More Than Human

As mentioned in our post on "Creating Our Replacements", CRN has chosen to stay away from most discussions about the future possibilities of human enhancement through science and technology.

This is not because nanotechnology won't play a significant role in those enhancements (since it certainly will), but because our primary focus is on getting past the early stages of exponential general-purpose molecular manufacturing. That's where we see the most imminent danger, or at least where we can identify some of the potential risks and begin to develop effective solutions in advance.

Further ahead lie yet more revolutionary and disruptive effects of technology than even we are warning about. Artificial superintelligence, sentient robots, genetically modified "posthumans" -- will these developments represent progress for humanity, or are such changes just too frightening to permit?

Ramez Naam has just published a new book, More Than Human, that attempts to deal with some of these questions. So far, it's getting good reviews, and I look forward to reading it. You can find out more at this site, read the author's blog, or order the book from Amazon.

See you in the future!

Mike Treder