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Welcome to the Augmented Wiki[]

The wiki of Economics, Science, and Environment. It centers around the Lightman Government Research Center, once a hotspot of international research, and producer of numerous nobel-winning discoveries. However, the connections between the center and nature is not always obvious, so this page is meant to clarify this.

Delray Incident[]

The Delray Incident created a strange phenomenon which alters human minds, causing them to either connect with each other, or shut off certian thoughts. Though manmade, its effects are natural, similar to if we formed a star.

Brainwashings[]

A manmade alteration of the natural effects of the phenomenon, brainwashing effectivly stops succeptable humans from thinking certain thoughts. As pointed out by evnish24, this human interference is not natural, even though the original effect was.

Immunity[]

Certian people and those with cyberbrains are immune to the phenomenon's effects. Cyberbrain users cannot benefit from the phenomenon's effects, as they have already advanced their minds on their own. They unknowingly preemptively rejected it, and cannot experiance its effects. They chose their own path beforehand, so nature can no longer guide them in this area.

Describe your topic[]

We will focus on the history of trans-humanism and cyborgs, how the research is growing and the controversy over whether trans-humanism and cyborgs go against the ideas of nature or are apart of the natural process of progression and technological advancements.

The Culture of Trans-humanism and Cyborgs The people of the future are much restrained, held back by the brain washing control that technology has over them. Ever since the evolution of the humans has come about, society has been split by how much technology one is in control of. The higher upper class are much more powerful as individuals, as they are able to have implants into almost every part of their bodies, from having technology able to access all parts of the mind and running vast computations on the fly to higher qualities of hearing, vision, and strength. The lower class are unable to afford these upgrades and are split from the higher classes. However, the vast amount out there is able to keep the lower classes entertained and unwilling to rise up. They believe that as long as they have food, shelter, cell phones to communicate, and television to rot their minds away, all is well in the world (devaju anyone?). Government holidays to praise the almighty leaders are in effect, with the lower population happy to celebrate and get intoxicated at the events. The lower classes are in denial of the control the higher ups have over them.

A new religion has risen to control the masses. As more and more technology has come about, the belief of Christianity, Islam, and other religions of a God creating the world has been thrown out. This new religion called Transmanity promotes more of the humans connection to the Earth. As everything is so far removed from the natural world, all that is known is the urban life and the metals that have gone into the body to promote the transhumanism. People praise more of a spirit that brings more power to the people.

Trans-humanism is one of the most controversial topics that can be discussed and will be a huge topic in the coming future. The whole idea of changing our natural abilities seems fascinating to some but absolutely frightening to others. On one side, people want to be able to become more connected to the world. They follow a new technology revolution and want all the new gadgets that come about. With the development of trans-humanism, we will have a future of computer chips in our brains to be able to do heavy computations in seconds. We will have retina contacts in our eyes to advance our vision, see much more vivid imagery as well as be able to focus on far away distances. So many more advancements that I could name will be developed. The people adopting these will push more into the information era and be one with society. On the other side, the more traditional people will not want to adopt these new technologies. The idea of enhancing and changing the natural abilities of people is not one that will go over easy. The more religious people see trans-humanism as a way that people are trying to make themselves more like Gods, which is strictly forbidden. God created man in his image, and man should do nothing to change the structure of that. Other people will think that in a sense, it is giving too much power to the people. Is it truly a good thing for people to be so advanced and reliant on technology? What happens if systems fail, such as having implanted chips in our minds? There are so many problems that string along with technology that we shouldn’t become too dependent on it. Already now, we are so tied in with our cell phones, people can’t go much more than a minute without checking them. On bus rides, you look around and see people staring at nothing but their phones, either playing games or texting friends. Imagine this technology in our heads; there would less interaction with the real world. Our whole act of speech could go away if one could just send messages through our minds. Already, Google has come out with their Google Glass, wearable pair of glasses that can take videos, view the Internet, send messages, make calls, and all sorts of things. Already this technology is receiving backlash by the public. People are saying that the technology is too creepy. The glasses look very strange when wearing around, as absolutely eye sore that points you out in public. You can be tracked with this technology and it could be hacked to keep a constant feed on your wear about. Though the initial software has things to show that you are taking videos, the software can be hacked to keep something like that hidden, so people never know when video is being taken. And if it is hacked, sometimes the user could not know whether or not someone else is taking a video. Right now in the political scene, not much is being done about the future of trans-humanism, as not much is really understood. With the older politicians doing reckless things with our current technology, such as the constant debate about net neutrality, the future of trans-humanism debates are looking grim. Only time will tell how our future laws will turn out and the Google Glass is a good start for testing and evaluation. A huge thing on privacy seems to be the current theme; people are worried about how much companies know about their clients, as so much data is being collected by everything we do. A friend’s parents were shocked that ads knew that they were expecting a grandchild, with ads directed towards them on buying diapers and other various things to raise a newborn. Expect there to be huge debates on these things in upcoming elections.

