Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 ... 10 11 [12] 13 14 ... 46

Author Topic: Transhumanism Discussion Thread  (Read 54302 times)

Frumple

  • Bay Watcher
  • The Prettiest Kyuuki
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #165 on: November 13, 2013, 11:06:33 pm »

... does make me suddenly wonder if there's, like, a (preferably kept up to date) list somewhere that has all the feats of magic and miracles of human myth, lore, and religious belief, like... checked off. Giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, letting the crippled walk again... walking on water? Pretty sure we've got shoes for that, don't we? Could probably manage insect plagues like it ain't no thing. Too tired to make a humorously long list of science accomplishments that match supernatural ones, but... it'd have to be a hilarious list to look at. All that myth, wonder, and awe, now the realm of science fact and open to most anyone with a big enough pocketbook. Homo sapiens nothin'. We's homo wizardicus now. Or something. Science wizards.
Logged
Ask not!
What your country can hump for you.
Ask!
What you can hump for your country.

Max White

  • Bay Watcher
  • Still not hollowed!
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #166 on: November 13, 2013, 11:14:31 pm »

Well we still need to turn water into wine, but one could argue that is just a case of adding grapes and leaving it to rot... No idea how we are going to slay the erymanthian boar though.

WillowLuman

  • Bay Watcher
  • They/Them Life is weird
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #167 on: November 13, 2013, 11:17:09 pm »

Nanobots, take carbon out of air, recombine it with hydrogen from water, and voila, almost any kind of beverage.
Logged
Dwarf Souls: Prepare to Mine
Keep Me Safe - A Girl and Her Computer (Illustrated Game)
Darkest Garden - Illustrated game. - What mysteries lie in the abandoned dark?

alway

  • Bay Watcher
  • 🏳️‍⚧️
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #168 on: November 13, 2013, 11:30:43 pm »

@Frumple:
There's also the field of Artificial Intelligence, which studies how to imbue artifacts with intelligence.
And robotics, which studies how to animate the inanimate.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
And synthetic biology, which studies ways to create lifeforms to do our bidding.
Aerospace, which studies how best to make man fly more efficiently (the problem of making him fly having been solved ages ago) and visit the heavens.
Nuclear physics, which create energy by dividing the indivisible, and soon will also be using the very power of the stars.

SMBC puts it well: http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3058#comic

Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_powder
« Last Edit: November 13, 2013, 11:40:07 pm by alway »
Logged

i2amroy

  • Bay Watcher
  • Cats, ruling the world one dwarf at a time
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #169 on: November 14, 2013, 02:10:35 pm »

The biggest miracle/plague problems we run into with technology are usually those involving a mass number of animals (I mean sure you could just say "breed a million frogs/locusts/black flies/etc. and release them", but that seems like a kinda lame answer).

As for religious transhumanism, I'm at best meh about it. It seems like the people who act that way really are just looking for an excuse to claim that there religion is "science". Also I find it bad to throw around words like "omnipotent" and "omniscient", since things (like physics) break when you have infinite amounts of things. At least within the universe as we know it, everything has to have some limit. Nothing is truly "infinite"  except maybe time (and even that might eventually run out with the destruction of the universe, though I don't know enough about that to truly comment). Even things like "integers" are technically constrained by the information limit of the universe (which we currently have an estimate of).

For morality I think we've got quite a few shifts in as we grow beyond being what we currently define as "human". Take murder for example.
1) When people live for much longer periods of time, murder becomes much more deplorable. Social pressure to not do it goes up.
2) When everyone has a "backup" someplace then (permanent) murder becomes much more difficult to do, and most attempts are fairly pointless assuming the backups backup in realtime (meaning that they will just come back with the memories of you trying to murder them).
Depending on the exact forms of transhumanism available your morality will shift different ways, but it will shift. I highly doubt that the morality of a superhuman would look anything like that of a current one.
Logged
Quote from: PTTG
It would be brutally difficult and probably won't work. In other words, it's absolutely dwarven!
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - A fun zombie survival rougelike that I'm dev-ing for.

