Science and Technology: Revolutionary Forces
The human condition will be redesigned, aging slowed, limitations on the human intellect removed, unchosen psychology and the chains of neurosis broken, suffering ended and we will be free to travel anywhere, even to the stars. I know these things will come to pass because most of these have already been realized in "the Western World." Simple social and economic progress in the less developed countries will revolutionize the human condition there and extend lifespans to those which are considered normal in the West. Education and internet access in the LDCs will allow the expansion of millions of presently untrained minds and the empowerment of human creativity on a planet where today 47% are illiterate. Cars, trains and planes will allow travel. How will unchosen psychology and suffering be ended? This will require social progress by political and religious organizations to put an end to domestic violence, child abuse and neglect. Primitive religious systems of social control must be replaced by freedom and equality. How will technology contribute to this? Broadcasting certainly makes those who have access to a radio or TV aware of a more free way of life. Travel allows us to experience life in other nations and the internet allows chats with enlightened foreigners. Birth control allows freedom from slavery to human fertility for men and women. Technology might be used to indentify the genes of potential child abusers and the brain wave patterns of liars with a higher degree of reliability than that which is possible with polygraph or psycho stress evaluators. Cheap CCD video cameras and intelligent computers can provide as much surveillance as would a policeman stationed on every corner. Few things are worse than the unchosen psychology of fear thrust upon us by criminals.
Society and Culture Revolutionized
Humans have invented more than machines. We have invented language, myth, law, custom, etc. Our languages may evolve as a consequence of widespread travel opportunity so that more humans can understand each other. Myth will be replaced by observed fact and certified history corroborated by still photos, videos, audio recordings and preserved DNA. Nobody can prove that the Red Sea parted, but we can prove that UFO photos are fakes but JFK was real. Law must go beyond oppression by dominant males and so called men of god. Social progress must occur if we are to benefit from technological progress.
Technology will advance. Computers will become smaller, faster and smarter. Cars will run on biofuels and liquid ammonia. Power will come from environmentally benign fusion and solar energy. Homes will be built of synthetic materials. Refuse will be recycled. Crop productivity will be improved with GMOs. Nanotechnology will achieve, who knows? Genetic engineering will free us from inherited diseases like sickle cell anemia, schizophrenia and addiction. However, none of this will make any difference if society does not make equal progress and vanquish poverty, class prejudice and racism. What good will it be if most of mankind endures famines, remains illiterate, lacks a clean water supply and has no personal freedom because of sadistic terrorists? What good will it be if a small number of wealthy individuals have genetically enhanced offspring and then move to new homes in outer space? What good will it be if people are discriminated against simply because they are different from the majority?
The greatest challenge for technology will be the defeat of poverty and the elevation of all humans on Earth from a neolithic level of existence where opportunity does not exist and genetic potential is useless, like gasoline in a world where the internal combustion engine has not yet been invented, to a modern standard of living at least. The greatest advances in life extension, AI or nanotechnology may be the result of efforts made by impoverished, gay or female humans in the LDCs who are provided with the benefits of a modern way of life. Perhaps the formerly insane and/or antisocial have gifts for humanity also.
In the USA, we are still struggling with class prejudice, racism, sexism and the moral tyrants of some old book; and the US is supposed to be the richest most advanced country on Earth! I don't expect anybody to love everybody, although that's what the wise man Jesus told us to do. Perhaps we could love everybody as Jesus commanded us to, but we don't have to like everybody! Even so, paranoid fascists who inspire fear in their followers and promote nightmarish visions of the future apocalypse and all other false prophets must be enlightened and freed from their own unchosen psychology, or rejected by the masses. We should not tolerate anti-semitism disguised as Holy Gospel. There is nothing new under the Sun. Preachers of doctrines right out of "mein kampf" should not be allowed to sermonize!
