Thanks to medical advances, life expectancy of people over the past 200 years has doubled.
But can science solve the problem of immortality? Obviously the answer is no. In principle, can not! This impasse direction of science. At most, that it may, this increase average life expectancy at 5 ... 10 years. The man, instead of 70 will live 80 years.
Humanity as a whole, as a civilization, not needed in the elderly, retirees with their numerous sores and a huge army obslugi, but active, efficient and creative members who create wealth, move up the technology, manufacturing, and science.
And yet, the human body cells can not survive indefinitely even under ideal conditions. This follows from the atomic-molecular theory. Atoms in biological molecules fluctuate all the time, are in conjunction with one another. According to the theory of probability, sooner or later comes the time when the pulses of neighboring atoms that affect this atom, and folded it gets enough speed to jump out of his restraint chains of atoms, or even jump into the next position (of physics say that the resulting atom momentum exceeded the threshold of energy that keeps the atom in the place of molecular chains). But this means that the cell containing this atom, is damaged and can not continue to operate normally. For example, we have the cancer cells, which can not perform the required functions, begin to multiply abnormally fast and break the necessary human bodies.
This process is dramatically accelerated when a person is exposed to strong electromagnetic radiation, such as X-ray or gamma rays, high frequency currents or radioactive drugs.
Indeed, under the action of the weak cosmic rays of the process of deformation hereditary DNA molecule occurs from time to time, and that sometimes leads to the birth of ugly creatures, or animals with useful traits for survival. And it plays a positive role for the species of animals or plants, contributing to their adaptability to changing external conditions and survival as a species. But for such a violation of the individual, typically, the tragedy, because уроды born in the vast majority of cases, while helpful are negligible number of mutations. And human society is not very fond of people stark contrast to their appearance or abilities.
The unusually rapid development of computer technology and especially , allowing for a single square centimeter to deploy hundreds of thousands of electronic components, has opened to humanity on a very different method of solving the problem of the immortality of the individual. It is based not on preserving the fragile biological molecules, and the transition to artificial semiconductor (silicon, etc.) chip, stable at high temperature variations, which do not require food, oxygen, there are still thousands of years. And, importantly, information from them could easily be rewritten in a different chip and stored in multiple copies.
And if our brains consist of chips, rather than biological molecules, and it meant that we were immortal. Then our biological body, we would be a heavy burden. It , suffers from heat, clothing and in need of care are easily damaged. Where more convenient to have the steel arms and legs with tremendous power, insensitive to cold and heat, which does not need food and oxygen. And even if they are broken, then do not mind - buy and insert new ones, even better and more modern.
It would seem that a person who has attained immortality, indeed, in human understanding of rights and nothing was left. But he remained the most important - his consciousness, memory, perceptions and habits, ie, all that lies in his brain. Outwardly, it could be the same man, and a neat appearance. For example, a beautiful young face, slender body, delicate skin, Satin, etc. Moreover, this appearance can be changed at will, in accordance with fashion, taste and ideas about the beauty of the individual. We spend huge funds for medicine. If we spent even a tenth of the money on the development of electronics, it received immortality in the near future.
But in the case of reducing the cost and availability transformation procedure for most l before his death in the E-substance (the transition to immortality) - the situation is fundamentally different. Indeed, such a transition, in the first place, will be carried out by the old or terminally ill people. And fuck sledgehammer to a computer would be tantamount to murder their own parents and destroy the possibility to become immortal.
During a speech on American television, I asked a leading question «And whether electronic 'creature completely identical to its parent, with his emotions and feelings?» Answer: «For the first time - yes!». However, these creatures will be so fast that we can not predict the consequences. If a person to study the biological sciences, foreign languages, etc. need tens of years, the E-substance would acquire any knowledge of a second (the time of rewriting them in its memory). And we know how different worldviews of people graduating from colleges and universities outlook preschoolers. In light of the fact that the first E-creatures will most likely be living middle-aged people who are at first to save their feelings to their children (to the younger generation now living) would probably not be mass destruction of people E-creatures. Which - while they live together. Most likely people will be limited to fertility or to fall due to natural causes, while living with the approach of old age will go into the E-creatures - that is, number of E-creatures will grow and people to shrink until it reaches the minimum required for small zoos and reserves. Obviously, the sense of E-creatures to the people as their ancestors, with the increasing gap between the mental abilities of people and electronic creatures will decrease until it reached our relationship to the anthropoid monkeys or even kozyavkam.
It is obvious, and another that biological reproduction is so expensive, slow and backward, that will go into the past. Each E-creature can repeat itself by simply rewriting the entire contents of his brain into a new E-essence, ie, proliferate almost immediately, bypassing all the stages of childhood, growth, learning, learning, etc. The truth is completely identical to the parent is the adult «child», will be only the first moment of its existence. Over time, depending on the received information, occupation, e-essence will be increasingly detached from its ancestor, and perhaps even when it may be his enemy, if the interests of their cross or be opposed.
Mental ability of human brain identifies it, and more precisely 10 billion brain neurons. Neurons can be simulated on a computer. Such experiments conducted by one of the world's largest specialists in robotics professor Kuvin Warwick, who heads the department of cybernetics at Reading University in southern England. The results of these experiments were reported at the International Conference on robotics. Professor has created a group of autonomous, self-mini-robots, called him «the Seven Dwarfs».
The unusual project «when» ( "Cog") is carried out by scientists Rodney Brooke in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Researchers seek to model the mental and physical abilities of six children. Their robot has eyes, ears, hands, fingers, brain and a computer system for the transmission of information, I have to repeat the human nervous system. By this model, researchers want to understand how a person carries out the coordination of movements, as he learns the interaction with the surrounding world. Comprehensive implementation of this program is designed for 10 years and cost several million dollars.
In this laboratory has already constructed two dozen humanoid robots that are autonomous mobile machines with artificial intelligence. They are able, through the sensors to receive information about the world, to make abstract generalizations and develop a plan of action and their own behavior. Thus, if a robot leg an obstacle or get hit, it produces a reflex withdraw her back. A dozen of these reflexes to work in their behavior and help them protect and preserve itself.
Brooks said that the human brain during human evolution has developed thousands of model solutions to everyday problems encountered such as hearing, movement. This all should be studied. You can not bugs in one fell swoop into a man. That is why our program is designed for 10 years. I would consider his work was performed as soon as the build itself clever cat in the world.
Note that so far (1995) Private supercomputer can simulate only 40 ... 60 million neurons, ie it is about 200 ... 300 times weaker than the human brain. But in the next 3 ... 5 years, this gap will be eliminated.
Edited by Nova, 20 August 2009 - 05:16 PM.