| Date | 14th, Jul 2019 |
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One of the main speculations about future technology is uploading. This is where our minds are copied in exact detail from our biological physical bodies and then created in artificial bodies. Alexander Bolonkin has posited many kinds of technology over the decades. He has a recent work which is summarized here where he considers that future uploading will mean that we can then use super-technology (nanotechnology, nuclear fusion etc…) to make people into literal gods and supermen. We can use control of matter, energy and information to make what he calls the E-man. Bolonkin then indicates that uploading and creation of minds could be used for the resurrection of long-dead people. This would be where we create the very close approximation of dead people. This would be like using gene editing to turn an African Elephant into a Whooly Mammoth. The vast technological capability would let us actualize what would be a simulation into living entities.
Alexander Bolonkin looks at methods and possibilities for electronic resurrection of long-dead outstanding personalities. He also considers the principles and organization of the new E-society, its goals and conditions of existence.
Today when a completely destroyed historical building is being restored, designers are not looking for the stones and bricks from which it was built. They are looking for pictures, drawings, photographs that will restore its historical appearance. It can even be built from new, more durable, long-lived materials.
Bolonkin has made the case that the purpose of Nature is to create Super Intelligence (SI). With its ability to understand the Universe, advanced entities with SI Power will be able to survive major cataclysms.
An immortal person made of chips and super-solid material (the E-man, as was called by Bolonkin) will have incredible advantages in comparison to conventional people. The E-man will need no air, no food, no dwelling, no sleep, no rest, and no good environment. His brain will work from radio-isotopic batteries and muscles that will work on small nuclear engines. Such a being will be able to travel into space and walk on the sea floor with no aqualungs. He will change his face and figure. He will have super-human strength and communicate over long distances to gain vast amounts of knowledge in seconds (by re-writing his brain). His mental abilities and capacities will increase millions of times. It will be possible for such a person to travel huge distances at the speed of light. The information of one person like this could be transported to space, to other planets with a laser beam and then placed in a new body.
The artificial E-person will have the opportunity to choose his or her face and body. It will also be possible for them to reproduce himself in any amount. It will be impossible to destroy this entity with any kind of weapons, since it will be possible to copy the information of their minds and then keep such information backed up in separate distant locations. To support the brain and body, humans spend about 99% of their time and energy, and eventually what knowledge is gained is taken to the grave in death.
Most normal people are very worried about the death of their loved ones, their parents, children and friends. Some people, despite the high costs, even order clones of their domestic dogs and cats after their death.
But why resurrect people who lived a hundred years or more ago? They seem easier to clone. Cloning techniques were being improved and would be reliable in 10 to 20 years.
However, the clone of the creature producing only an appearance. Years of childhood, upbringing, education, surrounding reality, can create a completely different person, the opposite of the image that you want to get. And not every surrogate mother will agree, even for a large fee, to bear nine months of someone else’s child and endure the pain of childbirth.
Everything we use now is created by mankind, by people who lived hundreds and thousands years before us. Many of them made important discoveries, inventions, promoted their own or new ideas, fought for human rights, a better life and technological progress. For this they were persecuted, suffered torment and death. So is humanity will refuse, using modern technology, at least partially resurrect them and give them the opportunity to benefit and now?
Bolonkin says that a person consists of two main components:
knowledge (information or “soul” as Bolonkin sometimes calls this information), located in the head, and the body (shell), serving the Head. The head has sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin) through which it receives information, and executive organs (hands, feet) through which it acts and changes the environment. All these organs are biological, i.e. mortal. Trying to make their existence endless is a dead end.
Only the replacement of biological organs with electronic and electromechanical ones can solve the problem of immortality.
The main difficulty here is to rewrite the contents of the biological human brain into micro-chips, Scientists are introducing micro-needles into brain cells (neurons) trying to understand and record their work. Or create artificial neural networks. It is a dead end. Bolonkin proposed another way, easily feasible at the present time: to intercept and record all the information coming to the brain from the senses and human actions.
This will establish the motives of his actions and restore the algorithms of his decisions. The introduction of needles into a working neuron, firstly, destroys it, and secondly, does not allow to judge the work of the system as a whole, because it is impossible to judge the work of the system as a whole by the signals passing in one contact, when millions of such contacts work simultaneously. Artificial neural networks are extremely complex, have nothing to do with ordinary people, are completely independent and can be dangerous for humanity.
