Trans-humanism

• You can take the human out of the tribe, but you can’t take the tribe out of the human.  No matter how many gadgets and enhancements we add on to ourselves, we are fundamentally tribal animals.  We will continue to adopt new ways of consuming information and applying them to maintaining a broader and more diverse tribal culture.  No matter how many of our parts we replace, we will still be the social animal.

Singularity

• While I fully expect we will build AI’s that can process far more information than we primates ever could, I don’t believe we can create an artificial mind with feelings and consciousness.  Our machines will mimic such things, but not truly attain that awareness.  We will anthropomorphisize the mechanical companions we make to the point where the distinction becomes hard to see.
• The AI’s we create will not become aware and then seek to become our overlords.  However, that will not make them safer.  In fact, I would expect that the lack of awareness may in fact make them more dangerous.  Cold-blooded logic can result in far more brutality and destruction than passion and hate.

Non-human Sentience

• I often become frustrated when researchers of any type speak as if humans were the only sentience on the earth at this time.  I am convinced that there are plenty of other forms of sentience on our planet now, and that more used to exist:
  • We know that other apes have learned and used sign language.  They use tools and teach learned skills to others.
  • Porpoises have self awareness and the same brain structure for consciousness we do.
  • Dogs can understand about 200 words and ‘read’ our gestures.
  • Prairie Dogs use a form of language.
• We seem to have a bias that any truly sentient being would act like we do and perhaps develop a culture and technology like our own.