I don't like thinking about death. I don't think anyone does.
As an agnostic, I'm often faced with people fundamentally misunderstanding my religion. They think I'm not sure about what I believe or that I'm an atheist with no conviction. Nothing could be further from the truth. What I believe, in a nutshell, is that God exists in everyone as a certain force that drives people. For example, one of the many ways I "worship" is driving. I'm good at it and I own a car designed for people who are good at it. Those people didn't have to design my car the way they did. There's no reason to. They did it because it was something on this Earth about which they cared, and that (no pun intended) drove them. The SRT4 project, like many projects, was more than engineering; it was a project personally close to those who worked on it.
How is this religious? Those behind the development of machines like this did it for people like them and people like me, and when I drive that car, testing my limits and its limits, I feel a bit of what the engineers who designed the machine felt. I feel connected to the Earth (in the form of the environment in which I am driving), connected to myself (in the confidence of my skill to manipulate the machine to take that corner and not end up in the ditch), and connected to those who built the machine to take full advantage of both these things, make driving an experience, and provide the link between life and living.
Some people feel nothing from driving. I can guarantee, however, that they feel what I feel about driving in some other way. If it sounds crazy and shallow, understand that there are precedents for these exact types of experiences in Buddhism and that some of our best native writers wrote about it.
Why do I bring all this hippee shit up? Well the timing is important, given what day it is. While the above might lead you to believe I mean 4/20, I actually mean Easter. I don't follow the Christian religion; however, I don't hate it either. It's actually a great religion, not least for its ability to be all things to all people. The Bible, for it faults, can be adapted and used in almost any context. As anyone who has read it (and I have) will find, the Bible provides a variety of complex and valuable metaphors that can guide one through life effectively. (Hell, even Jesus loved metaphors. Otherwise why would he have told so many parables?)
Although there are those, many of those, who believe that Jesus was literally resurrected from the dead and literally resurrected others from the dead, given the state of medical science 2000 years ago, I have to assume this is yet another Biblical metaphor, and a good one, that teaches us something about conquering death through spirituality.
But what do I know? I'm just an atheist without balls.
However, while Jesus was able to conquer death metaphorically and create one of the largest belief systems on this planet, he did actually die, and, in all probability, stayed dead. The first man or women to literally, truly conquer death will likely do so via a computer.
If you thought my beliefs were weird before, you may want to stop reading.
Offensive to religion or not, the probable truth is that our mind, our being, and our soul is wrapped up in encoded chemical data stored in a combination storage device and central processor. The problem is that the CPU and drive are powered by a relatively weak and inefficient power supply and mainboard that are pretty easy to disrupt and wear out in a pretty short amount of time. Like it or not, machines are more durable than we are. In order to conquer death, we need to figure out a way around this.
Creepy? I don't know. I do know that science fiction literature and film from The City and the Stars to Caprica have covered the topic about a billion times, so I'm not saying anything new here. The first true Lazarus will be a robot.
There are many ways this process can go, actually. Cryonics, robotics, virtual reality, and cloning are only the most popular. However, who's going to embrace it? Death is, allegedly, part of the human condition and figures heavily in most world religions. Those who worship a man who they believe literally died and came back are, ironically, going to be the most vocal in opposing this stuff.
Despite this, some religions actually have heavy emphasis on conquering death. In fact, when you think about it, reincarnation makes sense in a very literal way. When we die, our molecules are broken up and the elements of which we consist are redistributed. In all probability, we were a fly at some point, or part of one. And yet, again, the religious camp will, in all likelihood, hinder the progress of transhumanism, because it is, they say, "unnatural."
Transhumanism might indeed be unnatural, but, as an agnostic, I look at it in a very simple way: we don't know what happens when we die. Despite rhetoric about heaven and hell, I have no real evidence that either of those exists outside of a metaphorical framework, and I'm pretty happy where I am. In fact, who's not to say that heaven isn't happiness and hell, sadness? Who's not to say that heaven and hell are just spiritual metaphors? All I know for sure is that I'm going to die someday and that, while I don't really fear it, I'm also perfectly ok with living right here. So put me in the robot body.
I should hasten to add that you may think you don't have to think about this stuff, but the future is always here faster than you think. We can already simulate a rat's brain with a computer to a small extent. We can now bring dead people back after several hours by injecting their circulatory system with frozen saline. All this is pretty unnatural, but it may help people with brain injuries to recover or give people who have died another chance at life. If your God is against that, than screw that guy. He should have been a robot.
Transhumanism is big and its scary, but it's part of what I believe and it's coming sooner than you think. Although I'm in the minority, I hope against hope it will come in my lifetime. As someone who lives on Earth and loves life with the fanaticism of a religious zealot, I want to be there.
I was recently asked a question by a good friend. I was asked if I could get a ride to space for free, would I? I was apparetly in the minority who answered that I absolutely would, no questions asked. I would also likely be shitting myself the whole time. It would be worth it. I feel the same way about transhumanism. Am I afraid of it? Yes. Terrified. If the proponents of this movement are correct, Singularity will be the single (no pun intended) most frightening thing ever to happen to man. It may also be the be most dramatic. For bad or good, it's not something I want to miss.
The best, or perhaps worst, part? It's even possible that, with the pace of technology being what it is, I won't. You may not either. While I love humanity, I don't object to being something more. Machines aren't perfect, but neither are we. Machines don't hate each other, and they don't hurt each other. Machines don't get sick. They don't die. Maybe, as transcendent humans, we won't either. I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords. Take your side.
