Russian research project: immortality to billionaires - transplanting brains into Robots

I read a science fiction story where a boy has a mother and her brain exists in a room and she controls robots inside her home. It was titled "Mr. Boy" by James Patrick Kelly. It was on p.1 in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois.

Like most sci-fi stories, it has a humanist theme, as in: brain-in-box = bad. I'd have to re-read the story, but I know that the boy didn't like his mom and didn't like her existing in a box.

Technology challenges us because it blurs the boundaries that define us.

Originally posted by Char-Lee

Originally posted by ProfessorChaos
reply to post by dominicus

 

Not trying to be sarcastic here, but a rat brain in a petri dish controlling a flight simulator is still a far cry from Robocop.

Well if you take a look at the accomplishments of robotics today and add that in, it is very significant.

Significant? Absolutely. Robocop? No.

probably means to billionaires naive enough to still buy in to the idea we are our brains

For this to work you would have to be working with the false premise that the human brain does not age.
The human brain does age and it also dies.
Imagine though, and ageing possibly senile dementia stricken brain.......living a living hell....forever!

No thanks!

I take the immortality we ALL already have and will work with that!

A new 'space suit' every time suits me fine....Have the billionaires never watched Star Wars or read 'Harry Potter'? Ever notice what happens to people who think they are so 'special' that they should live forever? Nothing good ever comes from it!

What would happen in unfortunate but inevitable occurance of another 'Carrinton Event'?

Originally posted by Emeraldous
reply to post by dreamingawake

 

LOOOOOOOOOOL!
2nd

That's actually the real video of the people promoting this. Not sure why it's funny.


It's more concerning if anything.

Once consciousness is harnessed, in their book( and if possible), it's a go.

Possible Hints of Consciousness After Death Found in Rats

Post-Death Consciousness Possibly Found in Rats

Harvard scientists create 'telepathic' link between human and rat brains

Transhumanism eh?

I guess the singularity is nearly upon us!

What kind of existence would this really offer? Unless they advance the construction of Android body's somewhat(Think Surrogates tech level) I don't think I would like to live this way. No sense of touch, taste or smell well that's sex out of the question. LoL

I suppose they could emulate the act all the same.

Eventually you will be able to clone yourself minus bad DNA, and just transfer your mind into a new body. Even the brain cannot last forever so we will either need to download to circuits or to a clone to have immortality.

In seriousness brain cells degrade just like our body so immortality this is not.

reply to post by dominicus


This is fantastic news if true.

I quite like the idea of all the rich elite ending up in a metal robot shell for all eternity. Then they'll be the only ones left to forever live in the sh1t world they've created.

They should be careful what they wish for.

reply to post by esteay812

However, if our ultimate goal is to reach some level of immortality, it's obvious that it must be limited to a select few. Earth could never produce the resources to sustain a multiplying, immortal population.

Forgive me, but this is an often quoted, but extremely short-sighted point of view.

Not having a bash at you, only the point you raised btw.

Think about a society where the majority have the option to live vastly extended lifespans.

I'm not talking about cyborgs or robot bodies, but our own flesh and blood bodies, whether the research takes us in the direction of stem cell and gene therapies that specifically target and turn off the genes that cause the majority of our genetic aging, and stem cell therapies that target and repair / support the prevention of aging effects caused by non-genetic aging, like radiation damage, pollution, etc. etc. or not..cyborgs are only going to fill the period of time between researching the growing of full biological bodies to replace our own. Cyborgs will be used i suspect for dangerous situations, like search and rescue, exploration and probably warfare.

Although i'd imagine this would be mostly done using a mind-machine interface of some sort that allows the mind to control the cyborg body as though it is our actual body, complete with a nervous system feedback.

OK..we have our society where (if we choose to) we can manipulate our lifespans..what other aspects would obviously be in place well before this life extension became mainstream?

Organised birth control would be one measure, another would be a 'one out - one in' system, where fatal accidents (which would still kill as many immortals as they do mortals today) would make room for a birth.

A million deaths through accidents, murder, warfare, natural disasters, or whatever reason would open up as it were, a million birth slots and so on.

I see nothing wrong with this concept, and as long as the total population numbers are not rising, there is no resource based problems.