misko27

  • Bay Watcher
  • Lawful Neutral; Prophet of Pestilence
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #170 on: November 14, 2013, 03:27:43 pm »

... does make me suddenly wonder if there's, like, a (preferably kept up to date) list somewhere that has all the feats of magic and miracles of human myth, lore, and religious belief, like... checked off. Giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, letting the crippled walk again... walking on water? Pretty sure we've got shoes for that, don't we? Could probably manage insect plagues like it ain't no thing. Too tired to make a humorously long list of science accomplishments that match supernatural ones, but... it'd have to be a hilarious list to look at. All that myth, wonder, and awe, now the realm of science fact and open to most anyone with a big enough pocketbook. Homo sapiens nothin'. We's homo wizardicus now. Or something. Science wizards.
I think the closest trope is Doing In The Wizard, actually
Logged
The Age of Man is over. It is the Fire's turn now

MetalSlimeHunt

  • Bay Watcher
  • Gerrymander Commander
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #171 on: November 14, 2013, 04:03:17 pm »

So I came across information of an interesting nootropic today. Piracetam causes a significant reduction in the rate of cognitive decline in humans, and has been shown to reverse brain damage in rats. In addition, it curse breath holding spells in children (there's an odd discovery if I've ever seen one), increases recall, and decreases cognitive decline-related aggression. You'll also find people across the internet swearing up and down that it increases cognition, but this is unproven.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2013, 04:05:53 pm by MetalSlimeHunt »
Logged
Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
Quote
No Gods, No Masters.

SalmonGod

  • Bay Watcher
  • Nyarrr
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #172 on: November 14, 2013, 05:31:38 pm »

So I came across information of an interesting nootropic today. Piracetam causes a significant reduction in the rate of cognitive decline in humans, and has been shown to reverse brain damage in rats. In addition, it curse breath holding spells in children (there's an odd discovery if I've ever seen one), increases recall, and decreases cognitive decline-related aggression. You'll also find people across the internet swearing up and down that it increases cognition, but this is unproven.

I've been taking piracetam daily for several years.  The stuff is super cheap.  I've only spent like $60 on three big tubs of it.  I'm about finished with my second tub, and it's lasted me a couple years.

I do think it makes me ever so slightly sharper.  I experimented with it a bit when I first picked it up, and I'm pretty sure that I read/write more, retain more information, and draw more connections in thought when I'm taking it.  But that was back when I was still in school, wasn't nearly as burned out, and was pushing myself much harder to do more things.  Back then, I was taking slightly larger doses than I am now, and trying to get in three doses a day.

I've since stopped taking it with the intention of improving my mental performance or anything like that, though I still think it does.  I mainly care about maintaining my mental health, especially since Alzheimers runs so strong in my family.  This was my intention all along, but I couldn't help indulging my curiousity in the beginning.  I'm now much more casual about it.  Whenever I drink a cup of coffee at home, I drop in about 1/4 tsp of the stuff.  Very small amount.  Usually only once a day.  I'm just hoping it will make a difference in the long run, and there's really no reason not to give it a shot.  Once again, it's crazy cheap, and...

I can verify that I've experienced no side-effects.  Some people get headaches, but that's supposed indicate that you're lacking choline, which is an essential nutrient.  I don't think it's ever caused me a headache.  Or anything else.  Never experienced any sort of withdrawal, and I've stopped taking it for several weeks before.  You really don't experience much of anything with it.  It's very, very subtle.  You only really notice anything when you look back on what you've done with your time, and compare that to what you would have expected of yourself without it.  At least that's how it's been for me. 

I scoured the internet for information when I first started taking it.  The stuff has been around since the 70s, and no long-term side-effects have ever been pinned on it, either.

