'We are all going to be cyborgs' if humanity wants to solve its biggest problems

Here's another take on the future of A.I. He doesn't see it as us vs. them but he thinks that computers and humans will become a single unit.

There’s no one unifying vision of how super-smart artificial intelligence (AI) will change the future. Depending on who you ask, it could take our jobs, turn the Earth into paperclips, or kill off humankind.

Shimon Whiteson, an AI researcher at the University of Amsterdam, has a more hopeful vision: AI won’t just make our futures better and safer, it will solve humanity’s worst problems — even if getting there may require some uncomfortable compromises.

“I really think in the future we are all going to be cyborgs,” Whiteson said. “[People] have a tendency to think, there’s us and then there’s computers. Maybe the computers will be our friends and maybe they will be our enemies, but we’ll be separate from them. But I think that’s not true at all, I think the human and the computer are really, really quickly becoming one tightly coupled cognitive unit.”

Take the smartphone, Whiteson said. The devices now make information available to anyone with an internet connection. So, in a sense, smartphones already tightly integrate with, enhance, and supplement human intelligence.

www.businessinsider.com.au...

This is probably the case and you will have augmented humans and humans who want to remain "pure." Eventually Cyborgs or augmented humans will win out because they will just be better. It's survival of the fittest.

Humans may live in a "pure" state inside ancestor simulations. We could be in one now. Maybe we're "pure" humans that didn't want to assimilate and become Cyborgs so they let us live in these simulations.

The simulation idea is interesting if You consider the the fantastical circumstances we find the state of the Universe in and what we observe.

Heck even legends of old and all the myth would even fit in with that argument as it would be possible within a simulation to do and perform just about any feat via admin commands

There better be an open source option available because I'll be dammed if I'm going to have some hardware corporation dictate what updates my embedded system is going to get.

great, just what the government ordered: generations of humans with inbuilt kill-switches. should provide incentive.

also have to be careful about "outgrowing" our humanity. what if a digital perspective alters our values to the point that we no longer observe them?

We're already there. Implants, prosthetics,contact lenses, body modification.

Do we get into a car, or do we wrap a machine around ourselves?

The biggest problems of humanity is solving the fundamental mysteries of the universe? I really don't see them problem.
It's a challenge yes but not a necessity to life or survival.
You don't 'solve' nature you learn from it.

It’s too hard to think about these really big problems with our little brains. We need to augment our brains with something that will make them smarter. We need to make computers so smart, they can help us solve these big problems.”

this all doesn't make any sense, where is the logic in this?

Then I would be a CHROMER.
With non hackable limbs.

this i think is very likely, i appreciate the thread op, thanks.

I am very interested in what this kind of thing might mean for our future evolution as a species, and the speed of such evolution.. prof. eamon healey has lectured on this topic before, it's nice to see others investigating and speaking on behalf of the idea as well.

a reply to: neoholographic

I don't get it. How would it solve our biggest problems? How would us becoming cyborgs end world hunger? Or end wars & conflicts? If anything, I think it would make them worse.

Also, why should we believe they'd share this technology with all of humankind? That's not how capitalism works. They'd make it incredibly expensive then profit off of the people who could afford it. A true socialist or communist society would theoretically share the technology with all of its citizens. But we don't have anything close to that.

There are people who can't afford basic medical procedures or their medicines now. Just imagine them having to pay for the maintenance, repairs, & updates for artificial eyes or limbs.

However, I do think it'd be pretty cool to have this technology on a large scale. But it depends on what the functionality would be.

a reply to: neoholographic

There seems to be a very significant feedback loop between social bonds and connections via internet and smart phone technology - and also to human consciousness and even paranormal things, like dreams. So the power and integrity of the overall social and technological connections really does make a difference as to exactly how this could all evolve (or devolve).

Tomorrowland?

Cyborgs will never change human nature, which is the real problem.

The guy claiming this has a lack of real understanding and root causes of the problems around the world.

Humans need to be more tolerant, accept sacrifice, share, restrain from being violent, refrain from stealing, lying, cheating, lusting, refrain from being greedy, acting like whores to the highest bidder, worshiping false leaders, all of this needs to be done in our current form. We already have all he rules written down on stone. We can't even practice those 10 rules and this guy wants to add super human cyborgs in the mix? I don't know about you, but some men don't deserve to hold a gun and many do, imagine those same insane men with super human strength, or self healing tissue or access to all the information in the world (more direct than now with the internet via some kind of cerebral interface). Imagine an army of those who can't even chose anymore because that part of the brain is disabled. All the problems will be solved, right?

This dude is smoking some good stuff and I hope he never makes it to a position of power.

Maybe I am getting ahead of myself or of his claims, I just think his rosy glasses are naive at best.

Consider smart dust and then consider those who would use smart dust to upgrade themselves intoo nanotech enhancements of thier percieved selves.

Considering that we may be in a simulation of sorts it doesnt matter if you upgrade or not, your still in a materialistic simulation.

Yes an upgrade would allow people to do everything thier smart phones do, upgrade the mind body connection to allow things like immortality, and change the way we percieve the world likened to quantum computing all variables before taking an action. Upgrades may allow humans to become what we would consider superhuman, doing more than one thing at a time in space time etc. . . . .

I say we allow those who want to go ahead and upgrade, and let those who dont want to remain as they are. Freedom of choice should be allowed, we shouldnt be railroaded by those who lack sufficent vision to see another way of living.

a reply to: neoholographic

I would say that not only is the premise sound, but it is already happening. Medical implants, like pacemakers, and the nerve signal jamming device that a friend of mine had implanted to prevent dead nerves from sending erroneous pain signals, are the beginning. When the vast majority of implants are placed for non medical reasons, into healthy people to augment their current optimum operation, rather than to replace missing or damaged infrastructure, that will be the period in which things get "interesting".

However, I would recommend against involving oneself with such things, simply because at present, software and hardware are not secure enough, and someone hacking your body, rather than you computer, has connotations and implications which do not bare thinking about.

If you look at the way protein synthesis occurs it appears very mechanical. In fact a lot of the processes that occur in the body have a mechanical look. Go check out the Harvard video of RNA.

Thus, life is probably a continuum where biological systems trend towards mechanical systems, and as mechanical systems get more sophisticated, they trend towards looking biological.

One reason is that bio-systems can work in the self-sustaining, self-replicating, self-repairing aspects better.

We will move towards incorporating 'technology' into our biology, and we'll tend toward bio-engineering to create human-hybrids that can survive in a hotter climate, higher UV, higher CO2, and perhaps more conserving of water and calories.

I think humanities problems can be solved with common sense.

As to becoming a crborg i think it should be optional just like some people want fake boobs or contact lenses.

If someone wants an extra brain made by a lattice of nanobots and to hook themselves up to a computer they should be allowed to do that. . . .

Of course they could then take over the world so . . . . . Ummm I guess I am ok with that. . . . . .

I'm not going to be any such damn thing.

originally posted by: FormOfTheLord
I think humanities problems can be solved with common sense.

Hasn't worked for thousands of years, not going to happen anytime soon.

I don't think "augmenting" with AI will solve our problems either. Humans will always find a way to incite conflict. People love conflict.

originally posted by: OhOkYeah

originally posted by: FormOfTheLord
I think humanities problems can be solved with common sense.

Hasn't worked for thousands of years, not going to happen anytime soon.

I don't think "augmenting" with AI will solve our problems either. Humans will always find a way to incite conflict. People love conflict.

LOL good point, I think eventually humanity will get it right say in 2-3 thousand years from now. Year 4015-5015 may be good folks who time travel and travel to other worlds because they are welcome there. . . . . LOL