?

Would you go through an operation and possible complications to be able to see in the dark? The bionic eye would probably be much more expensive too. Or would you just get your own young eyes back?

I don't think people will be all that eager to go through operations to get bionic hardware attached to them.

HS3 · 10-10-2016 03:50PM

s15r330 wrote: »

IrishZeus wrote: »

I'd quite happily take additional longevity - few hundred years or so to witness the wonders that are to come.

Immortality could be a bit much.

Wonders?! The world is going down the toilet and its our fault.
The world would be a much better place if we weren't here!
The only way i'd take an extra few hundred years would be if proper space travel and exploration was an option.

Why would you want space travel for humans to be an option if all we're doing is ruining the planet we've currently got.

I don't think humans 'ruined' anything deliberately. We used the resources available to us and used our intelligence to create resources that weren't available, to make our existence more comfortable and enjoyable for us. Every living creature does that. We've even learned that what we're doing is depleting the resources available to us and damaging the earth, so instead of ploughing on regardless we try to make changes where we can to protect the earth.

gramar · 10-10-2016 04:13PM

I read recently that average life expectancy is increasing with more people raching their 80's and 90's but that maximum life expectancy is about 125 years and that won't move.

jimgoose · 10-10-2016 04:16PM

gramar wrote: »

I read recently that average life expectancy is increasing with more people raching their 80's and 90's but that maximum life expectancy is about 125 years and that won't move.

The notion of the "maximum lifespan" is just the average of the top 10% oldest known to have lived. It expresses where we're at rather than what is technically/theoretically possible.

ScumLord · 10-10-2016 04:23PM

jimgoose wrote: »

The notion of the "maximum lifespan" is just the average of the top 10% oldest known to have lived. It expresses where we're at rather than what is technically/theoretically possible.

The big problem is how do you fix the aging brain? Maybe we could make the body live until it's 200 by replacing every organ but you can't replace the brain and if age related senility problems set in at 70 those extra years aren't going to mean much to anyone.

We'd probably need to start taking genetic samples of people in their twenties as a base template and somehow repair any genetic damage that happens throughout the person's life. Nano tech might be able to do that. But that's ultimately what we need to do to extend life spans.

jimgoose · 10-10-2016 04:25PM

ScumLord wrote: »

The big problem is how do you fix the aging brain? Maybe we could make the body live until it's 200 by replacing every organ but you can't replace the brain and if age related senility problems set in at 70 those extra years aren't going to mean much to anyone.

We'd probably need to start taking genetic samples of people in their twenties as a base template and somehow repair any genetic damage that happens throughout the person's life. Nano tech might be able to do that. But that's ultimately what we need to do to extend life spans.

Agreed, as far as I can make out the name of the game has to be armies of Borg nanite sort of things constantly repairing/replacing in order to keep ageing properly at bay.

gramar · 10-10-2016 04:28PM

jimgoose wrote: »

Agreed, as far as I can make out the name of the game has to be armies of Borg nanite sort of things constantly repairing/replacing in order to keep ageing properly at bay.

That's all well and good but...who is going to pay the pensions?

ScumLord · 10-10-2016 04:31PM

gramar wrote: »

That's all well and good but...who is going to pay the pensions?

Well the nanobots could potentially keep you in your prime, if they repair any damage and new cells aren't replicating damaged cells (which is what currently causes old age) you just wouldn't age.

So no need for retirement.

Ted111 · 10-10-2016 04:33PM

jimgoose wrote: »

Agreed, as far as I can make out the name of the game has to be armies of Borg nanite sort of things constantly repairing/replacing in order to keep ageing properly at bay.

And maybe some genetic re-engineering. The dna in neurons and throughout the body is designing cells and systems that are meant to have very finite life expectancy. Evolution has had no interest in overly prolonging single units. We may have to step in and create new design/instructions.
Then it's a matter of feeding the raw building blocks that the cells and tissues need to continually replenish.

Ted111 · 10-10-2016 04:37PM

gramar wrote: »

That's all well and good but...who is going to pay the pensions?

Money is just a medium of exchange. We need to colonise and adapt the biospheres of other planets and exploit their resources. No point in living for ever if you have nothing to do.

Are we the last generation of homo sapiens?

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