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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."
...Should be forced at gunpoint to sit down and watch crappy re-runs of 'The Six Million Dollar Man' on Sci-Fi channel for hours on end.
The real problem here is the 'Six Million dollar' bit. Even if nano-tech gives all the bonuses that some of its developers think it will, it's an expensive technology to develop.
Those who can pay for the tech in form of life-lengthening drugs (rich white Americans) will reap the benifits. Everyone else will get the shaft.
Don't think it won't happen. Just look at all the massive shipments of expensive AIDS drugs, condoms, and educational literature on sexual safety that are being shipped to places like Zimbabwe and South Africa where they are desperately needed.
Oh? What? No shipments of AIDS drugs to third-world countries? Imagine that...
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Finally a post that should REALLY have the "borg" icon and you stick a motherboard next to it!! Doh!
:)
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
Of course the tech will only be available to the ultra-rich at first.
Suddenly the Borg Gates pictues makes all the more sense.
Yeah, that sounds good, but it doesn't work so great in practice. If it did I'd be in close to perfect health. I don't smoke, drink, in fact I avoid all drugs, and not easially stressed. About those drugs, that includes legal drugs (caffine, asprin) when I can. (I'm not stupid enough to not take those that will help a specific problem when I need it, but I avoid it when I can). I don't snake between my 3 healthy balanced meals. I exercise. I brush and floss regularly. I'm not perfect about any of the above mind you, but I do a fairly good job.
I'm not in perfect health though. My back is sore, my knees sometimes hurt. Once in a while my bad ankle twists. I have a couple moles to keep an eye on because they could be cancer. I've had my teeth filled. I have several other problems that frankly you aren't that interested in me anyway.
It is all a normal part of aging. People get older and their bodys degrade. I can still do everything I could when I was 20, but some of it hurts. Experience of others suggests that in a few years that won't be true, and some more years after that I will have to stop doing things I want to do.
Sure it would be nice if I had done something a few years ago for my knees and back, but both those problems are genetic, others in my family have similear problems. It would be nice if I didn't have a bad ankle, but how was I to know that I would twist it that one day? It is worse to not exercise than to not twist your ankle.
I don't need a wonderpill, I need something that will work. They could do a knee replacement, but the replacement only lasts a few years, and then they do it again. The second replacement has to last a lifetime though because today's technology won't allow a third. So lets see more research. Not all of it will pan out, but each problem solved leaves me with a working body part that I can use for other things.
I'm not saying prevention is a bad idea. I suspect I'm healthier than the average person my age. Prevention cannot solve the basic problem of normal wear and tear, but prevention is a excellent part of the solution.