I have some questions, and thought I'd post them here cuz I thought I could lead to interesting discussion
Please forgive my ignorance and poor use of language and spelling... I am a not a scientist or a philosopher or a grammar teacher... I'm just curious about a few things.
What led me here was I was thinking about the Fermi Paradox. A lot of people have been wondering for quite sometime why we have seen no sign of advanced sentient life in our universe. My personal theory is that any civilization that survived long enough to advance their technology to the level just beyond our current state has most likely evolved into beings of pure energy... pretty crazy!!! I know how it sounds, but when I look at the current trend of our scientific and technological innovation, it seems to me that this almost certainly what will happen to us... If we survive long enough.
Ok, so we are developing technology that will allow us to directly interface with computers and information networks as well as enhance our brain's processing power by unimaginable degrees. We are developing advanced robotics which we can interface with digitally... either with invasive tech such as Elon Musk's "Neural lace" or non-invasive such as VR technology thus allowing us to remotely operate robotic technology from great distances. The development of quantum communication and quantum teleportation seems to suggest that eventually we will be able to control such technology over vast distances instantaneously via entanglement (???)
Space exploration will (hopefully) take us to mars, the moons of Jupiter and eventually beyond. one of the major obstacles in these endeavors will be to create a safe environment for fragile human bodies to survive in these extreme environments. There is a lot of talk terraforming extreme environments to make them more habitable for humans. however, with the rapid rate of tech development, isnt it more likely (especially as it would ultimately be more cost effective and safer) that we will end up using genetic modification and bio-technology to create humans who are more and more capable of surviving in these environments?
Or why send human organisms into space at all when we can send robots that we can then remotely navigate with with our brain computer interfaces? This would eliminate the need to put people on cramped, isolated metal boxes hurling through space... we just plug in when the spacecraft arrives and put in our 9-5 using either VR or some sort of neural interfaces...
If we go the route of enhancing humans through genetic manipulation and bio-tech I can see us trying to construct a body that no longer requires oxygen and subsists on a pure fuel that does not require a complicated diet of meat and vegetables... does not require sunlight for certain vitamins, no longer requires sleep, is impervious to radiation, has bones as strong as carbon fiber skin tougher than kevlar and so on and so on until the end result is that our consciousness resides within an artificially enhanced neural network that is encased within an entirely fabricated bio mechanical body that is impervious to any kind of physical damage and that while possibly maintaining the original form, is no longer compositionally similar to our current biological structures... (But at some point even the form will become obsolete.)
On the other hand, if we go with the robotic explorers who are controlled remotely via consciousnesses that remain on earth, this could potentially have even more bizarre ramifications.
Virtual reality is becoming more prevalent every day and is being implemented in almost every industry from medical to research, military, manufacturing... and its only going to become more pervasive. I can imagine a time not too far in the future where the majority of the workforce remains at home and rather than drive into work they take a seat in their living room and don their VR headset (or plug in their nerual prosthetic or whatever) and get to work... this will allow them to log in and explore a vast network of alternate "virtual" realities and as the technology advances it makes sense that people will be spending more and more time plugged in. Why spend the day in your crappy rundown apt in Cleveland when you can be sitting on a beach in Maui or even some amazing digitally constructed alien beach on a planet that doesn't actually exist in the "real" world - just as we have been sucked into social media, Massive multi-player games and the internet so too will we be sucked into virtual reality and eventually, an entirely digital life experience.
This will have a huge impact on our notions of reality and identity. With the more time we spend online and the less time we inhabit our bodies, how long will it take before we abandon a "physical" experience altogether. If we are now on the precipice of encoding our consciousness digitally... of having the ability to upload our "selves" into this massive growing network we are creating, will our identities come to revolve around our respective "IP addresses" rather then our skin encapsulated physical forms? Will things like nationality, race, gender religion become less and less relevant? WHERE we live will no longer be an issue as we will reside within the ever increasing network... (yes its like the Matrix, only we will jump headlong into it of our own free wills)
I cant even imagine how spatial concepts such as a physical location will arise...? Other than simulated visual experiences perhaps but at this advanced state of cognitive processing, will the limitations of time and space fall away? Will we process nonlinearly?
I imagine we will be able to apply filters that moderate physical and emotional sensations. If we can simulate sensation, why cant we also eliminate it? How many will sign up for the opportunity to completely eridcate the experience of fear or anxiety? or pain? as we filter sensation what becomes of emotion? Sentiment? Empathy? Compassion? We hold these concepts dear to ourselves as we are social beings and these are evolutionary devices that enable us to relate and communicate with one another and have contributed to our successful collective evolution. We seem to be on the verge of evolutionary advancement that has absolutely no know precedant. it seems possible that we may abandon these concepts as archaic or obsolete... or will we embrace them and bring them with us? I imagine it will depend on the environmental challenges presented by this new reality.
AS digital sentient beings I can imagine we will also be able to manifest characteristics and experiences of those we admire or wish to emulate... we would be able, for example to say, in this virtual experience I want to play basketball like Lebron... , or I create art like Piccasso or Da Vinci, Fight like Bruce Lee, Sing like Kurt Cobain or Robert Plant... and we will. If we want to understand what someone is thinking... why they made the decisions they did, we could run a simulation that would allow us to experience that perceptual tangent first hand... what I'm saying is, we will be able to know everyones perspective as our own.
So it seems very likely our individuality will diminish. Perhaps our attachment to identity will completely vanish? we will after all at that point achieved a sort of immortality... but with that immortality will we also have finally conquered the fear of death? will we actually become, as the esoteric wisdom has long claimed we already are... one with the universe?
Will enhanced processing powers and instant access to unlimited information via neural prosthetics and the "cloud" elevate our collective consciousness? Where is love, awe and beauty here? will they become obsolete?