Our Post-Human Future

  When I think about the future of Humanity, I imagine that a good number of people may choose to become "post-human," and acquire electronic and mechanical enhancements. Such a transformed being would be what we call a "cyborg" today. This is not necessarily a bad idea, but it can be abused, perhaps unwittingly. These cybernetic people could give up some degree of selfishness, so as to integrate their society into a cooperative community, or they could simply become more independent as individuals, and pursue their own private agendas. A considered and careful orientation toward a social purpose, chosen from a consensus of non-conflicting agendas, combined with teaching for an ethical norm, could enhance both objectives, and allow for personal self-actualization. This has traditionally been the task of religion. Maybe we should be trying to dig out a deeper core in philosophy, an ethical idealism combined with some pragmatic tolerance. 

 But there is something worrisome about this prospect. We don't want to accidentally throw away our freedom, nor our abilities to love, seek truth or value wisdom, just because some imperial culture or unifying computer thinks doing so would be more efficient. Human beings need to retain the ability and authority to direct their own pursuits and make their own decisions about which purposes to develop. Indeed, these human freedoms, to choose one's own motivations, are precisely the types of values that empires and computers (no matter how smart they may become) are likely to find themselves lacking. We can value some reasonable efficiency, but it isn't the whole point of our existence. 

 We live for the opportunity to share with others and to belong in a community, for the experiences of adventure and creativity, for beauty, novelty and wonder, and for passing on our accumulated knowledge of how we can and should live so as to maximize the joy, contentment and happiness in our lives. In other words, we live for Love, Freedom, Truth and Wisdom. And while enhancements may help us to engage more fully and successfully with the world and other people in it, or help us to live longer with less illness or aging, they are unlikely to be able to give us any better reasons to live than those.

 And yet, with those caveats aside, we come to ask the ultimate question: "How human will a future cyborg person remain, with his/her full suite of enhancements?" Would we even recognize "hit" as a human being, or would it be something else? How much of the animal "homo sapiens" would still be in the machine? Put another way, "How much of the possible enhancement will be enough?" Where do we reasonably draw the line and say, this far and no farther? 

 I am willing to allow that science and engineering will one day be capable of replicating the functions of every organ, and every faculty of the human body, with one very important exception. It will never replicate the soul, nor the capacity to house it within the body. You won't be able to download your "self" into a computer. The attempt may produce a sufficient copy of our minds to elude expert detection of any difference, but we don't have the ability to detect the soul and likely never will. We would have to be able to detect and quantify and manipulate "Spirit," and prove beyond any possible doubt the existence of life after death. God knows how to track "us" from one existence to the next, but we can't. We can eventually build portable and/or implantable prosthetics for everything, but we won't be replicating a human soul.

 So how much of our animal bodies will we need in order to keep our souls intact, and attached, to our enhanced humanity? I think we will need a super-majority of our brains, at a minimum. Likely, we will need our sensory organs, at least partly in some semblance of their original capacities. Our faces, too, as unique representations of identity, perhaps with some cosmetic improvement, not to say artistic license. And many may choose to keep a natural hand, or both, as modes of experience and expression. Thus, in order to maintain the brains, skin, eyes, tongue, olfactory and auditory apparatus, some portion of the digestive tract, and some blood will be needed to feed and bring oxygen to them. And at least a few bones will be required for producing the blood, and providing structure and support. After that, we will need our genetic code, to grow the organs we keep, to heal injuries, to pass on to offspring, and possibly to evolve into better specimens. 

 But will we need our sexual organs, or any secondary characteristics? Perhaps we will be grown in artificial wombs, and surgically implanted with the interfaces that will operate the enhancement suite with which we will be "gifted" when we want its various components. Maybe, our choices among the possible prosthetics will be made on the basis of our choice of hobby interest or the profession we pursue, and interchangeable parts can be chosen later if we want to do something else. One's gender may no longer be a fixed quantity, but rather a role based on personality traits, or the responsibilities or duties one assumes when we pick a niche in the community and society. What difference will our inherent chromosome array make, if there is no need for genitals? Or would the lack of gonads necessitate a regimen of hormone replacement therapy for everyone? 

 We will obviously still need role models, and respected elders to look up to and emulate, but the family may end up being replaced by a commune of shared economics and education, like the large multi-generational extended families we knew long ago. "Father" and "Mother" could be recognized as ranks, as well as roles, and they would act with deference toward the "Grandparents" and elder "Leaders" or "Pastors" in the home. It would be the responsibility of the society's authorities to choose the basic ethical codex that will be taught, and code it into the central computer-mind interface. That interface will be expected to inform the individual's deep knowledge base, and exercise an inhibiting influence to minimize antisocial and criminal behavior. 