Jenna's Research

Dan's Research

Kyle's Research

Works Cited/Bibliography

Annismov, Michael. "Top 10 Transhumanist Technologies." Accelerating Future. AF, 12 July 2007. Web.

http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/2007/07/top-10-transhumanist- technologies/

Anthony, Sebastian. "What Is Transhumanism, Or, What Does It Mean to Be Human?"ExtremeTech. N.p., 1 Apr. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/152240-what-is-transhumanism-or-what-does-it-mean-to-be-human

Nelson, Bryan. "7 Real-Life Human Cyborgs." MNN. Mother Nature Network, 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

http://www.mnn.com/leaderboard/stories/7-real-life-human-cyborgs

O'Mahony, Marie. Cyborg : the man machine. London: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.

Santamaria, Guillermo. "H Plus Magazine." A Brief History of Transhumanism Part 2. N.p., 22 Oct. 2011. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

http://hplusmagazine.com/2011/10/22/a-brief-history-of-transhumanism-part-2/

A) What is Trans humanism?

· A cultural and intellectual movement that believes we can and should improve the human condition by using advanced technology.

· One of the core concept of Trans humanism is life extension

· Trans humanists are interested in ever-increasing number of technologies that can boost our physical, intellectual, and psychological capabilities beyond what humans are naturally capable of.

B) Examples of Trans-Humanism in our society

1) Cryonics: the high-fidelity preservation of the human body, particularly the brain. It is in anticipation of possible future revival after death.

2) Gene therapy/RNA Interference

o Gene therapy replaces bad genes with good genes, and RNA interference can selectively knock out gene expression. Together, they give us an unprecedented ability to manipulate our own genetic code. By knocking out genes that code for certain metabolic proteins, scientists have been able to make mice that stay slim no matter how much junk food they eat.

3) Autonomous self-replicating robotics.

o Robotic “arms” that can replace manual labor.

o A landmark NASA study, “Advanced Automation for Space Missions”, found that robotic self-replication is just a matter of engineering, and that no fundamental theoretical breakthroughs are needed.

History

· Nikolai Fyodorov, a 19^th-century Russian philosopher, advocated radical life extension, physical immortality, and even resurrection of the dead using scientific method.

· In the 20^th century, a direct precursor to Trans-Humanism concepts was geneticist J.B.S. Haldane’s 1923 essay “Deadalus: Science and the Future” which predicted that great benefits would come from applications of advanced sciences to human biology.

Cyborgs

· Cyborg referred to a human being with bodily functions aided or controlled by technological devices, such as an oxygen tank, or insulin pump. (O’Mahony)

· Short for “Cybernetic Organism”, a being with both organic and artificial parts. i.e. robotic limbs and electronic eyes.

Real Life Examples

· Kevin Warwick:

o A professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading in the UK. He is the founder of “Project Cyborg”.

o He used himself as a guinea pig, he “installed” a microchip in his arm that allowed him to operate doors, lights, heaters and other computers remotely.

· Jesse Sullivan

o He effectively became one of the world’s first cyborgs when he was equipped with a bionic limb, connected through a nerve-muscle graft.

o Not only can he control his “new” limb with his mind, he can also feel hot and cold like a normal arm.

· Jens Naumann

o Jens lost both of his eye during a car accident.

o In 2002, Naumann became the first person in the world to receive an artificial vision system.

o His electronic eye is connected directly to his visual cortex through brain implants.

o Thought is has its limits, he can only vaguely see lines and shapes.

History of Cyborgs

· Cyborgs were mostly just an “idea/concept” that appears in novels or comics until the early 90s when the technology was on the raise.

· As early as 1843, Edgar Allan Poe described a man with extensive prostheses in the short story "The Man That Was Used Up".