Because the updates are already late, and because I wanted to kinda change the subject, I decided to write about something I knew would come easily for me:

We've all thought about it from time to time; wouldn't it be great to be immortal? We all fear death sometimes. There are other reasons for immortality, of course. In my case, with such a fierce passion for knowledge, I want to be immortal because it would give me the time to read every book in every library, as well as explore everything the Earth has to offer.

While researching artificial intelligence for a school paper, I learned about a fairly new approach to creating AI. Some scientists are trying to combine manufactured computer chips with living neurons to create artificial brains. This idea of artificial brains fostered transhumanism.

Transhumanism involves "uploading" a person's entire conciousness into an artificial brain, composed of computer chips - something more durable than living tissue. The idea is to insert this brain into a robotic body (also more durable than our body) and thus achieve immortality. You could even make copies of your yourself! If humans have a chance at immortality, I think this is it.

Transhumanism also opens up whole new worlds of possibilities. By "uploading" your conciousness into a variety of machines, you could easily walk on the bottom of the ocean or fly to the moon. With your brain in a computer chip, you could easily plug yourself into a computer and download all the knowledge the internet has to offer. Vehicles of war could be unmanned, but be piloted/controlled simultaneously by the best pilot in the world.

All in all, transhumanism fascinates the hell out of me...but I just don't think it would work. First of all, what would happen to feelings? Generally scientists believe that feelings are just chemicals in the brain, but I believe they are so much more. Those of you who have been in love know what I'm talking about - it's a force that can affect you physically. Would we still feel love burning in our chests if we became machines?

What if transhumanism fell into the wrong hands? I know, it sounds like a bad science fiction movie, but I think it could happen. If the technology became available to everyone, any one person could make copies of his conciousness and, in essence, make an army of himself! Just think about a guy like Hitler making copies of himself that are immortal and more powerful than any human. I could see this demented "man" hiding copies of his brain in many different secret places, so that he lives forever, no matter how many times we kill him.

How about reproduction? Surely we can create more robotic bodies and continue cloning our brains, but how do we create new conciousness? Is there any way?. If the entire human race becomes machines, there would be no way to create new life. Our race would become stagnant - no new cultures, no new ideas - just a fixed number of people, living forever. Boring.

Transhumanism fascinates me far more than anything else I've ever learned about, but I don't pursue it because I believe the cons outweight the pros. It could be useful, for example, in exploring the depths of the ocean - a concious robot could explore and make decisions without scietists controlling it remotely. As a widespread way for people to gain immortality, however, I just don't think it will work.

What do you think about it?