Lecture and seminar by David Lamas
- Where do we draw the line between man and machine?
- Can we differentiate between an "enhanced" human (for instance, a person with an artificial hand or a heart pacer) and a cyborg?
- What, if any, are the legal, moral, ethical and political differences between humans and cyborgs?
- Will technology replace biology?
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial (e.g. electronic, mechanical or robotic) parts. Generally, the term "cyborg" is used to refer to a human with bionic, or robotic, implants.
Technological singularity
Technological singularity refers to the hypothetical future emergence of greater-than human intelligence through technological means. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the occurrence of technological singularity is seen as an intellectual event horizon, beyond which the future becomes difficult to understand or predict. The term was coined by science fiction writer Vernor Vinge, who argues that artificial intelligence, human biological enhancement or brain-computer interfaces could be possible causes for the singularity.
Proponents of the singularity typically anticipate such an event to precede an "intelligence explosion", wherein superintelligences design successive generations of increasingly powerful minds. The concept is popularized by futurists like Ray Kurzweil and widely expected by proponents to occur in the early to mid twenty-first century.
Tecnological singularity by Vernor Vinge
Vinge argues that the creation of superhuman artificial intelligence will mark the point at which "the human era will be ended," such that no current models of reality are sufficient to predict beyond it.
"Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended," he says.
So, is becoming cyborgs part of our collective future?
Here are some of my thoughts...
Listening to and watching the videos of Kevin Warwick and his human experiments, I have no question or doubt that these experiments to merge men and computers will only grow and become more common in the future. We are depending on the technology more than we want to or are ready to admit. There are already so many technical implants in human bodies that help to cope with the shortfall of health - problems that only biology cannot fix. It is after all our natural instinct to do whatever it takes to survive. We have already made computers portable and as small as possible for comfortable use. Implanting them inside us is only one step further. And there are many of us willing to experiment with whatever new techology has to offer.
Cyborgs are already part of us, whether we call them anyone who use technology to repair or overcome their physical and mental constraints (including artificial limbs and hands as well as a device for helping colour-blind people to "hear" in colour) or more strictly those who experiment with technology to increase or enhance normal capabilities. The question is when we arrive to the point at which they become a majority. And does that mark the end of human era? Or is it only natural that we extend the definitions of what is human and what is normal as we extend ourselves?
It's also quite evident that to overcome the tecnologigal singularity, or in other words the intellectual event horizon, we need to become something more than human in today's sense, we need to extend ourselves. Perhaps it works like the natural selection where only those with advanced capabilities and ability to adjust will survive. And I must admit, my mind is at the point beyond which this topic becomes difficult for me to understand or predict. It sounds logical that to overcome the barrier, we need to create successive generations of increasingly powerful minds, but where do we draw the line between man and machine?
British mathematician Irving John Good has said, already back in 1965: "Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an "intelligence explosion," and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make."
Sounds a bit frightening to me... But who am I? A human with an unaided human mind.
... and the concept map to conclude it.
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