The problem of interception of all information coming to the human brain and recording of his actions is easily solved while the person is alive. Therefore, the problem of immortality is purely technical and will be resolved in the near future.
The problem of resurrection is complicated by the fact that there is no electronic record of the lives of past celebrities, especially people who lived hundreds of years ago. However, analyzing the situation, knowledge of the time, life, documents and actions of these people, [Bolonkin believes] you can roughly restore the thinking algorithms of ancient celebrities. Using new knowledge, history and analyzing their past mistakes, these people can be useful for modern people.
Alexander Bolonkin believes that sooner or later biological civilization will be replaced by a higher electronic civilization. The advantages of E-creatures over humans are enormous and have been described previously. Science fiction scares, that E-beings will destroy biological people. This is alarming for many people living today. Therefore, the transition of living people and outstanding representatives of the humanity of the past into electronic beings will be gradual and beneficial for humanity.
Alexander Bolonkin proposes to make this transition of existing people through a detailed record of their entire life. It is important for the surviving relatives and friends, but it is expensive and difficult technically. Most people neglect the constant recording of video and acoustics, and even more emotional state in life. And relatives and friends remember them until they are alive. That is why I believe that the proposed method of resurrection will be the main one.
It is important that E-beings remember who created them, from whom they came and how decent and intelligent beings respected their parents. Even if the first time e-creatures will live on Earth, on Earth enough deserted deserts, steppes, polar regions, seas and oceans to put billions of new residents. He is not talking about other planets, asteroids and space.
An interesting question is how the society of E-beings will be organized? It is clear that it will not be reasonable singles. The main purpose of E-creatures to the knowledge of the World, the Universe and create new Universes. Only such sentient beings will be able to survive and exist virtually forever.
RÉFÉRENCES 1. Bolonkin A.A., The twenty-first century: the advent of the non-biological civilization and the future of the human race, Journal “Kybernetes”, Vol. 28, No.3, 1999, pp. 325-334, MCB University Press, 0368-492 (English). 2. Bolonkin A.A., Twenty-first century – the beginning of human immortality, Journal “Kybernetes”, Vol. 33, No.9/10, 2004, pp. 1535-1542, Emerald Press, www.emeraldinsight.com/ISSN 0368-492X.htm (English). 3. Bolonkin A.A., Human Immortality and Electronic Civilization. Electronic book, 1993. WEB: http://Bolonkin.narod.ru, http://Bolonkin.narod.ru/p101.htm (English), http://Bolonkin.narod.ru/p100.htm (Russian).
4. Bolonkin A.A., Science, Soul, Heaven and Supreme Mind, http://Bolonkin.narod.ru. Personal site: Bolonkin A.A., http://Bolonkin.narod.ru
5. Bibliography (about the author and discussing his ideas) publication in Russian press and Internet in 1994 – 2004 (http://www.km.ru , http://pravda.ru , http://n-t.ru , etc. Search: Bolonkin). The above Chapter 4 has been translated from a Russian article, “Proriv v bessmertie” (Breakthrough in Immortality) (1999).
6. Bolonkin A.A., Human Immortality and Electronic Civilization, Lulu, 3-rd Edition, 2007, (English and Russian), 66 pgs, http://www.lulu.com search “Bolonkin”.
7. Bolonkin A.A., Universe and Future of Humanity (v.2), USA, Lulu. 2005, 135 ps. http://intellectualarchive.com/?link=find#detail, #172,(2012); Universe, Human Immortality and Future Human Evaluation. Elsevier. 2010г., 124 pages, 4.8 Mb. ISBN-10: 0124158013, ISBN-13: 978-0124158016
8. Fyodorov N.F., https://en.wkipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Fyodorovh_Ficyodorov
9. Pensky O.G., Mathematical Models of Emotional Robots, (English and Russin), Perm State University,2010, 193 ps., ISBN 978-5-7844-1412-7.
10. Wikipedia, Immortality. 11. YouTube Robot humanoid. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=robot+humanoid . 12. 8 Incredible Lifelike HUMANOID ROBOTS You Should See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIuL4D00uOY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrQ9c5hmbFE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vIT2da6N_o .
13. ASIMO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1urL_X_vp7w
14. Sophia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBuG8qi_Lg0
15. Run robot man and dog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjSohj-Iclc
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
