1. What are your feelings about AI?
Bring it on – responsibly.

2. In the book I read, the author proposes that in the future, humans will get technological implants, and over time, become fully machine. Would you get any of these implants? (Ex. Implants that give you 20/20 vision, or implants that gives you increased endurance).
Well, yes. Currently I am comprised, roughly, of 10% human components, 80% medicine and 10% “grace of God”. Bluntly put, accessibility to a “smart body” would knock the stuffing out of the trials of living with a failing one.

3. Does the idea of humankind becoming machines intrigue or terrify you? Neither? Explain!
It is the phrase “becoming machines” that has the power to terrify. Safe technological/medical access to longevity and a superior quality of life sound much less intimidating. Access does not eliminate choice, although historically it is “choice” that seems to be a societally moral bugbear. If your law-abiding best friend is on the higher end of the sliding scale of robotics, it may be nobody’s business but his own or perhaps the designer gene factory’s, if they petri’d him to begin with. Moral issues are highly individual.

4. If you disagree with this idea, what do you think the future will be like? What will technology have done to us and for us? Do you think we could go “too far” with technology?
I think inevitably there will be one societal branch that furthers exploration and advancement of transhumanism. At the same time, I imagine the emergence of a movement that rejects it; think of a kind of latter-day luddite movement. Can we go too far? Will there be abuse of A.I? Of course. “Any sufficiently advanced benevolence may be indistinguishable from malevolence.” Here there be superintelligent dragons.

1. What are your feelings about AI?
It creeps me out to NO end!! It could be very, very useful, but it could also be just as detrimental.
2. In the book I read, the author proposes that in the future, humans will get technological implants, and over time, become fully machine. Would you get any of these implants?
Never. I often joke about wanting a bionic arm, but it’s all just joking. I would never, ever EVER want any part of me to be part machine. I know that, someday, I’ll probably need pins in my shoulder, and maybe a hip or two, perhaps even a knee, and just the thought of that (the thought of pins in me, not even machines, just pins) gives me the chills.
3. Does the idea of humankind becoming machines intrigue or terrify you? Neither?
More toward intrigue than terrify. But, when it starts happening, I’m sure my feelings would shift.
4. If you disagree with this idea, what do you think the future will be like?
I don’t disagree with it.
What will technology have done to us and for us?
I think technology will do all it can to and for us.
Do you think we could go “too far” with technology?
Most DEFINITELY.

I’m reading a book called Pure right now and the boy in it has been sort of messed with, technologically. He’s been “coded” with super strength and speed and agility, but his “coding” wasn’t completed so it doesn’t quite work properly and I think this will end up being a big problem for him. Also, people have chips inside them. Like, for locating-type purposes. THAT freaks the (insert random curse word here) out of me!!

Well, we’re always uncomfortable with advances, and we’re always advancing.

It’s good to question what we are doing, but it’s a laugh to think we’d stop modifying the human race.

Wayyyy back in the day, philosophers hated the written word. The were afraid of how books would solidify certain thoughts and keep them from evolving. The oral storytellers who would pass the entire song of the Ilead down from one storyteller to another were disgusted when it was written down, because they would be out of a job, and it would take all of the beauty away from it.

People were terrified of computers, because they would take over (they still might), and lots of luddites won’t have anything to do with them. Yet, modern society is almost completely dependant on them already. Less than one hundred years.

We are already part machine. We have artificial limbs that have computers, we have lots of people with artificial hips and shoulders, and heart valves.

I don’t think I would feel too bad at all about more artificial organs. Isn’t that better than hooking a person up to a dialysis machine for four hours a day? We’re already saving/exending lives. This direction will just mean it’s neater and smaller and better.

As far as the AI, the only difference will be whether we choose to put computers in our brain or not. The computers will keep getting smaller and smaller, and more a part of our lives every generation. What is the great difference between having a little chip in our brain, or having a little chip with a cord that projects an image directly onto our retina, that isn’t QUITE part of our brain?