As an aside, European population numbers are falling alarmingly...Germany for example are wondering what they can do to bring their own population numbers back up to a more stable level, they have underpopulation, as do a lot of other countries.

With the advent of the technology for enhanced lifespans we're talking about here, our species will be able to not only enhance the comparatively wealthy Western nations, but also be able to successfully take on the overpopulation problems of the so-called 3rd world, which is what we're really talking about when 'overpopulation' is spoken about.

With an enhanced life expectancy, and the option to become what would essentially be 'choice based immortality', the populations of the 3rd world would shrink very rapidly and would be subject to the one out-one in rule. With a lifespan of several hundred years (or more), we'd have plenty of time before we ever had to worry about starting a family to carry us on, so family planning would be a very different proposition than it is today with biological clocks ticking all over the place...the clock would be stopped so to speak, children could be born to people whose chronological age would be measured in the centuries, while their bodies would be that of fertile young people.

There would be no population issues to worry about.

Originally posted by ProfessorChaos
Where They are taking us is a place that I don't feel like going.

I have to agree. I don't know that I want to prolong my life. I think it is neat in and of itself, but there are so many ways it could go wrong that I don't think I want to experience it personally.

Besides, yes, they can keep your body alive... but what about your BRAIN? It would still age, right? We would still have many that, though they have a great body (robotic), they would have alzheimer's, ms, cancer, etc.

A robotic body can be programmed to stimulate the "emotional centers" of the brain but would it be enough? Excited, joy, sad, caring, loving, anger, happiness, etc.. Maybe emotions are overrated... (not!).

What about sex? We have sex all over EVERYTHING! It is a basis for just about everything now. Kids having sex earlier and earlier. As important as it seems that sex is for people, would it be something people were willing to give up?

I guess with the same pleasure centers in the brain it wouldn't matter. I can see people (elite) charging the common folk to "plug" in and get emotions. Maybe a subscription?

What about consciousness and well-being? Is that truly in the brain? Is it in the heart? It is a combination? When you plug out of your body and into the robot... are you "you"?

Nah... too many "what abouts" in my head. Ill keep what I have and suffer to the end. =P

reply to post by andy06shake

What kind of existence would this really offer? Unless they advance the construction of Android body's somewhat(Think Surrogates tech level) I don't think I would like to live this way. No sense of touch, taste or smell well that's sex out of the question. LoL

If you saw the video posted by the Russian Billionaire who started this project, you would see that the android body would also have all 5 senses.

Better yet, they can have Eagle/owl eyes which is vision hats about 10-40 times better than human, add cats ability to see in the dark, a bloodhounds nose, ultrasound echo location bat ears, quadruple the amount of nerve endings in the sexual organs. It could really by human 2.0

Of course with out heart and gut instinct, they'll still end up narcissist psychopaths

reply to post by dominicus


"If you saw the video posted by the Russian Billionaire who started this project, you would see that the android body would also have all 5 senses."

Cant really view the vid till I get home im afraid.

"Better yet, they can have Eagle/owl eyes which is vision hats about 10-40 times better than human, add cats ability to see in the dark, a bloodhounds nose, ultrasound echo location bat ears, quadruple the amount of nerve endings in the sexual organs. It could really by human 2.0"

That may be the case, however one has to consider that the very essence of our humanity could quite possibly be lost in translation.

"Of course with out heart and gut instinct, they'll still end up narcissist psychopaths"

Empathy, or the ability to empathise with others would be the first thing to go i imagine.

They would see themselves as superior, kind of like Khan Noonien Soong in Star Trek 3.

reply to post by dominicus


All sounds a little ghoulish, kind of a cross between frankenstein and 25th century. maybe they will call the first completed tincan frankie..

anyway, wherever this goes, it goes without me, I am happy to live my natural lifespan, even if there were pills to extend natural lifespan 10 extra years, I would def not be interested...sometimes we say life is short, but you know sometimes short is long enough....

