ok and i'm serious, please no rabid flame war allowed on this thread.
please, they are not helpful at all.
i am posting this link to an article, apparently written in all sincerity, that insists that true science supports a geocentric universe and denounces all supposed evidence for the earth turning and revolving as just "theory".
He gets it all wrong. The earth is flat.
And, incidentally, it occurs to me that any point in a finite, but unbounded universe (one that curves in on itself in a higher dimension) could be considered the "center." Likewise in an infinite universe.
BTS
according to the world population clock, we're going to hit the magic 7 billion number this year.
that's 7,000,000,000,000 living human beings on this planet.
the world is about to change, again.
From memory Kurzweil argues the hybrid human is already in development. Technological solutions to augment or replace sight and hearing are working today. We've all seen the astonishing success of artificial limbs - the IAAF have already banned augmented humans from competing against non-augmented. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Pistorius
I think the main distinction is synthetic versus artificial. We done artificial for a long time, such as artificial hearts. We will however, be able to grow eyes. Regrow hearing organs. Regrow hearts. Regrow livers. Regrow kidneys. Regrow everything.
We are already regrowing functioning rat hearts in Minnesota. Using profusion decellurarization, they take a rat heart and strip it down to the extracellular matrix. They have found a detergent that can do this while allowing the organ "skeleton" to retain all the cytokines and other biomarkers that signal stem cells where they are in the organ, and what they are supposed to turn into. They then infuse the matrix with stem cells, and grow a new heart in a bioreactor. It actually works in rats. I think we will be able to regrow human hearts in 10 years.
I would much rather have my own heart (or eyes or whatever) back rather than a prosthesis. I think most people would agree.
Regarding boosting human cognition, I agree. However, I think this can be done biologically, rather than cybernetically. And a brain computer interface would be nice, but I suspect some sort of a cybernetic middleman would be necessary (unless we can grow an interface organ).
Now if I had an augmented memory I wouldn't have to rely on my poor ole' flesh only model to recall Kurzweil's arguments
Nootropics are in the works!
Here is a good one you probably partake in every day. ;-)
BTS
according to the world population clock, we're going to hit the magic 7 billion number this year.
that's 7,000,000,000,000 living human beings on this planet.
the world is about to change, again.
If the solution to over-population is for people to stop having babies, it is an unworkable solution. That idea has been floated for decades. The barriers to implementation are overwhelming, unless we employ methods that are so repugnant that we will never achieve consensus.
Wealth and prosperity combined with equal rights for women controls population. This has been demonstrated over and over again in country after country. In a society where a woman's value is only as a baby factory, you have high birth rates. In one where she is not a man's property and can go to college and pursue a career and has control of her own life, birth rates drop vertiginously. Much of Europe has fallen below replacement rates. The US would have 0 population growth without immigration. You want to slow population growth? Fight for women's rights everywhere. We must break the back of misogynistic Islam.
That is the solution.
BTS
according to the world population clock, we're going to hit the magic 7 billion number this year.
that's 7,000,000,000,000 living human beings on this planet.
the world is about to change, again.
Is there a plan for the 7 billion+ unaugmented humans?
There are 7 billion plans for each and every one.
BTS
according to the world population clock, we're going to hit the magic 7 billion number this year.
that's 7,000,000,000,000 living human beings on this planet.
the world is about to change, again.
Well said Besty, however, I think it will not be necessary to go cybernetic, despite Kurzweil's claims. The revolution will be biological.
BTS
this news article may have already been posted .
[b][size=125]vatican confesses: jesus story "an exaggeration" based on roman prince[/size][/b].
[size=85]posted by susan maureen brandt on thursday, november 4, 2010. my "vatican" press release is officially gone from free-press-release.com.
The pope goes to confession?
Yes.
BTS
according to the world population clock, we're going to hit the magic 7 billion number this year.
that's 7,000,000,000,000 living human beings on this planet.
the world is about to change, again.
Religion isn't the problem, it is fanatical intolerant extremism that is the problem.
BTS
according to the world population clock, we're going to hit the magic 7 billion number this year.
that's 7,000,000,000,000 living human beings on this planet.
the world is about to change, again.
Just PM me yours.
BTS
according to the world population clock, we're going to hit the magic 7 billion number this year.
that's 7,000,000,000,000 living human beings on this planet.
the world is about to change, again.
Yes, BTS, but is it sustainable? Under current conditions I would say not.
Sure. But with better technology, we can do more with less, or we can access things we could not before. Necessity is the mother of invention.
There is also the question of who will be in charge. China and India are emerging as the two new world economic superpowers.
It doesn't matter, in fact, it accelerates the process.
China and India are emerging as the two new world economic superpowers.
See above.
But who will be the world's militarysuperpower 50 years from now?
There will be none. There will likely be regional powers, and they will be forced to cooperate. Economic prosperity in a globalized economy demands trade, and war disrupts trade. We can all either trade, ignore each other, or fight wars. Only the first option benefits all involved. Advanced, rational nations can't fight wars like the old ones any longer.
The great worry is the backwards medieval cultures accessing advanced technology and causing disruption.
BTS
according to the world population clock, we're going to hit the magic 7 billion number this year.
that's 7,000,000,000,000 living human beings on this planet.
the world is about to change, again.
