Transhumanism

So in my paper, I did some research on some Transhumanist concepts, and I found them to be very interesting. I have included a link to the "Transhumanist Declaration." I have also included a link to a wikipedia article about a Transhumanistic SF novel called A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge. In the novel, the galaxy is divided into "zones of thought." Toward the center ("The Unthinking Depths"), only simple machines and animal-like intelligences are possible. In the outer realms ("The Transcend"), super beings are found.

One of the most interesting and common themes of the articles I read about transhumanism is that "Transhumanists" are struggling for ordinary human rights.

http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/declaration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep

More on Robots

Since so much has been said about robots in society, I thought I might add my two cents. I see nothing wrong or dangerous about it. It may very well make things safer. We already live in a very automated world. Many of the robots we have today put many people out of work in the past. In the end, however, more jobs were created because more skilled workers were needed in other areas. If anything, having robots in society only helps the economy and encourage humans to work on more important things.

One fellow blogger was concerned about an automated car accidently running over a child because it could not distinguish it from a fox. I understand the concern, but in the event that a fox were to run out in front of a car, the automated car would save the driver's and passengers' lives by not swerving and flipping the car. So while there is potential for the loss of human life in that situation, there is even more potential to save it. The same may be said for airplanes.

Should we turn our lives over to machines? Of course not, like humans, robots can make mistakes too. It would just be nice if humans used robots more often to make the quality of life better. I say let the robots bag our groceries or perform open heart surgery. If a robot is capable of doing something, I say why not. Let us not forget that their are jobs that robots could never hold: lawyers, teachers, CEOs, inventors and much more. Then there are many jobs that robots could do, but humans would much more prefer a human to do it for them (i.e. bartender, waitress, maid, grocer, etc). There is huge potential for robots to help us human beings live a better life and be more efficient.

I think what we should be afraid of is a self-aware robot. A robot that is self-aware and can evolve is dangerous. We know that because so many SF stories have told us. We just need to be sure never to create such a machine that could compete against in everyday life.

My response to the city thing....

I would like to see cities ration their resources and plan to be cleaner. That would be good for everyone.
However, the thought of expanding somewhere else that is yet untouched scares me greatly.
I find that rather than attempt to clean up the mess we have already made and stay in the cities we have, humans would rather let those cities deteriorate and continue to pollute the earth while they move to pure areas and attempt a fresh start. This is terrible.
I believe a lot can be learned by dealing with the consequences of your actions and having to find a solution without getting a "mulligan." We as humans should have to suffer the penalties of dirty air and roadside trash, and rather than move to a pristine desert or rain forest and demolish it, should find ways of cleaning up the areas we already have. After all, we have spent years developing these urban areas and some of them we are very proud of.
Despite the fact that we make it sound like a clean city and will reduce waste, the fact is that we are still destroying untouched earth. A city looks like an abomination: a blip on a beautfiul area that by the grace of God we have left alone this long. Sure, it wouldn't make much pollution, but think of all you would be destroying just to build in that area. And a city there, no matter how clean, would still be a disruption to the ecosystem. I don't think lizards or vultures care much for automobiles, or people for that matter.
And if we leave our current cities as they are they will continue to junk up the planet. We need to start some reactive measures for cleaning up what we already have. And this will give us an advantage because while cleaning up we will know how to reduce pollution in the future and what NOT to do with our cities again. Learning from our mistakes is key. A new city sounds great at first, but I think we should fix what we already have before we go parading in some new area claiming it in the name of science.