On this “pale blue dot” our species is riddled with many different obstacles. Humanity is plagued with evolving diseases, cancers and degenerative abnormalities. Millions of men, women and children die to problems they either have no control over, or fail to control due to their shortcomings. Contributing to these torments are war and poverty spawned from physical and intellectual in-equality. In the end humanity is bound for one thing . . . extinction! This is known because 99.9% of all living organisms that have ever existed are now wiped from the face of the earth. Some believe it is humanities destiny to be doomed and others simply choose to be apathetic. This could only lead to the detriment of our progress. This paper will explore the option of artificial means to enhance the lives and survivability of the human condition.
Since the dawn of consciousness humans have been engineering ways to adapt to their ever changing environment. Their ancestors have been through planetary change and environmental shifts that would currently devastate present day societies. Early humans persevered due to their early and fast paced advancement. This allowed for the species to thrive on a planet that seems at times determined to kill them off. Humans are truly susceptible to many different forms of attacks. They come from many directions spawning from the same primordial soup that gave rise to all things. War and the hunt are the two activities that were major challenges early on that had the potential to kill people off. This would have left them at the bottom (if not the middle) of the food chain. Early homo-sapiens created tools to solve these problems. Tools were crafted by making use of the materials in their environment through artistry and a pinch of logic. These newly forged items could kill both animal and enemy as well as gather other various resources. This advancement solved both hunger and territorial problems, which, in the light of ‘survival of the fittest’ spurred about their greater evolution. The gathering of material was necessary for surviving the changing climate over millions of years. To fight the intense heat and cold humans manipulated their environment and made clothing and shelter. In other words they surrounded themselves with the products of their tools and advanced their outer bodies with forms of armor.
Today people are living in a completely new era. Millions of years have given way to change causing biological and mental advancement. Because of these changes humans are now currently in need of new tools in order to survive the inevitable. For instance, scientists are in the process of manipulating technology in order to create cellular tissue. This will be utilized in the making of organs. They are in the early stages of this process but it is moving at an adequate rate. This will be necessary as it will allow people to finally overcome organ failure as well as slow down physical degradation. Creating artificial organs and new forms of regenerative medicine will both make people healthier and increase their life expectancy substantially. There is another field of study that relates to this called ‘cellular nano-technology’. This new study allows scientists the ability to create cell sized machines that commit to certain tasks acting like human cells. This will have the potential to keep biological systems in check at all times with the potential to regenerate lost limbs and other body tissues. This technology derives many of its advances from the controversial topic of stem cell research. This is the study of using base cellular tissue to build new tissue for repair. This coupled with nano-bots would work at a faster and error free pace. Both studies are extremely promising in the art of regenerative medicine and a must for future progress. When debated whether or not to perform medicine in this way, both fields will prevail far over the alternative. They should not be approached timidly or superstitiously but embraced.
Next, this paper will approach the issue on the topic of intellectual advancement. There is a long standing argument on how to achieve a higher state of mind while limiting human error. People ask questions such as...”Do we advance the machine and let them loose to do our work for us?” or “Do we keep working with machines while keeping them at bay?” When thinking of these two questions there emerges another idea of greater potential . . .the merging of mind and machine! When one thinks of artificial intelligence many imaginative ideas stir up. The most notorious are the fears of a “machine takeover”, which, is a reasonable fear. Since, this could have the potential to annihilate our species if it were unbridled. Our most glorious creation could also become our worst nightmare. So sympathizing with this leads to a better alternative to eliminate these fears. There needs to be more focus on merging man and machine which will allow for more adequate control over the entire system. Obviously, it would take a lot of work. The technology would have to be perfected well before it is implemented into modern medicine and it will be. This concept ties the two entities together on the biological level. By making our bodies half machine through bio-tech advancement there will be a substantial increase in overall potential. Scientists will be able to utilize cybernetics to make people run faster, see farther, increase strength and last but not least expand the mental capacity. Intellectual capacity could be greatly augmented if it was equipped with better memory storage and the ability to ‘download’ knowledge into the mind. Think of the great things that could be accomplished with such a large capacity of understanding and logic. Political challenges would be solved rationally and climate change could be an easily fixed problem. Even if the inevitable couldn't be changed, people would surely be more able to survive and find the best possible alternatives to bad situations. The brain is the primary engine and computation device and it needs an upgrade. Like any computer you have to go from 2.0 to 3.0 at some point. Scientists are currently engineering machines that have the ability to formulate dreams as if they are mimicking human thought processes. So, why not advance the brain to mimic the better qualities of the machine? It would surely be a major benefit to everyone.
In closing, this paper will address the fact that there is current opposition to these ground breaking studies. The opposing views to this form of advancement are stumbling blocks that need to be thrown into the pile of unproductive thought. Many are scarred by these innovative ideas fearing that scientists are “playing god” and are being “unethical”. But what could be more unethical than to let a multi-million year old super advanced species fade away into nothing due to apathetic pride and fear of the unknown.
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