I was just curious about the opinions and thoughts of others on some of the aspects of "transhumanism" on BSG, but in other aspects as well. Technically transhumanism can be something as simple as wearing glasses to see better, or a prosthetic limb. A step up from that would be "bionic" body parts. On BSG...more specifically Caprica, we see them downloading the memories of humans into a machine...the first "Centurion." We also see this originated in a virtual reality game. They are already working on such concepts now in the real world. Some see this sort of thing as a sort of "life extension" technology, where the mind can live on after the body dies. One must wonder about the true soul, mind, consciousness of the individual...How "real" or "human" are they? Did you just create a being with no soul? Could we use such downloads to raise children and clones with knowledge and memories beyond their years? It's getting to the point like in Jurassic Park...It's not a question of CAN we do these things, it's a question of SHOULD we? Again back to the Caprica Centurion...If you're going to download a human's memory into a battle-bot, perhaps you should start out with a subject other than a rebellious teenager...I'm just saying. No wonder the Cylons rebelled! On the other hand, if you downloaded a truly good and nobel person's memories, you could have great care takers for the young, disabled, and elderly. If you download only the elite, you're going to have lots of little Addie Hitlers, Josie Stallins, and Chuckie Mansons running around. Also, in the little BSG world I have in my mind, the Lords of Cobol were really just regular guys, but were the elite and wealthy leaders of Kobol. They used such technologies to extend their lives physically, as well as by downloading their minds, and were eventually honored as gods. With time, their bodies would die anyway from accident or intrigue...Even if you're immortal you'll die within a few hundred short years of some accident, most likely. Their memory downloads were corrupted...probably by the evil Count Iblis, but it could be some hacker glitch as well...Remember the initial corruption and business intrigue in the creation of the Caprica Centurion. So...These Lords of Kobol eventually demanded to be treated as gods, including the human sacrifice, as seen on the re-imagined series, and eventually their society collapsed as they warred with each other for ultimate control. Okay I'm digressing, but this is a way this sort of thing could get out of hand. We could clone populations for new colonies, or we could be enslaved by mandated memory downloads or stealthily placed instructions in educational downloads. What do you think?
Please, this can big a huge can of worms...Your opinions and thoughts are much desired! (But let's be nice and civil, discussing, not arguing). What do you think about transhumanism, downloading memories into machines, virtual reality worlds, clones, etc. Would such downloads also be a form of enslavement to program us all to obey? I think so, but that's just my opinion. What's yours?
:o)
JDF
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