terminator 3
The thing about nanotech is it can be used to reengineer your body. If say your genes and the structures they created where changed structurally then even if your nanobots were removed the abilities they gave you could still be used. It would be like giving nanobots to an amputee to rebuild an arm and then removing the nanobots afterwards.
Ghost in the Shell is a really good example. I've always wanted to live as different people. I would think living in someone else's shoes would be so much fun. It's sad how uneducated people are to the potential this stuff has. People are so stuck on stemcells that they don't realize that the same billions of dollars dumped into nanotech wouldn't just yield the chance of cures, but would yield promises of cures.
"Using nanotechnology to cure cancer is like using a sledge hammer to swat a fly" - Eliezer Yudkowsky, somewhere on www.singinst.org
this being a subject of great interest to me, let me start by saying that it's nice to see that not everyone runs away from the thought that nanotechnology may be used to not only fix, but to utterly reengineer the human body. I've noticed that many "serious" scientists try to downplay the possibility of nanotech enhancements due to fears of "playing god".
One thing I ask myself when I see such futuristic movies as Ghost in the Shell and so on HOW DID THEY DO THIS, so I tend think of possible methods for their accomplishment
One common idea is the existance of super strength. This may be one of the earliest and simplist possibilities. The muscle is a cell that uses "strings" that either expand or contract. How far these can stretch plays a large part in how strong a muscle is. if it is possible to replace these strings with nanotube variants, that alone could create "super strength"
However, the next challenge is the need for a stronger skeleton to support such strong muscles. Here again replacing calcium with layered graphene sheets could create bones stronger than steel. It may even be possible to "grow" these sheets directly over bone instead of replacing it entirely.
So now you have a human who can punch a brick wall and smash it to peices, but what about the flesh and skin? maybe flexible graphene grids placed subdermally? Flexible but impervious to cuts and abrasions. And if strong enough maybe bullet proof.
Super strength, and invulnerability, lets see how about speed enhancements? Seems research into connecting neurons to buckytubes is underway. artificial neurons may be next. Combined with neural brain implants to control kinetic functions you might have someone capable of "inhuman" reflexes.
Now lets add in vision enhancements. I just read on this site about the possible use of artifical nanotube based neural networks that could be used to possibly replace damaged sections of brain, so that opens up a whole can of worms. Synthetic optical centers in your brain may not only allow normal vision, but likely all sort of enhancements and visual overlay possibilities. Combined with those enhanced nerves and an internet linkup, can we say possible VR interface? Not to mention a perfect way to add a HUD to everyday activities.
Toss in Robert Freitas's ideas, but scrap the "removed from the body after use" CYA BS and you have a human who can heal from any injury quickly, can't bleed to death, and could hold his breath for four hours.
Humm. Sounds a bit to me like Wolverine on crack, with a smidgen of Superman thrown in.
But seriously, why stop there? Who says everyone in the future is going to want to look like a NORMAL HUMAN? I ask myself every day I come online why everyone seem to overlook the fact that normal humans are not the only possibility. Even if you discount furries as crackpots, there are still tons of elves, demons, aliens, and anime characters everywhere you look. Nanotech could not only give you nifty awesome powers, it can give you pointy ears too. Wings? Why not? it seems likely once we have the genome code completely documented, it won't be long before some genius figures out how to make a mix and match encoder for just about any genetic feature used by any animal on the planet.
When you come right down to it, biology is simply applied nanotech. Radical human recostruction is not only possible, but probably inevitable.
It maybe that nothing I've listed here will be done in any way similar to how I've described it, but I think it's definately worth thinking about BEFORE it becomes reality.
LongeCity
