Posted on 11/19/2005 11:34:03 AM PST by Momaw Nadon
People used those same arguments whenever something new was invented. For example, people would say to the Wright Brothers "If God intended for us to fly, he would have given us wings."
"... and you will be like God," the serpent said.
Be VERY careful.
Science Fiction, meet Reality. (Or vice versa)
There is nothing that can be done. Technology is developing at ever-increasing rates. Accept it.
You notice the borg never took on any lardasses.
Every one of them is in pretty good physical shape. Are the rotund borgs busy watching TV and not able to take part in the assimilation of everything?
Be VERY careful.
If I put a bandaid on a cut, am I playing God?
Was the first caveman to discover fire, or invent the wheel, playing God?
Those huge accomplishments (flight, moon landing, AI chess victory) are small potatoes compared with "humans transcending biology."
I'll believe it when I see it. At that point, the other question that remains will be "why?" Am I really possessed of such boundless megalomania that I want to live forever and know everything? Why would I want to connect my brain to some FutureNet that subsumes my individuality into the singularity of all intelligence and all mankind?
I don't even like my next-door neighbors.
P.S. Kurzweil might just be a major-league stoner.
Good Lord, flashbunny, that's funny! LOL
If you've ever flown Southwest, you might rightfully conclude that "no, God does NOT want us to fly."
Life extension ping!
I don't there is anything to this. I don't see the machines getting up off the sofa to shovel out the snow in the driveway. Nor weeding the garden. Nor fighting a wildfire. Nor, in fact, doing any actual work. Nor even successfully implementing a major long range plan. Of course we don't do that last well at all either.
You are just parsing words here. When we invent a vaccine to cure polio, for example, it can be argued that we are "playing God." After all, can it not be argued that God intended for some of us to contract polio? Why would he create it otherwise? And now, by playing God, we went ahead and upset God's master plan.
Whenever a heart attack patient gets a bypass or a cancer patient gets chemotherapy, we are playing at God. Obviously God had decided that these people were ready to die but us God-playing humans went ahead and circumvented God's plans.
When we invent machines that can fly us through the air or take us to the moon, we are playing at God. When we sentence our criminals to death or incarceration, we are playing at God. And on and on and on.
Now I happen to believe all of that which I just wrote is nonsense. For if God did not intend for us to invent and innovate, he would have given us smaller brains.
You mean what by this exactly? I'm hoping you're not suggesting some luddite jihad against technology.
I am, but I still believe that everyone should live with liberty to fully pursue their happiness, as long as they do not harm others.
Why would I want to connect my brain to some FutureNet that subsumes my individuality into the singularity of all intelligence and all mankind?
I read the entire book. Individuality is very much an option.
Haha! And what about spam? Will I be forced to think about weenie enlargement potions?
Individuality is an option? How generous.
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