 In short, I can imagine a person being a cyborg composed of about fifty percent mechanical and electronic enhancements. "Hit" would be an essential organism, pared down and packed into an apparently robotic prosthetic body with an armoured torso. The head will be primarily organic, wearing a helmet interface communicating with the brain by nonintrusive electromagnetic waves and/or carbon based penetrated "plug & play" ports and chip slots. There will likely be a transparent optical shield displaying relevant information to a heads-up display. Voice commands will be used to access the central computer complex for general inquiries. Answers can then be  received in thought, but speaking engages the will. The prosthetic limbs will have fully articulated hands, or specially designed tools meant for the job to be done. "Feet" will be chosen according to one's task or personal preference, and need not resemble biology. The mostly flesh and bone torso can ride suspended in a harness cushioned by gel, to minimize fatigue and allow opportunity for periodic hygiene. 

 I don't expect that they will need to eat as much as we do, due to restricted activity. However, they could make exceptions for certain occasions like civic or religious holidays, or personal days of celebration. And yet, these exceptions might actually become the rule, if meals retain their social function, and are served creatively for enjoyment. But for regular food, essential fuel and nutrients can be mass produced in efficient forms, like Army rations, and be regarded as no more interesting than the evening's plugged-in battery recharging session. Also, the need for sleep could be reduced to an hour, or two, each day, if desired. Presumably, we can discover some way to wash out the brain's chemical waste products and rebalance the essential neurotransmitters. We could then integrate our new experiences and learning into the appropriate memory by inducing deep sleep and dreaming on a regular cycle.

 Of course, all of this corporeal enhancement is only really an improvement if it is a part of a significant enhancement of longevity for the individual. Obviously, the prostheses can be swapped out and replaced whenever they begin to show enough wear and tear to decrease their efficiency of performance. But all of this is expensive, and consumes a lot of material resources, and would be difficult to justify expending on an individual that lives for less than a century. 

 Conventional medical practice has recently been oriented toward increasing revenues more than actually curing and preventing disease. Aging can be viewed as a peculiar syndrome due to a suite of debilitating conditions and diseases, often as a result of poisoning from waste products failing to wash out effectively. Some of the apparent wear and tear is due to scarring and less than perfect healing caused by code replication mistakes in individual cell genetics. Thus, frequent washing out of free radicals, and telomere tagging, plus the introduction of medical nanomachines programmed to effect repairs and do code checks on the cellular level, can likely go a long way toward keeping our flesh organs and other essential systems healthy for extended lifespans. 

 Scheduled bio-therapy sessions, requiring perhaps a week in hospital every seven years, could thus extend our lives for as many as ten centuries. Healthy brains and minds are our greatest concern in this respect. The body's systems can be replaced with new tissues grown from our own genetic material, and the prostheses are, of course, designed to be replaced at will. We will, however, want to regenerate nerve and brain cells without compromising either function or memory. Simply replacing old bits with man-made parts runs the risk of altering the mind and personality, and thereby compromising (or exiling) the soul.

 But maybe, the psychological effects of this near-immortality will bring out a need for counseling and social orientation, or the recognition that we need to choose some extraordinary purpose for living beyond our first century or two. The social effects of enhanced longevity could be unexpectedly disruptive. We can expect a surge in overall population, at least until it is clear that larger families will not be needed. Stabilizing our population will need to play the balance between growth and attrition, and look outward to fill the needs of our ventures beyond this Earth and into space. 

 Planetary outposts, and the colonies built in open space from resources mined among the asteroids and moons, can absorb large numbers of adventurous people for centuries to come. This expansion into the solar system, and the efforts to create sustainable ecologies - even terraforming the larger worlds - can provide meaningful purpose, and risky adventures worthy of our efforts for at least the next millennium. 

 And the goals of Science will hardly be sitting still. We need to develop some practical means of reaching for the stars. Engineers and ecologists will be occupied for centuries with plans to perfect and enlarge our floating cylinder habitats, and to construct better infrastructure as needed to facilitate access to space. Moreover, sociologists can use the space colonies and mining camps as test beds to study how we might redesign our societies to build actual eutopias, without cramping our hopes or happiness. People who seek freedom from perceived coercive conformity, or those who wish to follow religious ideals and motivations can also take advantage of the opportunities to create their own worlds in space, with whatever degree of isolation and independence they may desire. 

 And finally, there may always be a need for some armed military force. They can serve as a home guard to defend us from terrorists or crime syndicates, or alternatively, to protect us as security escort, search and rescue or disaster assistance. They could patrol the distant reaches of the Oort Cloud, observing to detect any signs of incursions from the Beyond. The reserve cadres might even work in underdeveloped regions as community assistance and project advisors to help build up resources and infrastructure, the way our Peace Corps does. Everyone could serve a term, as best suits their capabilities, in one or more of these regiments. 

 The future may actually need people who have chosen to enhance their humanity, and become Post-Human. There will be plenty of challenges, and more than a few hostile environments to be overcome by pioneers. We may need some robotic companions, who don't object to repetitive drudgery, and we may depend on some artificial intelligence directors for keeping track of the overall picture and immediate advice, but the people themselves will be the main driving force toward developing the future. Computers, even intelligent ones, will probably serve as a stabilizing force, but only people can project their purposes into the unknown, or search for the unexpected. If we want to find out whether there are other intelligent beings out there, or decide to go in search of God in his Heaven, it will be people who choose to go. We are the ones who have eternal spirit and immortal souls.