The Future: Through a Glass Darkly
I am not criticizing the technologists or the transhumanists, I am only trying to say that more than just technological progress must be made to reach a state of human evolution that would be called post-human or trans-human, especially when so many humans are existing in sub-human conditions. Socialism is not the answer. That experiment failed. A liberal society that allows all humans to engage in free trade is necessary, but such a libertine society needs regulation, not suffocating restriction or "anything goes" chaos, but regulation. Where would we be without the Pure Food and Drug Act, Sherman Anti-Trust laws, driver testing or marriage liscenses with syphillis testing? How will the laws regulating gay marriage, plural marriage, prostitution, drugs, broadcasting, the arts, dress codes, dating, dancing, monogamous marriage, meat eating, gambling, usury, alcohol, euthanasia, suicide and abortion be written? Who will write these laws? Will computerized mob rule calling itself democracy allow the majority of Americans to oppress the minority by internet voting when Congress becomes deadlocked? Will there be a prophet or a king who helps us find the way? Or will gangsters take over and set everybody free-for a price, of course.
Will genetically engineered humans with 200 year lifespans qualify for social security payments at age 65? Will their brilliant ideas be ignored by an elitist political-industrial complex with its own set of biases and financial interests? What if they all die in another World War, communist revolution or genocide campaign? What if they become so vain and arrogant they become their own undoing?
The typical life cycle today is infancy, early childhood, school followed shortly thereafter by marriage and reproduction, several decades of work, retirement and death. What if we changed the life cycle? After infancy and early childhood, what if we let kids work part time and go to school part time as they did in the farm days? Kids can mow lawns, deliver papers, and other menial jobs. What if their early years of education focused not on writing but on oral communication? They could learn to identify a vast number of things from picture books and actual exhibits. Teachers could explain things to them and have discussions with the little ones. They could learn to speak several languages as their ability to pick up language orally is amazing at an early age. Writing and math could come later when their brains were more well developed for these tasks and they were more self controlled. At puberty most kids become engrossed in social life and pursuing mates. What if we let them work and focus on this? What if we lived in a world so rich we didn't mind them playing so much and developing socially? After mating they could be educated further. With some real world work experience they could make better career-educational decisions. With some real world experience they might not think that some careers are so glamorous and others not worth pursuing. High school and college level education could be pursued during their twenties. People who live for 100 years or more shouldn't mind having 30 year olds at home! At age 30 they could enter the work force and retire around age 80 or 85. Medical and life style advances along with some genetic engineering will extend youth and those prime years of adulthood so that they are able bodied the whole time. Even with today's life spans, if the kids were working full time during their teens starting around age 12 and went to school full time in their twenties there would be no drain on the work force. Those who wished to keep going to school through their teens could be allowed to do so. Since social security is based on a pyramid system, what if some people were allowed to take a few years off for rejuvenation therapy? Of course they would then have to wait a few more years to collect their retirement pay. Would society be greatly improved? Could we banish tobacco, alcohol, drugs and foods laden with saturated fat to cities where anything goes and people don't live long or have good health? If people had more time to focus on social life during adolescence and earned money to spend on things they liked; pursue hobbies, art, music, etc. and learned some fiscal responsibility would they have more successful marriages and more stable families with fewer "problem children?" We must wonder.
How will life extension come about? Certainly, more people will live longer with higher world standards of living. Preventing and curing the diseases of old age will lead to a longer average life expectancy. We must also reduce the rate of early death. This will require better road safety, lower crime rates, defeating the problems of suicide, addiction and mental illness; healthier life styles, medical care for pregnant women, infants and children; medical care for adults also who cannot afford it, reduced rates of disease thanks to better cleaner living conditions for the world's poor, vaccinations, antibiotics and finally the conquest of herediatry diseases through genetic therapy. Only then would it be morally right to start enhancing the human race to create longer lived people, if that is desired in the future. Who would want to live for 150 years in a world where so many others died much earlier? Will an elite of super human geniuses who live twice as long as normal lead the rest of us to the promised Tomorrow Land?
