spamandham Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 What do you think humans will be like in another million years? Will we be extinct? Will we explore the galaxy or possibly beyond? Will we have discovered that 42 really is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything? Put scifi aside and speculate on what you think things will really be like. It seems we are near the precipice of a technological singularity. Perhaps within the lifetimes of those posting here, machine intelligence will be reality. What will we do with it? We will use it to design ever more intelligent machines of course, until we reach a point of diminishing returns (if there is one). What is the limit of IQ? Combine the factual basis of the internet with every university on earth and a reasoning capacity far exceeding any human who has ever lived, and what could you get? Unlocking the secrets of the universe (to the extent possible) is a given. Will this lead to a new age of reason, or will human abdicate thinking to the machines? I fear the latter, as it seems to already be happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Maybe we not only, as humans, have created a fictious God, but eventually will create a real, physical God being, that supercedes us in intelligence and powers. Then we're really screwed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 I'm afraid human nature being what it is, we will have destroyed ourselves with our technology long before we have a chance to evolve significantly. Just the nuclear arsenal the world has in its storehouses is enough danger to have to at least consider the possibility of my fears being realized is fairly high. I hope I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Helmet Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 What do you think humans will be like in another million years? Will we be extinct? Will we explore the galaxy or possibly beyond? Will we have discovered that 42 really is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything? Put scifi aside and speculate on what you think things will really be like. It seems we are near the precipice of a technological singularity. Perhaps within the lifetimes of those posting here, machine intelligence will be reality. What will we do with it? We will use it to design ever more intelligent machines of course, until we reach a point of diminishing returns (if there is one). What is the limit of IQ? Combine the factual basis of the internet with every university on earth and a reasoning capacity far exceeding any human who has ever lived, and what could you get? Unlocking the secrets of the universe (to the extent possible) is a given. Will this lead to a new age of reason, or will human abdicate thinking to the machines? I fear the latter, as it seems to already be happening. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Personally I believe that if we manage not to destroy ourselves and the whole planet in the process before we go for the stars then humanity will be very hard to eradicate. For now we're stuck on a very vulnerable rock but if we spread out we'll diminish the chances of a single event wiping us out. Don't put you eggs all in the same basket as it is said. I once read a book called "Earth" that touches a bit the subject of a rising intelligence. The story is really cool with black holes lurking beneath the surface and gravitational lasers being discovered but the point is in the end a superentity emerges from the global communications and internet, which is aware of itself and is able to control most systems and take care of the earth. If all the computers on earth were working as one great machine (a bit like the Boinc distributed computing software) then who knows what could be achieved in a few decades? DH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 My best guess... we'll have conquered limited life spans by then. Physically we'll be one wild construct filled with silicon based add-ons to boost our perceptions. We'll be almost telepathic after living with communication implants for so long, our biology (genetics) will have adapted and new interfaces to those will be genetically programmed to naturally appear Since we are close to immortal, we'll be travelling way beyond the confines of our solar system. We'll have too because the population on earth will have exploded since we have altered the natural balance of earthly eco-systems with our newly gained semi-immortality. With all that time available... and a new cosmic perspective we'll have developped a better approximation of the meaning of life. Perhaps a bio-mechanical computer with the strength a billion times current models will offer some philosophical hints. If you're right, I'm pissed that I was born too early to see it realized. I like the idea of imortality (or something like it) and the chance to explore what is out there. In fact I'm somewhat obsessive about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spamandham Posted September 19, 2005 Author Share Posted September 19, 2005 If you're right, I'm pissed that I was born too early to see it realized. Maybe you weren't. Quite a bit of research has been done on aging, and it no longer appears to be irreversible. It seems cells can be coaxed into thinking they are younger than they are. For those who have not already made a career choice, working toward advancing knowledge of aging and how to stop it/reverse it might be an excellent career choice. The person who patents an age reversing therapy will be the world's first trillionare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Helmet Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Maybe you weren't. Quite a bit of research has been done on aging, and it no longer appears to be irreversible. It seems cells can be coaxed into thinking they are younger than they are. For those who have not already made a career choice, working toward advancing knowledge of aging and how to stop it/reverse it might be an excellent career choice. The person who patents an age reversing therapy will be the world's first trillionare. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hmm I'm not sure I'd want to live forever (unless of course everyone lived forever then I'd like to stick around) but anything's better than a short 80 years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spamandham Posted September 19, 2005 Author Share Posted September 19, 2005 Hmm I'm not sure I'd want to live forever (unless of course everyone lived forever then I'd like to stick around) but anything's better than a short 80 years... