michael john grist (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} manfalling) wrote,@ 2008-03-03 19:36:00 |
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Robots and Evolution
Are we going to evolve into robots?
I rather think, and hope, that we are.
Today I was struck by the idea that it is really going to happen. It is the next step in the evolution of the human race. Evolution using genes 'naturally' takes millennia to be effective. Besides- we're already at the top of the game that genes play in here on Earth, so there's no productive pressure to improve- other than through sexual selection.
The realm left to evolve in is memes. Richard Dawkins throws this word around. It just means- ideas. Knowledge. Culture.
Memes evolve. And they do it damn fast. 2000 years ago to now is a blink of an eye for 'regular' genetic evolution, with nothing at all going on, but for memetic evolution it was an endless revolution- thanks chiefly to writing, allowing the easy and accurate transfer of memes.
Fast-forward to now, and we have the Internet, and a greater population than ever, and more mixing and cross-fertilization of ideas then ever before, and it's clear we're at the most fertile point we've ever been.
The next steps involve either genetically altering ourselves- take our 'natural' evolution into our own hands, or cyborg-izing ourselves into new robotic forms. Or both in combo. Why choose to live in this frail, outdated, outmoded, slow, decrepit, pain-feeling body, if we don't need to? It's obsolete. We NEED to upgrade.
Pretty soon the rich will be walking round in the bodies of T-800's. And power to them. They're the early adopters that make it possible for the rest of us to tag along behind.
Our genetic and fleshy presence will be reduced to ever-enlarging brains in metal suits- as our various bodily limbs and systems are farmed out to more resilient and efficient robotic replacements.
Like Michael Jackson in Moonwalker.
I've always loved Transformers. I think it would be awesome to be a robot.
The one sticking point seems to be the soul. But it's pretty clear that if there is any such thing- then it's in the brain, since we can lose just about everything else and still be 'alive'. So if we keep the brain- no problemo.
If you don't believe in the soul- then there's no problem at all, and why not just build robots to outright replace us from the start? Build them, grow them, feed them all our memes, make sure they have 'neural nets' that can learn and grow, like Data, then just let them replace us to promulgate and grow our culture out beyond the stars. If they can think and learn, and see a sunset, and read a book, and come up with new ideas after taking in all that input- but with infinitely greater storage capacity, processing power, and input/output modalities, it would be ridiculous of us to demand to stay alive.
We were vehicles for our genes. But that's done. Now we're vehicles for our memes. For our culture. And since robots will be infinitely better vehicles for that particular cargo, hadn't we better all start readying ourselves for obsolescence?
It's what happened to Homo Erectus and our other ancestors. Is anyone begging for them to come back?
Unless of course- you believe in the 2001: A Space Odyssey theory of evolution- wherein apes millennia ago only became sentient after being seeded with alien DNA- and thusly that evolution itself could not create a beast as complex as a human.
But if you think that, you're probably crazy anyway, and likely the first to be crushed under the boot-heels of the T-800 I've got marked out for myself.
Are we going to evolve into robots?
I rather think, and hope, that we are.
Today I was struck by the idea that it is really going to happen. It is the next step in the evolution of the human race. Evolution using genes 'naturally' takes millennia to be effective. Besides- we're already at the top of the game that genes play in here on Earth, so there's no productive pressure to improve- other than through sexual selection.
The realm left to evolve in is memes. Richard Dawkins throws this word around. It just means- ideas. Knowledge. Culture.
Memes evolve. And they do it damn fast. 2000 years ago to now is a blink of an eye for 'regular' genetic evolution, with nothing at all going on, but for memetic evolution it was an endless revolution- thanks chiefly to writing, allowing the easy and accurate transfer of memes.
Fast-forward to now, and we have the Internet, and a greater population than ever, and more mixing and cross-fertilization of ideas then ever before, and it's clear we're at the most fertile point we've ever been.
The next steps involve either genetically altering ourselves- take our 'natural' evolution into our own hands, or cyborg-izing ourselves into new robotic forms. Or both in combo. Why choose to live in this frail, outdated, outmoded, slow, decrepit, pain-feeling body, if we don't need to? It's obsolete. We NEED to upgrade.
Pretty soon the rich will be walking round in the bodies of T-800's. And power to them. They're the early adopters that make it possible for the rest of us to tag along behind.
Our genetic and fleshy presence will be reduced to ever-enlarging brains in metal suits- as our various bodily limbs and systems are farmed out to more resilient and efficient robotic replacements.
Like Michael Jackson in Moonwalker.
I've always loved Transformers. I think it would be awesome to be a robot.
The one sticking point seems to be the soul. But it's pretty clear that if there is any such thing- then it's in the brain, since we can lose just about everything else and still be 'alive'. So if we keep the brain- no problemo.
If you don't believe in the soul- then there's no problem at all, and why not just build robots to outright replace us from the start? Build them, grow them, feed them all our memes, make sure they have 'neural nets' that can learn and grow, like Data, then just let them replace us to promulgate and grow our culture out beyond the stars. If they can think and learn, and see a sunset, and read a book, and come up with new ideas after taking in all that input- but with infinitely greater storage capacity, processing power, and input/output modalities, it would be ridiculous of us to demand to stay alive.
We were vehicles for our genes. But that's done. Now we're vehicles for our memes. For our culture. And since robots will be infinitely better vehicles for that particular cargo, hadn't we better all start readying ourselves for obsolescence?
It's what happened to Homo Erectus and our other ancestors. Is anyone begging for them to come back?
Unless of course- you believe in the 2001: A Space Odyssey theory of evolution- wherein apes millennia ago only became sentient after being seeded with alien DNA- and thusly that evolution itself could not create a beast as complex as a human.
But if you think that, you're probably crazy anyway, and likely the first to be crushed under the boot-heels of the T-800 I've got marked out for myself.
