I don’t know if it is only me or if anybody else is feeling this way too, but I think, we are slowly entering into a more science fiction type of a world. The technologies that are being developed right now, when fully matured, will change everything we do and the entire world.
If you were to travel to just 50 years into the future, I doubt that you would even recognise our own planet. The kind of technologies that will exist only a few decades from now will seem nothing less than exotic and in some cases even magic!
Speaking of exotic technologies, we are aware of the concept of uploading one’s consciousness into a machine, say a robot. It is something that has been a part of novels and movies but scientists say that one day it might actually be possible.
Maybe that is 100 years down the road or even more, who knows, but I like to think about what I would do if that option was given to me. What implications would it have for a human being?
What Would It Mean?
If you do decide to upload your consciousness into a machine, you could virtually live forever. I mean, it is really our consciousness, along with our memories that form our ‘self’. So, if one is able to upload that to a computer, for him, it would mean eternal life.
Also, if there ever is a technology to accomplish this, then there will, in all likelihood, be robots who are very similar to humans. So, if you could ‘be the mind’ of the robots, it would mean that you would stop being a human, and become a conscious robot! And since robots can be repaired or created again and again, you would simply change the hardware versions and continue to live forever.
There is yet another implication. Doing so would essentially mean merging yourself with an artificial intelligence and the internet which means access to any information in seconds. And not only that, you could be omnipresent too.
All these abilities sure sound alluring and it would be a totally new experience for any human being, unlike anything we can have today. But will it be all rainbows and unicorns or is there an other side to it?
A Life Devoid of Purpose
This might just be me but I think that what gives meaning to life is its assured end. Knowing that our time is limited creates a sense of urgency in us and it pushes us to do more, be it for ourselves, our children or the world.
A person or in this case “an entity” with an eternal life would, for all intents and purposes, lose that sense of urgency because ‘it’ will know that there is so much time to do any number of things.
If everyone opted to do this, it would be an end to the human civilisation as we know it. It would create an entirely new artificial species, one of our own making. And if there happens to be a part of the population that doesn’t do it, it creates a very inconvenient division which may lead to ‘war with machines’ kind of scenarios.
Right now, we can’t even comprehend the implications of living as machines. Maybe we would enjoy it for a few months or even a few years, but I doubt that we could keep it up forever. It would be a life devoid of meaning and purpose. Will it be worth it?
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