Transhumanism and the Death of Human Exceptionalism

[extherian]

For those who wonder why some people have a hard time accepting transhumanism.

[iancampbell]

This is just one more example of some people thinking there are limits that don't actually exist. From history, we have the people who said heavier-than-air flight would be forever impossible despite seeing proof that they were wrong every day. And then that supersonic flight would be forever impossible despite supersonic objects (some as low-tech as a leather whip) in real life. And those who thought that mass production of telephones would be not only impossible but unnecessary anyway.

Today, we have people saying that extraterrestrial industry, fusion power, and true AI are impossible. Note that the first two have already been achieved. ET industry? Well, crystal growth in microgravity has already been done. Fusion power? Well. the problem there is one of control. We have indeed achieved net power generation from fusion; but the problem is that it was exawatts for a microsecond.

True AI? The real answer there is that we don't know. But there is an existence proof that a hugely complicated array of nanomachines and micron-sized computing elements can achieve sapience. To see it, look in the mirror.