When Brains Meet Computer Brawn

prankster writes "News.com has an interesting story on among other things collective minds and nanotechnology based on the 405 page report "Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance: Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology, and Cognitive Science," from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Commerce. A quote: "The human body will be more durable, healthy, energetic, easier to repair and resistant to many kinds of stress, biological threat and (the) aging process." The story even mentions our favourite enemy - the Borgs."

Comments

NOT Always 30 years away.

[migrate-HOWTO]

There is a very informative piece done by K. Eric Drexler who wrote about most of the clever ideas of "Gray Goo" and Nanites in his epic "Engines of Creation". He further goes on to justify (scientifically) the possibilities in "Nanosystems: molecular machinery, manufacturing, and computation".

The basic premise is that science must first learn how to create machines that can build structures atom by atom (a Universal Assembler (UA)). Once this machine is created, it can build other UA's and will vastly expand the materials and machines that mankind can make while drastically reducing their cost.

A real world example would be ribosomes in the human body. They are the molecular structures that take their instructions from RNA in cells to make all the proeteins that created us. Not only do they have the ability to make the pieces that go into making humans, but they also have the ability to coordinate the process so that all of the intermediate stages support a living organism! One set of 'Wet' Nanotechnology involves trying adopt the control mechanism that tells the ribosomes what to do. Once this can be accomplished, the ribosomes could make new UAs that are more easily controlled and that can make a wider variety materials than proteins.

Given that nature got to where we are by trial and errors (albeit over millions of years), it is not unreasonable to surmise that man can reengineer this process for his use (in a much shorter period of time).

Another important tenet of the book is that Nanotechnology and UA's will one day arrive regardless of what we do to stop it. The premise is that it is important for developed (and hopefully benevolent) nations to be first to create the technology in order to create nano-based defenses against potentially aggressive destabilizing regimes.

For the text of Drexlers books as well as several other eductional piences on molecular technology, visit: http://www.zyvex.com/nano/

Review on transhumanity

[Anonymous Coward]

A review of Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance, can be found on Transhumanity