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Originally Posted by cheshire
I am still sitting on the fence for this one.
One part of me agrees that we are slowing down our own evolutions because of the pervasive use of technology, but another part of me says that this is an alternative route to evolution, that machines and humans can travel down the evolutionary path as symbiotic partners (think of Star Trek's Borg).
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It is this exact belief system that motivated me to cover my entire right arm, wrist to neck, in H.R. Giger's artwork (yes, literally, not a single piece of actual skin shows through from my wrist to my neck).
Giger believed, through the expression of his art, that at some point in our human evolution, we would merge with our technological evolution. We would essentially
become "Borg".
Think about it, we're almost there now, minus the implants. We wake up, "dock" ourselves in our cubicle, work for the "collective" (corporations) every day, undock, recharge, and do it all over again. All the while, we are constantly tied to a constant stream of information and technology, through cellphones, pagers, wireless devices, and so on.
Once technology improves to the point where we can merge biology and technology (in a way that our immune systems don't reject it), the next phase will be complete.
I had a philosophical discussion with one of my friends years ago that went something like this:
"If you were in a car accident, and damaged a piece of your brain, which the medical teams could replace with a small microchip... are you still human?"
"What if 10% of your brain was damaged and replaced with chips and computer parts.. and you lost no function. Are you still human?"
"What about 50%? 90%? What if your entire brain could be replaced with a computer and chips, and you could retain all of your memories, experiences, skills... are you human?"
It brings up an interesting point (one that probably would involve theology for some, though I don't subscribe to that belief system). How much of ourselves are we willing to sacrifice to our evolution and our own lives, to move forward?