Of Machine and Men

Of Machine and Men

I have a heartbeat and I breath but what if I had machines that could do those things for me?  What if my entire body was made out of metal and my mind could be connected into a collective counciousness like a network. Would I still be human? Would I still be living? Would we just become beings that process information like a CPU? ...Plus would I really want to know what everyone is thinking all the time when I find facebook updates annoying at times.

The cyborg was born out of science fiction and has long captivated us. For practical reasons certain ideas have been used such as being able to replace a limb with an artificial one. We can repair ourselves to a certain degree but don’t have the capacity to copy enough cells to grow a new limb (though stem cell research may one day lead us there). But why grow a new limb if we can replace it with an indestructible one made of some form of metal? Why shouldn’t we use technology to better our bodies if were given the chance. How do we control these new limbs?

The question of control is a big one. If we were all mentally connected who would be in charge? There have always been authority figures to be admired or feared in societies, so who would set the rules and enforce them? Would it be the case where one person rules over all like a dictatorship or would we all take some resposability in enforcing the rules such as in an idealistic socalist democracy?

If we look at artificial life what could happen when the machines become self aware? Are we heading towards a matrix style situation where they control us. It could possibly happen if they become smarter than us which they would have the potential to do as they can process information a lot faster. Would they become god like and use us as we used to use them? I have a lot more questions then answers when it comes to artificial life and cyborgs than answers. Im not ashamed to say Im a bit of a paranoid person and find it all a bit creepy, but I guess ill just have to wait and see.