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Human Revolution to
occur by 2029? The merger of humans with machines (nano- bots) which will result in a new and improved human existence, more intelligent, healthier, happier with unlimited virtual reality capabil- ities and potentially with lifespans far surpas- sing anything heretofore imagined, it's coming. Maybe, per futurist Ray Kurzweil, and the potential of such advances does, as with every advance in human history, provide a paradoxical future, one in which the posi- tives mentioned in the following article do come with a risk that the new pseudo-humans will be little more than pseudo-puppets for those with the riches and power to attempt to control/manipulate/deceive. Certainly, that brings to mind the current ver- sion of human, totally biological, in which efforts are made to control/manipulate/de- ceive each of us, from birth, so perhaps, the pseudo-humans will be at no greater risk than they were at in their purely biological form: - - - Last Updated: Saturday, 16 February 2008, 19:38 GMT Machines 'to match man by 2029' By Helen Briggs Science reporter, BBC News, Boston http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7248875.stm - - - Excerpts: Concept image of microscopic machine working in body (SPL) http://tinyurl.com/tinymachinescuringdiseases Tiny machines could roam the body curing diseases Machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029, a leading US inventor has predicted. Humanity is on the brink of advances that will see tiny robots implanted in people's brains to make them more intelligent, said Ray Kurzweil. The engineer believes machines and humans will eventually merge through devices implanted in the body to boost intelligence and health. ... "I've made the case that we will have both the hardware and the software to achieve human level artificial intelligence with the broad sup- pleness of human intelligence including our emotional intelligence by 2029," he said. We'll have intelligent nanobots go into our brains... to make us smarter -Ray Kurzweil ... Humans and machines would eventually merge, by means of devices embedded in people's bodies to keep them healthy and improve their intelligence, predicted Mr Kurzweil. "We'll have intelligent nanobots go into our brains through the capillaries and interact directly with our biological neurons," he told BBC News. - - - CHALLENGES FACING HUMANITY Make solar energy affordable Provide energy from fusion Develop carbon sequestration Manage the nitrogen cycle Provide access to clean water Reverse engineer the brain Prevent nuclear terror Secure cyberspace Enhance virtual reality Improve urban infrastructure Advance health informatics Engineer better medicines Advance personalised learning Explore natural frontiers - - - The nanobots, he said, would "make us smarter, remember things better and automatically go into full emergent virtual reality environments through the nervous system". - - - end excerpts - - - - - - Live longer, live better: futurologists pick top challenges of next 50 years · Experts see huge advances in health and technology · Sun could provide all of Earth's energy needs The Guardian, Saturday February 16 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/feb/16/genetics.energy - - - Excerpts: ... The 18-stong team of scientists, entrepreneurs and thinkers was convened by the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) to identify problems for technology in the 21st century that, if solved, would change the world. ... The NAE group focused on four areas for their engineering grand challenges: sustainability, health, vulnerability, and joy of living. ... "We only need to capture one part in 10,000 of the sunlight that falls on the Earth to meet 100% of our energy needs," futurologist Ray Kurzweil, a member of the NAE group, told the AAAS. "This will become feasible with nanoengineered solar panels and nanoengin- eered fuel cells." ... Genetic technology allows scientists to switch off selected strands of DNA and new techniques in gene therapy enable them to modify the behav- iour of genes. "Within one to two decades, we will be in a position to stop and reverse the pro- gression of disease and ageing, resulting in dra- matic gains in health and longevity," said Kurz- weil. ... "Once non-biological intelligence matches the range and subtlety of human intelligence, it will necessarily soar past it because of the continuing acceleration of information-based technologies, as well as the ability of machines to instantly share their knowledge." He added: "Intelligent nanorobots will be deeply integrated in the environment, our bodies and our brains, providing vastly extended longevity, full- immersion virtual reality incorporating all of the senses ... and enhanced human intelligence." - - - end excerpts - - - - - - The last frontier 17 Feb, 2008 http://tinyurl.com/29esjj - - - Excerpt: According to computer guru Dr Ray Kurzweil, there will be 32 times more technical progress during the next half century than there was in the entire 20th century, and one of the outcomes is that artificial intelligence could be on a par with human intellect in the next 20 years. He said that machines will rapidly overtake humans in their intellectual abilities and will soon be able to solve some of the most intract- able problems of the 21st century. Computers have so far been based on two-di- mensional chips made from silicon, but there are developments already well advanced to make three-dimensional chips with vastly im- proved performances, and even to construct them out of biological molecules. Three-dimensional, molecular