Piracetam is one of a whole family of chemicals referred to as Racetams, and it is the weakest of them.  I may yet give one of the stronger ones a try someday.  The next step up is aniracetam, and the experience with that one is supposedly much less subtle.  Rob Rhinehart, of Soylent fame, experimented with incorporating that in his formula for a while.  He was still working his day job as a software engineer at the time, and he said "it was like the code was writing itself." 
« Last Edit: November 14, 2013, 05:35:06 pm by SalmonGod »
Logged
In the land of twilight, under the moon
We dance for the idiots
As the end will come so soon
In the land of twilight

Maybe people should love for the sake of loving, and not with all of these optimization conditions.

WillowLuman

  • Bay Watcher
  • They/Them Life is weird
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #173 on: November 14, 2013, 08:50:09 pm »

Nanobots: take carbon out of air, recombine it with hydrogen from water, and voila, almost any kind of beverage in seconds.
Logged
Dwarf Souls: Prepare to Mine
Keep Me Safe - A Girl and Her Computer (Illustrated Game)
Darkest Garden - Illustrated game. - What mysteries lie in the abandoned dark?

alway

  • Bay Watcher
  • 🏳️‍⚧️
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #174 on: November 14, 2013, 09:49:31 pm »

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/11/ibm-opens-jeopardy-winning-watson-to-developers-with-a-self-service-cloud/
IBM announced an API for Watson. So basically, cloud-powered apps which can talk to the user in natural language, as well as parse through vast quantities of natural language information, like that found on the web, as well as learn from its interactions.
Logged

Luke_Prowler

  • Bay Watcher
  • Wait, how did I get back here?
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #175 on: November 14, 2013, 11:02:36 pm »

We have yet to raise the dead, if you're putting a list together. Though all things considered, that may not be the best idea
Logged

Quote from: ProtonJon
And that's why Communism doesn't work. There's always Chance Time

Frumple

  • Bay Watcher
  • The Prettiest Kyuuki
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #176 on: November 14, 2013, 11:15:55 pm »

... fairly sure we do that pretty regularly, actually. Just for only the (very) recently dead :P

The technique is yet limited!
Logged
Ask not!
What your country can hump for you.
Ask!
What you can hump for your country.

SalmonGod

  • Bay Watcher
  • Nyarrr
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #177 on: November 14, 2013, 11:27:23 pm »

We're getting better at it, though... "suspended animation" is something that's seriously in the works.  The most remarkable I've heard is some research with dogs, where they pumped all the blood out of their bodies, replaced it with a cold saline/glucose solution, let them sit clinically dead (no heartbeat or brain activity) for three hours, and then revived them.

And there are plenty of stories out there of people who were brought back, or even sprang back on their own after being clinically dead for many hours.  Those are extreme outliers, though.
Logged
In the land of twilight, under the moon
We dance for the idiots
As the end will come so soon
In the land of twilight

Maybe people should love for the sake of loving, and not with all of these optimization conditions.

Skyrunner

  • Bay Watcher
  • ?!?!
    • View Profile
    • Portfolio
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #178 on: November 15, 2013, 01:23:50 am »

~p~t~w~
Logged

bay12 lower boards IRC:irc.darkmyst.org @ #bay12lb
"Oh, they never lie. They dissemble, evade, prevaricate, confoud, confuse, distract, obscure, subtly misrepresent and willfully misunderstand with what often appears to be a positively gleeful relish ... but they never lie" -- Look To Windward

MetalSlimeHunt

  • Bay Watcher
  • Gerrymander Commander
    • View Profile
Re: Transhumanism Discussion Thread
« Reply #179 on: November 22, 2013, 06:48:40 pm »

So I found out today that the human brain is capable of sensing the ultraviolet spectrum. How do I know this? Because anybody who has the lens of their eye removed can see it.
Logged
Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
Quote
No Gods, No Masters.
Pages: 1 ... 10 11 [12] 13 14 ... 46