Still human…. Even if my shell is made of steel.

First off, I am making my choice under the assumption that the world I in which I make it would actually be industrially, technologically and economically be able to back up my choice. I would not buy a car if I could not have it fixed. I would not buy a mansion if I cannot afford it. I will not augment myself if the technology is not an improvement to what I relinquish. This is why while open to the idea, I would not transfer my mental sparks into a completely virtual body. Even if “the net is vast and infinite,” I feel that it would be a smaller cage than reality is. To live only in the virtual world is to be at the mercy of many gods and constant change. This I cannot see as an improvement to my condition.

With this out of the way, I will declare that I will choose to have an enhanced body. I am willing to trade every part of my flesh and allow my brain to be encased in a new shell. I hope to experience the reality that we have all grown up with and to see it again through new eyes. I would like to view the world from a metal form so that I may both satisfy and increase my curiosity of the world. By looking out from the perspective of a steel form I would like to find out if the physical shell of mankind has any true meaning. I would like to see if and how society and culture would change in a world where the soul and individuality take new meaning.

I realize that this is perhaps a minority opinion, but I do not feel horror for humanity when I look on the ideas proposed from the article and the science fiction novels. I realize that there are fears of losing our humanity. Fears that we are going too far. People feel that the overuse of technology is putting our selves at too great a risk from defects and bugs in the systems.

In order to answer these questions let me ask you questions of equal weight. because of the risks that exist in the world why should you do anything?

There are viruses and cancers and birth defects like brittle bone syndrome that we inherit without any personal say. So to say that our technology will break and destroy us is to ignore the natural defects that harm us.

To those who say that we might be going too far: “do you think that we should as both as a culture and as a society become stagnant in our ideas?” I cannot see a world lasting without progress. We have gained much from new ideas and views, but there are still problems in the world to solve. Would you really say that you are fine with how everything in the world works? I say that if we augment ourselves by personal choice than it is not too far. To those that say we will lose our humanity, I must ask a very personal question:



“What is a human?”



This I believe is the root of the fear that some of you possess on this issue. This is the question that may very well personally decide if you would let yourself trade your body for a new one. This is a very difficult question due to complex issues that can be raised. For me personally I believe that a human is an individual being with a personal system of thought and belief, able to change and grow within whatever form it manifests as. Because I’ll carry this with me into my steel shell, I will still be human.