Are We Slowly Adapting and Conditioning Ourselves in Becoming Machines, Next Step in Evolution?

reply to post by Astyanax


no one gave a definition of what a "machine" was. It's quite obvious how this thread could sprout to transhumanism and whether or not there is a new ethical dilemma there.

Originally posted by Astyanax
The thread is taking a disappointing turn. Instead of discussing the OP question, everyone's posting their opinions about whether or not it would be a good thing.

Is it really happening? Does the replacement of naturally grown parts by artificial ones mean were turning into machines? Does our increasing dependence on technology to remember things for us mean we're getting ready to turn into machines? What is a machine? What is a human being? Can one entity be both these things? What about an animal? What's the difference between an animal and a machine?

Are we machines already?

Come on, ATS. We can do better than this.

Alright I'll take a crack at it.

The categories "human" and "machine" are not ontologically seperate and are constructs of the human mind. Within the range of our experience to date, they have been completely identifiable as seperate categories, but this may be changing as we advance further along the "machine" end of the continuum down toward the "human" zone.

Taking a metaphoric approach, I will re-cast your questions in terms of "hot and cold" rather than "human and machine."


Is it really happening? Does the replacement of air conditioning with heating as the seasons change mean that hot is turning into cold? What is"hot"? What is "cold"? Can one entity be both these things? What about an "cool"? What's the difference between an "cool" and "cold"?