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User: noahb

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  1. Re:Never going to happen... on Bill Joy On Extinction of Humans · · Score: 1

    kind of. Only water is one Oxygen and 2 Hydrogen, so that makes us mostly H. (by atom count for each element)

    hey wait a minute! isn't hydrogen fuel the rage these days?! so if humans are mostly hydrogen, then we are an exellent source of fuel!! (can i patent this idea?)

    hmm.. those silly robots in the matix aren't so stupid after all!

  2. Re:Wired on Bill Joy On Extinction of Humans · · Score: 1

    It seems inevitable that eventually we will create something that 'replaces' us. The difference is that I don't see this as a bad thing. Evolution is amazing, and is responsible for creating humans, but ultimately slow and unreliable. All species are able to adapt to their environment. It is generally accepted that the species with the best survival advantage are those species that are able to quickly adapt to environmental changes, and able to adapt in the most flexible ways. Evolution is one way that species adapt over long periods of time, and species are able to adapt without an evolutionary design change. The human body is able to quickly adapt to different diets depending on what food is available for example.
    But evolution is a kind of random generate-and-test algorithm. Advances in technology are directed, intentional, and much more efficient. Eventually human life (as we know it) will not be able to compete with a system (that we created) that is able to directly modify and improve it's own design.
    The idea that this system will be purely mechanical, computerized, or nano-tech based seems a bit far fetched, at least for the immediate future. Far more likely to replace us is a hybrid genetically modified version of ourselves, combined with mechanical, computer, and nano-technology.
    You get genetic information from your parents, but you don't directly get the experience or knowledge from them - you have to relearn everything from scratch. Computers and robots don't have this limitation.
    If the planet was to see dramatic environmental changes, either due to technology, pollution, etc., or due to a natural but radical event, the human race will not be able to adapt quickly enough. But a self-modifying organism that is able to directly and purposefully modify it's own (genetic) design will have the ultimate ability to adapt, and therefore have the ultimate chance of survival.
    It is silly to think that the human race will last forever, given the mere blip of time that we have existed in the history of life on this planet, and given that virtually all species eventually become extinct. (Not to mention that we are generally speaking resistant to radical change)
    I look at technology as the natural evolutionary next step, from a random, inefficient process to a directed efficient one. The ability for improvements (adaptations) to be implemented in a single generation instead of millions of years will make evolution obsolete.