Now here’s the other thing. It will become very difficult to be part of society without the AI implants. Just like now we expect most people to have internet access (just e-mail it to me) and a cell phone to function, the implants will be how all information and communication will work. By then, people won’t even have phones, they’ll communicate directly.

AI can be as useful and ethical as people want, or as controlling and oppressive. It will be nothing more than an extention of human nature and will.

1. What are your feelings about AI? Well, first of all, I’m not that sure that anything truly intelligent can be artificial. Next, I’m not sure whether there’s a difference between intelligent and sentient. Next, I’m pretty sure that how we feel about the manufacture of intelligent machines will not prevent their development. Someone, somewhere will eventually construct something “intelligent” using parts made by humans. Those are my feelings about A.I.

2. In the book I read, the author proposes that in the future, humans will get technological implants, and over time, become fully machine. Would you get any of these implants? (Ex. Implants that give you 20/20 vision, or implants that gives you increased endurance). I don’t see how humans can ever be fully machine. At some point on the path of that development, the humanity must be lost. Nevertheless, I do believe that eventually (assuming humanity doesn’t completely foul its nest) we will develop a technology that can mend us or enhance us beyond what we today consider “normal.” I see that technology being comprised of three approaches…mechanical, biological (e.g., stem cells), and a blend of both.

3. Does the idea of humankind becoming machines intrigue or terrify you? Neither? Explain! I don’t believe humans will ever “become machines” no matter how many technological wonders we are able to implant or otherwise make use of. Living organisms (humans included) are and will continue to be subject to the mutation and evolution. Living things are constantly bombarded by cosmic rays, which nick strands of DNA that causes mutation, and those resultant mutations are subject to the law of survival of the fittest. Those organisms whose mutations provide some sort of advantage will thrive and pass on those characteristics. But I find it highly unlikely that human DNA will ever mutate into strands that include steel or aluminum or copper or plastics, i.e., the building blocks of “machines” as we know them today. I did read a sci-fi story once, where on another world evolution took a different path and what we would consider intelligent machines (beings comprised of metals and electrical pathways not unlike neurons) became the dominant life forms. I suppose given enough time, such beings could possibly evolve on earth. I think that unlikely also, though, because I expect humans will deplete the earth of the natural resources necessary for such a change long before such creatures could evolve.

4. If you disagree with this idea, what do you think the future will be like? What will technology have done to us and for us? Do you think we could go “too far” with technology? I think we have already gone too far with technology. We cannot continue to pollute the environment we find necessary to survive and expect to be around much longer (“much longer” being a relative term, of course). I don’t see present day humans as a species having the foresight and the will to make meaningful changes. As long as human priorities are controlled by political and economic forces (politicos and bean counters), we will doom ourselves to an environmental day of reckoning. Once the air is unfit to breathe, the seas are dead, and the number of humans exceed the earth’s carrying capacity, our collective existence will likely blink out. This does not mean the end of the world, of course. Just our presence on it.

1. What are your feelings about AI?
Generally positive, but I depends on what it’s doing, I guess. I always think of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

2. In the book I read, the author proposes that in the future, humans will get technological implants, and over time, become fully machine. Would you get any of these implants? (Ex. Implants that give you 20/20 vision, or implants that gives you increased endurance).
I just can’t imagine humans being fully machine. Part of what makes us human is our mortality, so the question arises, would we still be human if we could live forever as machine? I think we’ll alweays need our “wetware.” That said, sure, I’d welcome a few implants, Internet access wired into my brain, and so on (really not sure about that last one).

3. Does the idea of humankind becoming machines intrigue or terrify you? Neither? Explain! I don’t think we’ll ever be totally machine, and I wonder what some of us having implants would do to society? Talk about your haves and have-nots! But it does intrigue me.

4. If you disagree with this idea, what do you think the future will be like? What will technology have done to us and for us? Do you think we could go “too far” with technology? Haha! Of course we could go to far with technology. Humans have a way of going too far with everything they get their sweaty little hands on (unless they have the no-sweat implants, of course).

Love the questions . . . thanks for the entertainment.