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To: Momaw Nadon
Do you believe the merging of man and machine is the next step in human evolution?

No. Probably the next step will be the ability for prospective parents to select out undesirable genes from their offspring. There's no need to wait around for a plague do that nasty job for us. Then, on average, we'll all be healthier. Seems desirable.

The man-machine stuff is mostly nonsense. I can see some limited use for specialized prosthetics. But nothing that anyone would consider a new species.

96 posted on 11/19/2005 1:49:37 PM PST by PatrickHenry (Expect no response if you're a troll, lunatic, retard, or incurable ignoramus.)
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To: PatrickHenry
"Probably the next step will be the ability for prospective parents to select out undesirable genes from their offspring. There's no need to wait around for a plague do that nasty job for us. Then, on average, we'll all be healthier. Seems desirable."

Take it a step further to the reversal of the aging process. Would we not become Homo sapiens sapiens immortalis?

"The man-machine stuff is mostly nonsense. I can see some limited use for specialized prosthetics. But nothing that anyone would consider a new species."

Cochlear implants are already being used to assist hearing. Artificial limbs, although crude, already exist. Artificial eyesight is on the horizon. What if we could have non-biological brain implants for augmented memory?

Replace just one neuron with a computer circuit. Is the person still human? Of course. Then replace 2, 100, 1,000,000 and more neurons with circuits. At what point does a person go from being human to being something else?

Take it even further. Replace all of a persons frail biological parts with non-biological parts? Is that person still "human"? What does it even mean to be "human"?

99 posted on 11/19/2005 2:14:42 PM PST by Momaw Nadon ("...with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.")
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