Re: NSF report on Converging Technologies

From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Tue Jul 30 2002 - 12:04:08 MDT


"Futurists predict body swaps for planet hops"
Nature 418:359 (2002)
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v418/n6896/full/418359a_fs.html
(subscription probably required).

Holy smokes extrofolks, Nature mentions "uploading" and "immortality"!

> "If technology and biological systems could be integrated absolutely,
> the authors claim it might be possible to 'upload' your mind from your
> body and transmit it to another world, such as Mars. Once there, you
> could download your mind into a different body and experience the planet.
> And by periodically uploading your mind to new bodies, it suggests,
> you could live forever."

and

> "Presidential science adviser John Marburger acknowledges that some of ideas
> may seem a little extreme, but he believes they cannot be ignored. 'Topics
> that seemed far out even a few years ago are much closer than we anticipated,'
> he says. "It would be irresponsible for us to dismiss these ideas."

and of interest:

> "Other futurist furrows ploughed in the report include the
> idea of individuals communicating using brain implants, and
> computer models that could predict how societies behave
> and evolve. The authors propose that such models could
> be used to eliminate trends such as fundamentalism or fascism."

Aha, we all knew that transhumanist technologies are primarily
to get us to the point where "mind control" is feasible... :-(

Of course the balanced reporting camp countered with:

> "But not everyone is convinced. 'I can't imagine what they plan to do
> with the damn thing,' says Bob Park, director of public information at
> the American Physical Society. He believes that the ideas are too far-out
> to have much of an impact on current research funding. 'You can't make
> plans for technology so many years in advance,' says Park."

Robert

Paper URL: http://itri.loyola.edu/ConvergingTechnologies/



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