computing will provide the hardware for human-level 'strong artificial intelligence' by the 2020s. The more important software insights will be gained in part from the reverse engineering of the human brain, a process well under way. "Already, two dozen regions of the human brain have been modelled and simulated," the British newspaper quoted Dr Kurzweil as saying. - - - end excerpt - - - - - - Engineer the tools of scientific discovery In the century ahead, engineers will continue to be partners with scientists in the great quest for understanding many unanswered questions of nature. http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/8965.aspx - - - Excerpts: ... How will engineering impact biological research? Biologists are always seeking, for instance, better tools for imaging the body and the brain. Many mysteries also remain in the catalog of human genes involving exactly how genes work in processes of activation and inhibition. Scientists still have much to learn about the relationship of genes and disease, as well as the possible role of large sections of our DNA that seem to be junk with no function, leftover from evolu- tion. To explore such realms, biologists will depend on engineering help - perhaps in the form of new kinds of microscopes, or new biochemical methods of probing the body's cellular and molecular machinations. New mathematical and computing methods, incorporated into the emerging discipline of "systems biology," may show the way to better treatments of disease and better under- standing of healthy life. Perhaps even more intriguing, the bioengin- eering discipline known as "synthetic biology" may enable the design of entirely novel bio- logical chemicals and systems that could prove useful in applications ranging from fuels to medicines to environmental cleanup and more. Turning to the mysteries of our own minds, new methods for studying the brain should assist the study of memory, learning, emo- tions, and thought. In the process, mental disorders may be conquered and learning and thinking skills enhanced. Ultimately, such advances may lead to a credible answer to the deepest of human mysteries, the question of the origin and nature of consciousness itself. How will engineering help us explore the universe? In its profundity, only one question com- pares with that of consciousness - whether the universe is host to forms of life anywhere else than on Earth. Systems capable of prob- ing the cosmos for evidence surely represent one of engineering's grandest challenges. Even apart from the question of extraterres- trial life, the exploration of space poses a considerable challenge. Long-distance human space flight faces numerous obstacles, from the danger of radiation to the need to supply sustainable sources of food, water, and oxy- gen. Engineering expertise will be critical to over- coming those obstacles, and many efforts to expand that expertise are underway. One line of research, for example, envisions a set of connected bioreactors populated by carefully chosen microbes. Metabolism by the microbes could convert human wastes (and in some cases the microbes' own wastes) into the resources needed to support long-term travel through space. But the allure of space extends well beyond the desire to seek novel life and explore new phe- nomena. Space represents the mystery of exist- ence itself. The universe's size and age exceeds most peo- ple's comprehension. ... Beneath all this compelling complexity lies an embarrassing fact - scientists do not know what most of the universe is made of. We only understand a small percentage of all the matter and energy in the cosmos. The greatest part of matter is a dark form of unknown identity, and even more abundant is a mysterious energy that exerts a repulsive force on space, inducing the universe to expand at an ever-increasing rate. Engineers have continually been at work on better, and cheaper, ways to search space for answers to these questions. New and improved telescopes, both on the ground and in space, make up part of the investigatory arsenal. ... Whether these and other approaches can shed sufficient light to disclose the universe's dark- est secrets remains unknown. It may be that further investigation of earthly materials will be needed as well, along with the continued assault on the problems of physics with the power of thought, an approach used so suc- cessfully by Einstein. Maybe answers will come only if scientists can succeed in discov- ering the ultimate laws of physics. In that regard, the underlying question is whe- ther there exists, as Einstein believed, one single, ultimate underlying law that encom- passes all physics in a unified mathematical framework. Finding out may require new tools to unlock the secrets of matter and energy. Per- haps engineers will be able to devise smaller, cheaper, but more powerful atom smashers, enabling physicists to explore realms beyond the reach of current technology. Another possible avenue to discovering a uni- fied law might be by achieving a deeper under- standing of how the world's tiniest and most basic building blocks work, the foundations of quantum physics. ... All things considered, the frontiers of nature represent the grandest of challenges, for engineers, scientists, and society itself. Engineering's success in finding answers to nature's mysteries will not only advance the understanding of life and the cosmos, but also provide engineers with fantastic new pros- pects to apply in enterprises that enhance the joy of living and the vitality of human civili- zation. - - - end excerpts - - -
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