Transhumanist Technologies

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is is the area of computer science and engineering that focuses on making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to restrict itself to methods that are biologically observable. Artificial intellect aims to emulate intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience. There are several different branches of Artificial Intelligence. They include logical AI, epistemology and heuristics, expert systems, planning, representation of facts, pattern recognition and others.

Logical AI involves representing knowledge of an agent's world, its goals and the current situation by sentences in logic. The agent decides what to do by inferring that a certain action or course of action is appropriate to achieve the goals. We characterize briefly a large number of concepts that have arisen in research in logical AI. Epistemology is a study of the kinds of knowledge that are required for solving problems in the world. Heuristics involves the algorithms that solve problems, usually taking for granted a particular epistemology of a particular domain, e.g. the representation of chess positions.

Expert systems deal with extracting expertise and porting it to computers. That is creating software that can exhibit expert behaviour. Many of them do their reasoning using logic, and others use formalisms amounting to subsets of first order logic. Many require very little common sense knowledge and reasoning ability. Planning involves finding a sequence of actions that can lead from the current state, to the goal state. This is usually done in a hierarchical manner.

Representation of facts about the world. Usually languages of mathematical logic are used. Pattern recognition is often programmed to compare what it sees with a pattern. For example, a vision program may try to match a pattern of eyes and a nose in a scene in order to find a face.

The applications of Artificial Intelligence stretch from the autonomous control and target identification, to the computer games and robotic pets. This promising technology can provide enormous benefits, both economical and cultural. It can be applied, for instance, in speech recognition systems, in particular in automatic translation, speech biometric recognition, dictation, hands-free computing, home automation, medical transcription, mobile telephony.

Nevertheless many people don't trust to progressive technologies. Some people would not feel comfortable having control of an Artificial Intelligence system capable of becoming tremendously more intelligent than anything else in the world.

Mind Uploading

The Mind Uploading deals with transferring the mental structure and consciousness of a person from organic tissue into an artificial one, manufactured by humans. This technology would enable to avoid biological deterioration such as aging or damage. and allow the creation of backup copies of the mind. Theoretically mind uploading is regarded as immortality.

Some in the artificial intelligence communities aim at developing of the technology to upload consciousness into bodies created by robotic means. It means that the physical brain does not move from its original body into a new robotic shell, but rather the consciousness is assumed to be transferred to a new robotic brain.

There are several theoretical technologies elaborated. A method which requires advancement of technology is the following : the brain is made solid by freezing to liquid nitrogen temperatures. Then it is cut into very thin slices. Each slice is scanned by a computer using very high-resolution instruments. The computer uses this data to reconstruct the brain circuitry in an artificial substrate.The simulation is activated, and the patient finds herself or himself in a new body. Nanoreplacement procedure requires billions of microscopic machines injected into the brain. They are connected to or near the neurons.

Uploading by the Moravec procedure proceeds the following way: a robot surgeon is equipped with a manipulator which branches into ever-finer branches, until at the ends, he has billions of nanometer-scale sensitive fingers.It puts its manipulator in the patient's head. The tiny fingers on the manipulator start peeling away cells, exposing the brain, but closing blood vessels. With electrical and chemical sensors on the fingertips, it monitors the activity of all the exposed brain cells. When the robot's computer has figured out what they're all doing, it configures a simulation to reproduce their activity. It then removes those cells, and connects the remaining brain tissue to the simulation. Layer by layer, it proceeds in this manner until the patient's head is empty and it's all simulation.

If the mind uploading procedures above destroy the brain in the process, the nondestructive techniques would manage to scan the brain in its active, biological form without destroying it. If mind uploading is possible, it will be easier to modify it. It would be possible to include added or extended senses, such as seeing ultraviolet light, increased mental calculator or database, language modules, which allow you to speak and understand many languages, and telepathy, and many more.

Molecular manufacturing

Molecular manufacturing is a technology that allows to build complex products using nanomachines to build complex products. This technology is based on established knowledge in chemistry, applied physics, and mechanical engineering.

Chemistry and biology make molecules defined by particular arrangements of atoms — always the same numbers, kinds, and bonds. Nanomachines will position molecules, placing them in specific locations in a carefully chosen sequence. By positioning molecules, nanomachines controls how the molecules react, building up complex structures with atomically precise control.

