The task as I see it is to create a highly vital and prolific sentient entity or society of entities that is superior to humans in all ways. Up until now we have been a purely biological species with some exceptions such as the occasional pacemaker and artificial arm. But since the pacemaker only supports the living thinking entity then I consider a person with a pacemaker an augmented human not a cyborg. The artificial mechanical arm, however, that has both touch and motion is a cybernetic device because it directly interacts with the person's conscious mind. Because this device hasn't yet become an integral part of the person who wears it I don't yet consider the person to be a true cyborg.
Through the genetic engineering we should be able
to modify the base human in any way we choose for any end we want. One
of the directions we may choose to explore is to increase the variety of
people. Right now we only have humanoid people. In the future it may be
interesting to explore various non humanoid forms.
The disadvantage I see to remaining purely flesh
is that we will almost certainly continue to be dependent on but divorced
from our technology. Still it is important to preserve and extend our biology.
The first design requirement that I place on the basic cyborg form is that
it remain a viable species without its cybernetics.
On the opposite extreme is an entirely mechanical existence. This I think has great potential. Computers promise to be much better at thinking than we are. If not in creativity then in speed and accuracy. What would happen is we would either create AIs that would replace us as we grow old and die, or we would upload our consciousness into the computers. Nanotechnology promises to allow technology to become self repairing and self-replicating. I am skeptical that technology will reach the level of vitality and resiliency that is a feature of all life forms. Also this is for me too radical a change for the first step in the graduation to a posthuman condition. On the other hand certain machines can survive in environments that are hostile to biological organisms. This suggests a second requirement for the finished borg, that their cybernetics will provide all the benefits of machinery. These include networking, fast/accurate data processing, and harsh environmental tolerance.
What I propose is a merging of these philosophies
into a single cyborg. It will be an entity that is half machine half flesh.
Its basic program will allow it to modify its body in several simple ways.
Its nanotech will allow it to build a basic borg cube or other suitable
structure. This will in turn allow it to manufacture more borg or more
computers and build a whole fully functional borg society. This basic borg
unit acts both actively as a person or passively as a machine at the same
time. It can be given programs that will instruct it to transform as necessary
and adjust its psyche for the task or role assigned to it. It is also capable,
just as any human, of creating its own programs and giving them to other
borg. The exact implementation of this feature is yet to be determined.
Through computers it will be able to transfer, link and separate its consciousness
as it chooses.
In this scheme there is no real demarcation between
flesh and machine the borg cube as a whole and all it contains is the unit
of measure. My plan is to create the species and then send it to colonize
a planet such as Marz or the Moon where it will develop and mature and
then come to interact with humans as a sister species. Or come and assimilate
us if we choose.
*To get back to the parent page remove the last filename in your browser or use the back-arrow. (I'm too lazy to make a backlink.) If this bothers you: bother me about it. The parrent of this document is " borg.htm "
Spellchecks/corrections made on 1/28/2000