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[Leafsnail]

100 years ago, those things were ridiculously implausible. Why are today's ridiculously implausible possibilities different?

Because there's "Things which you'd need a couple of particular scientific breakthroughs or innovations to do" and "Things which which would require hundreds of unknown scientific breakthroughs that noone is really working on".  Neither flying nor space travel were ridiculously implausible 100 years ago, really (not least because flying had already happened by then - Kelvin was to some degree a stubborn fool who insisted physics was already finished in 1900).  You could speculate about methods of getting into space even if the technology to actually do it wasn't quite there.  Can we speculate on the methods of transferring human consciousness into dogs?  We don't even know how exactly consciousness arises, nevermind if you can meaningfully transfer it to a computer or a brain that controls a completely different body.  Which suggests that, if it ever did happen (which would be odd, considering technology tends to work towards things that people actually want) it would be in a very long time.

I can accept that transgendered people are legitimate because the brain is extremely complex and human sexual dismorphism is a lot less specialized than most people think, but Furries who actually think they're animals on the inside are crazy.

Also if you're prepared to accept blogs on Tumblr as evidence that people can identify as other species then you'd also have to accept that people can identify as dragons, robots and fictional characters.

[RedKing]

Well, the odd thing about flying is that ornithology was exactly the WRONG approach. It was a case where biomemetics (trying to copy something we see in nature) failed for decades. There's all kinds of flappy, "I'll attach a pair of wings to myself and soar like an eagle *SPLAT*" flying machines that failed utterly.

The way we learned to fly was discovering aerodynamics and being able to propel a vehicle faster than anyone could run. Could be that another radical shift in approach gets us to practical fusion or FTL or mind-machine interface.

[Darvi]

I was thinking more along the lines of "huh, birds are heavier than air, and they can fly".

Well, most of them.

[Nadaka]

In the future, old people will tell you to "Get your hover bike off my lawn!".

And you will say "But it isn't on your lawn! see... its hovering."

And he will reply "You know what I mean!"

[RedKing]

And then he will come out with his positron shotgun which he called "Old Betsy".

[kaijyuu]

I can accept that transgendered people are legitimate because the brain is extremely complex and human sexual dismorphism is a lot less specialized than most people think, but Furries who actually think they're animals on the inside are crazy.

Also if you're prepared to accept blogs on Tumblr as evidence that people can identify as other species then you'd also have to accept that people can identify as dragons, robots and fictional characters.

I'm actually cool with this.


As for the transgender thing and brains... yes, brains are quite complex. Yes, some people might have a brain fit for the opposite sex.

Now imagine we figure all this out completely, and we start looking at people's brains. There will be some trans individuals with the brain that matches their sex. Are you going to call them illegitimate? Are you going to tell them they aren't "really" what they identify as?


To me, someone's "identity" of any type can only be determined by themselves. There is no criteria or requirements except simply deciding it is so. They say who they are; you do not. If they find that a concept embodies "who they are," then they can associate themselves with that concept, be it a gender, animal, fictional character, etc. It depends far more on what they want to be seen as and associated with than how they are constructed, and there's nothing wrong with that.

If we start arguing whether someone is "really" this or that (on a metaphysical level), then we're arguing in circles through endless no true scotsman fallacies. No ifs ands or buts.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

As for the transgender thing and brains... yes, brains are quite complex. Yes, some people might have a brain fit for the opposite sex.

Now imagine we figure all this out completely, and we start looking at people's brains. There will be some trans individuals with the brain that matches their sex. Are you going to call them illegitimate? Are you going to tell them they aren't "really" what they identify as?

Not what I meant. The actual physical structure of the brain is irreverent, male and female humans are close enough together than mentally possessing a gender different from your body is plausible. Psychologically, children do not develop gender identity until a certain point in life.

Robots, aliens, and anthropomorphized animals are not humans at all.

[Realmfighter]

My stance is to not consider it weird at all. If people do want to take an inhuman form then I don't have to waste brain cycles on how weird they are, and if people don't I won't have to think about it at all.

[Fenrir]

To me, someone's "identity" of any type can only be determined by themselves. There is no criteria or requirements except simply deciding it is so. They say who they are; you do not. If they find that a concept embodies "who they are," then they can associate themselves with that concept, be it a gender, animal, fictional character, etc. It depends far more on what they want to be seen as and associated with than how they are constructed, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Someone may call himself a duck, think himself a duck, and wish to be considered a duck, but that shall not make him a duck, and I could never suppose him to be so.

They say who they are; you do not.

If, by “say who they are”, you mean prescribe or command, then it is a non-sequitur, as that is not what anyone was doing, and neither party could do so anyway. If you mean describe or observe, then both parties are capable of it with sufficient information.

[LordBucket]

I think the discussion about identity is missing the point. I don't need to "identify" with dolphins on any deep level to think it might be an interesting experience if I could be one for a few hours. Somebody else mentioned a few pages ago that if they could easily swap genders and back, they'd be curious enough to try it out. And personally, I don't "identify" with robots at all...but if I were given the option of having sex with this, yeah I'd totally do it at least once.

If body modification technology gets to the point that morphing your body into something non-human is no more permanent or expensive than getting your ears pierced...I assure you there will be people curious to try out the sorts of things I mentioned last page. And once you've had one generation that's grown up with exposure to that kind of thing...the inhibitions are likely to go away.

[alway]

If body modification technology gets to the point that morphing your body into something non-human is no more permanent or expensive than getting your ears pierced...I assure you there will be people curious to try out the sorts of things I mentioned last page.

Let's face it, some will do those sorts of things even if it is super-expensive AND super-painful AND semi-permanent.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Let's face it, some will do those sorts of things even if it is super-expensive AND super-painful AND semi-permanent.

[RedKing]

"Awww, but Mom!! Brittany got bioluminescence genes spliced into *her* DNA!! I'm gonna be the only one at school who can't glow in the dark!"

[Darvi]

But think about it, the other kids can't become ninjas when they grow up!

Which, admittedly, is a good thing.

[Frumple]

Gecko feet's where it's at, man. Fuck Dance on the ceiling, dude. On the freaking ceiling.

Also, imagine how many more kids we could shove into a classroom if they could sit on the walls and ceiling. So many more!

'Course, still considerably less than if we used virtual classrooms, but whatever. Part of the whole deal is massively inconveniencing the kids and wasting money!