As a result, molecular manufacturing opens new possibilities. It makes possible to produce materials 100 times stronger than those in common use today. It enables to considerably reduce the mass of products as well as raw materials consumption, because its products will contain far less material than would the products of conventional technologies. Molecular manufacturing can potentially revolutionize medicine. For instance, sensors smaller than blood cells that could provide very accurate diagnoses. Imagine nanorobots that could perform surgical procedures in a more precise way, preventing the damage caused by scalpel.

Megascale engineering

Megascale engineering deals with construction of structures on an enormous scale, at least 1000 kilometres in diameter. It also includes the transformation of planets into a human-habitable environment, the transformation of the surface conditions, and changes in the planetary orbit.

Some structures on Earth may be considered megastructures. The Banaue Rice Terraces that were carved into the mountains with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The Great Wall of China is a series of stone fortifications built to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire. It is the world's longest human-made structure.

There are also serious theoretical projects of orbital and trans-orbital structures, stellar and planetary scale. Stellar scale megastructure projects aim to make use of the energy from a sun-like star. As, for instance, the Dyson sphere (or Dyson shell) was originally proposed as a way for an advanced civilization to utilize the energy radiated by their sun. Planetary scale projects seem rather Utopian. Globus Cassus is a project for the transformation of Earth into a much bigger, hollow, artificial world. Sunlight would enter through two large windows, and gravity would be provided by centrifugal force.

The most popular among orbital structures are Bernal sphere and the O'Neill cylinder. Bernal sphere represents a rotating habitat consisting of a hollow spherical shell 16 km in diameter, with a population of 20,000 to 30,000 people. Later this was modified and considerably reduced. O'Neill proposed detailed plans of a larger colony, based on the cylinder, since it gives the maximum possible. He proposed that cylinders could be joined together in counter-rotating pairs to stabilize their orientation.

Trans-orbital space elevator is designed to transport material from a celestial body's surface into space. It would consist of a cable anchored to the Earth's surface, reaching into space.

Autonomous Self-replicating Robotics

Self-replicating machine can make a copy of itself using simpler components taken from its environment. A vivid example of such machine is a living cell. it takes chemical elements and compounds from its environment and uses them to make a copy of itself.

Mathematician John von Neumann was the first to propose the idea of a non-biological self-replicating system. The first suggestions of a practical real-world self-replicating machine were introduces by Edward Moore. His artificial living plants were meant as machines that use air, water and soil as raw materials and take the energy from sunlight via a solar battery. This technology found its application in the spheres where it is preferable to replace human work by robots. In 1980 NASA proposed self-replicating factories for developing lunar resources without requiring human workers on-site. The system would have been capable of exponentially increasing productive capacity and the design could be modified to build self-replicating probes to explore the galaxy.

The process of developing highly automated manufacturing systems has advanced in recent decades. This technical evolution could result in an industrial factory capable of fabricating and assembling all of the parts of which it is comprised.

Space Colonization

Space colonization remains a major theme in science fiction. The first fictional account of a space colony dates back to 1869 with Edward Everett Hales novel, The Brick Moon. The ambitious idea of mobile colonies, or generation starships, that could carry large numbers of people to other stars was envisioned in 1918 by Robert Goddard. An idea to encircle a star with artificial habitats belongs to Freeman Dyson. The development of concepts about space colonies is closely connected to the colonization of other worlds, terraforming, and space stations. There arises a question what reasons suggested the idea of settlement outside Earth. And the answer is that the population of Earth continues to increase, while its carrying capacity and available resources do not.

Space colonization is the concept of permanent self-sufficient human habitation of locations outside Earth. Some people think of space colonies on a planet or natural satellite, others argue that the first colonies will be in orbit around the Earth or Sun.

The most frequent topic of discussion is Mars, since its surface has something in common with land surface of Earth. It is probable that There are large water reserves, and carbon. However, its atmosphere is very thin and the climate is colder. Its gravity is only a third that of Earth. Moon is also frequently viewed as an object for colonization. Among the benefits of proximity to Earth and lower escape velocity, there several drawbacks such as lack of hydrogen and carbon.