Originally posted by Raxoxane
How absolutely pathetic that people are so afraid of passing on that they would consider going to such grotesque lengths to stay here,in Any form.Btw what happens if the robot sustains catastrophic damage-like say,a bomb blast or shot at with a drone-wha then?How feeble.I cannot imagine anything worse than immortality Here-these rich folks must be bloody daft,who ever would even consider that.Uuugh..but then,karma is a bitch.No wonder some would love to postpone another go on the merry-go-round,in less favorable circumstances

Pathetic

edit on 18-8-2013 by Raxoxane because: (no reason given)

Doesn't seem pathetic to me, so you really want to die? Getting old is bad enough, wouldn't you at least want to stave off the frailties of age? Turn me into the 6 billion dollar man any day, rather than be bed ridden. Though having my head in a Jar (like Futurama) for eternity is another thing. But living a few thousand years with a robot body sounds great to me, what are our biological bodies anyway...they are just parts to keep our brain going, made of metal or flesh, not sure it matters.

Originally posted by doorhandle

Originally posted by Raxoxane
How absolutely pathetic that people are so afraid of passing on that they would consider going to such grotesque lengths to stay here,in Any form.Btw what happens if the robot sustains catastrophic damage-like say,a bomb blast or shot at with a drone-wha then?How feeble.I cannot imagine anything worse than immortality Here-these rich folks must be bloody daft,who ever would even consider that.Uuugh..but then,karma is a bitch.No wonder some would love to postpone another go on the merry-go-round,in less favorable circumstances

Pathetic

edit on 18-8-2013 by Raxoxane because: (no reason given)

Doesn't seem pathetic to me, so you really want to die? Getting old is bad enough, wouldn't you at least want to stave off the frailties of age? Turn me into the 6 billion dollar man any day, rather than be bed ridden. Though having my head in a Jar (like Futurama) for eternity is another thing. But living a few thousand years with a robot body sounds great to me, what are our biological bodies anyway...they are just parts to keep our brain going, made of metal or flesh, not sure it matters.

edit on 19-8-2013 by doorhandle because: missed a word

edit on 19-8-2013 by doorhandle because: ...

Agreed somewhat, in that its all relative. Average joe making average dough or in the low end of low class sees existence as suffering and death as an exit that's welcomed.

Someone with billions, sees life as a spectacular ride filled with best foods, cars, houses, women, etc.

I still think they will end up as psychopaths.

Also i think the bodies we have now are just very fragile and limited flesh/bone exoskeletons for the soul. If you believe in evolution, you can say the cavemen where 1.0, 2.0, 3.0.........and what we have now is 10.0.....but gene modification/engineering can create 50.0, 60.0, etc.

Eventually, a bionic Android body half flesh half machine would be a huge improvement over how weak we are now....still psychopathy will be the big side effect

Originally posted by ProfessorChaos

Originally posted by Emeraldous
Time to hack the elites ahahaha!
2nd

And you know that the hackers out there would be rubbing their hands together in anticipation of this.

Maybe a gathering of the world elite in a park somewhere, where they're all forced to dance the Thriller while the unwashed sit and laugh.

edit on 8/18/2013 by ProfessorChaos because: typo

cyber virues to spread volutanrily all their ill gotten gains back to the poor people they stole it from.

reply to post by Raxoxane

It really is pathetic.
I would imagine they would wish they hadn't done it and look for ways to terminate themselves. Being trapped is one of the worst feelings and they will be eternally tortured. It's the equivalent of sending them to hell.

Originally posted by wrabbit2000
They're chasing something man has been in pursuit of for thousands of years. The Fountain Of Youth. I doubt they'll find it any better in the science lab than anyone has managed in the real world.

They'll try though...they'll always try. No one likes death and we ALL die...so I never expect to see the effort stop, because it'll never reach the goal they seek. Immortality this way? Hell.. You aren't even the same person anymore, if a person is what it could be called at all.

Just wait till they find how important some of the other areas of the body are to the 'self' and the 'Soul'. That should be a wake up ...but they won't see that until they do a true head transplant or extended time with a brain "running" separate from the original body. It's getting to be a freak show.

There is a big difference between throwing a brain into a toaster and the fountain of youth. I can't imagine why you would want to be in a robot. I would rather just have my brain plugged into a virtual world where I still have a body. If anyone needs to talk to me from the outside, just skype me.

I doubt a amateur hacker will be able to hack something that billions of dollars was put into.

I got a question for this, because I see many people complaining about it. Whats wrong with this? In my opinion, absolutely nothing. I feel like people just need something to whine about.