Space habitats,space stations intended as a permanent settlements, have a number of advantages over planet-based colonies. Among them are adjustable artificial gravity, access to vast resources and solar energy, and the possibility of easier trade with Earth. Space colonization encounters many obstacle. Space colonies require air pressure with normal partial pressures of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. It is proven that zero gravity weakens bones and muscles, that is why space colonies require artificial gravity. Besides, there must be a strong protection against radiation.

Gene Therapy

Gene therapy corrects defective genes responsible for disease development. There are several approaches to correcting trouble-causing genes. A normal gene may be inserted into a nonspecific location within the genome to replace a nonfunctional gene. An abnormal gene could be swapped for a normal gene through homologous recombination. Or the abnormal gene could be repaired through selective reverse mutation, which returns the gene to its normal function.

Gene therapy can be used to switch off genes instead of adding new ones. This method could slow down or prevent the fatal brain disorder Huntington's disease. It exploits a mechanism called RNA interference, may also be helpful in treating inherited diseases.

Cybernetics

The term "cyborg" is used to refer to a man or woman with bionic, or robotic, implants, it is a hybrid of machine and organism. The idea of a man-machine mixture gained popularity in science fiction. Nevrtheless, Cyborgs do exist in reality. In the technical sense about 10% of the current U.S. population are cyborgs, because they have electronic pacemakers, artificial joints, drug implant systems, implanted corneal lenses, and artificial skin.

Today it is possible to replace human legs that were amputated. The use of sensors in the artificial leg aids in walking significantly. These are the first real steps towards the next generation of cyborgs.

There are four types of Cyborg technologies: restorative, normalizing, reconfiguring, and enhancing. Restorative cyborg technology aims to restore lost functions and replace lost organs. It can be normalizing, that means restoration of some creature to indistinguishable normality; It can be ambiguously reconfiguring, creating posthuman creatures equal to but different from humans.And there is also enhancing Cyborg technology, that aims to construct everything from factories controlled by a handful of "worker-pilots" and infantrymen in mind-controlled exoskeletons to the dream many computer scientists have-downloading their consciousness into immortal computers.

Cryonics

Cryonics is the low temperature preservation of humans and pets that can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine until resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryonics can only be applied to a person who has been pronounced dead. But the criterion for death is nearly always the cessation of heartbeat. When death is pronounced almost all cells of the body and in the brain are still alive. It usually takes many hours for all cells to die at room temperature. Cryonics implies cooling people to liquid nitrogen temperature where physical decay essentially stops. There remains hope that technologically advanced scientific procedures in future will be able to bring back to life or to restore them to good health.

It is believed that revival is a real possibility many biological specimens that have been cryopreserved and revived; these include whole insects, vinegar eels, many types of human tissue including brain tissue, human embryos which have later grown into healthy children.

Cryonics is often viewed with skepticism by most scientists and doctors. The reason for the skepticism is some obstacles that are insuperable at the present time. Since cryopreservation requires cooling to near -196 °C, it causes injuries that are not reversible with present technology. There is a myth that water freezes inside cells causing them to burst, but still damage from freezing can still be serious. Although ice occupies 9% more volume than water, water moves osmotically out of cells during the freezing process because stronger nucleators are located outside of cells than inside cells. Freezing in the extracellular space causes more osmotic movement of water out of cells, causing them to shrink rather than burst. Cryonics uses cryoprotectants to reduce damage caused by ice that forms between cells.

To be cryonically preserved costs from about US$28,000 to US$200,000, depending on the cryonics organization, the type of cryopreservation (neuro/whole body and the procedures used), the country of residence of the patient.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is a form of computer-based technology which simulates a real or imagined environment that can be experienced visually in the three dimensions. Most current virtual reality environments are visual experiences, displayed on a computer screen or through special stereoscopic displays, but some simulations include additional sensory information, such as sight, sound, and/or others. The simplest form of virtual reality is a 3-D image. Advanced haptic systems include the generation of touch and force feedback information.

The sense of balance and motion can be served by a motion platform. This is used in flight simulators and some theaters to provide motion cues that the mind integrates with other cues to perceive motion. The sense of temperature in virtual reality is in development. The sensation of heat and cold can be achieved by very small electrical heat pumps . Such system is rather expensive. -->