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Even if we cured old age, and if we cured cancer and all other deadly diseases, there's still some probability of death by accident each year. Eventually, the odds would get you anyway, but it might be hundreds or even thousands of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsmoke Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Personally I believe that if we manage not to destroy ourselves and the whole planet in the process before we go for the stars then humanity will be very hard to eradicate. For now we're stuck on a very vulnerable rock but if we spread out we'll diminish the chances of a single event wiping us out. Don't put you eggs all in the same basket as it is said. Reminds me of the quote-graphic Kitty used to have in her signature. I don't remember the exact wording or who said it, but it was something to the effect of "all our achievements will ultimately be for nothing if we do not take to the stars." The way it was said in the quote was much more eloquent, though. Personally, I have wet dreams of living in a universe where interstellar travel is possible. I still hold out hope that some unwitting quantum physicist will one day stumble across a principle or method which will "snake-in-the-grass" Einstein's theory of relativity and make faster-than-light travel possible. Of course, I'm the first to admit to admit I've watched way too much Star Trek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Reminds me of the quote-graphic Kitty used to have in her signature. I don't remember the exact wording or who said it, but it was something to the effect of "all our achievements will ultimately be for nothing if we do not take to the stars." The way it was said in the quote was much more eloquent, though. Personally, I have wet dreams of living in a universe where interstellar travel is possible. I still hold out hope that some unwitting quantum physicist will one day stumble across a principle or method which will "snake-in-the-grass" Einstein's theory of relativity and make faster-than-light travel possible. Of course, I'm the first to admit to admit I've watched way too much Star Trek. Actually the Warp drive is not totally sci-fi drivel, there are theories about how maybe a warp drive could work. Even though it would be some different from the ST version. Anti-matter could be a part for the energy source as well. The warp drive would work according to a similar idea as the supersonic torpedo. You can't go faster than sound-in-air under water, but with a set of high-frequency pizo-elements in the front of the torpedo, you can create a temporary airbubble for the torpedo to travel in, and voila, the torpedo can travel in air-sound-speed. With a warp drive, you would have to warp space, so the ship is not breaking the laws of relativity at all, but traveling still in sub-light-speed, but it's total progress in space (to us) would be faster than light. --edit-- The only problem is the amount of energy needed, but if vacuum energy is for real, and someone figures out how to harness it, we maybe could make it possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Helmet Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Reminds me of the quote-graphic Kitty used to have in her signature. I don't remember the exact wording or who said it, but it was something to the effect of "all our achievements will ultimately be for nothing if we do not take to the stars." The way it was said in the quote was much more eloquent, though. Personally, I have wet dreams of living in a universe where interstellar travel is possible. I still hold out hope that some unwitting quantum physicist will one day stumble across a principle or method which will "snake-in-the-grass" Einstein's theory of relativity and make faster-than-light travel possible. Of course, I'm the first to admit to admit I've watched way too much Star Trek. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> If we don't get out of here in a few billions years it'll all be vaporised by the sun anyways. Hehe maybe we could try teleporting the planet elsewhere It'd be definitively nice to find a way to circumvent the light speed limit. Wormholes seem to be out of the question for now (it has something to do with needing some strange matter with a negative pressure ) so if we could somehow move spacetime around us instead of moving in spacetime maybe we could beat it... Anyhow I'd love to be able to zip around and visit around the galaxy. There's a billion worlds waiting outside the window but we're kind of stuck inside the house right now. Where's my oil? I watched too much star trek too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Helmet Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Actually the Warp drive is not totally sci-fi drivel, there are theories about how maybe a warp drive could work. Even though it would be some different from the ST version. Anti-matter could be a part for the energy source as well. The warp drive would work according to a similar idea as the supersonic torpedo. You can't go faster than sound-in-air under water, but with a set of high-frequency pizo-elements in the front of the torpedo, you can create a temporary airbubble for the torpedo to travel in, and voila, the torpedo can travel in air-sound-speed. With a warp drive, you would have to warp space, so the ship is not breaking the laws of relativity at all, but traveling still in sub-light-speed, but it's total progress in space (to us) would be faster than light. --edit-- The only problem is the amount of energy needed, but if vacuum energy is for real, and someone figures out how to harness it, we maybe could make it possible. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It reminds me of a book I read where they travelled not faster than light anyways but very close to it. To do so they borrowed a huge quantity of energy from the vacuum and used it to accelerate the ship and restitued it at the end of the trip during deceleration. The only problem was when the loan was restitued too fast and the back of the ship gave up almost all its kinetic energy (speed) while the front kept on moving... *snap* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 The only problem was when the loan was restitued too fast and the back of the ship gave up almost all its kinetic energy (speed) while the front kept on moving... *snap* That's a big **OUCH** or **OOPS**!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 I think that humans will have probably evolved into another humanoid life form by then. We probably wouldn't even recognize them as having been human once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightflight Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Maybe far into a post-human civilization, where the norm is for consciouness to inhabit various bodies, probably at that point far removed from humanoid structure. If consciousness can be downloaded and uploaded into machines, then at some point it could travel along light spectrums. You could be beamed to points all over the galaxy and beyond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Maybe far into a post-human civilization, where the norm is for consciouness to inhabit various bodies, probably at that point far removed from humanoid structure. If consciousness can be downloaded and uploaded into machines, then at some point it could travel along light spectrums. You could be beamed to points all over the galaxy and beyond. Then the phrase "enlighten my day" can be taken literally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightflight Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Even if we cured old age, and if we cured cancer and all other deadly diseases, there's still some probability of death by accident each year. Eventually, the odds would get you anyway, but it might be hundreds or even thousands of years. Consciousness could be saved in a back-up file. Say you are living in your android or whatever body. As you live your life, a backup of your consciousness is recorded, so if you are destroyed, your "black-box" will have the backup; or a backup could be made at some distance from your body to make extra sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Consciousness could be saved in a back-up file. Say you are living in your android or whatever body. As you live your life, a backup of your consciousness is recorded, so if you are destroyed, your "black-box" will have the backup; or a backup could be made at some distance from your body to make extra sure. I think that the first step would be to have a wireless connection between our brains and internet. We would start thinking, storing memories etc through the wast span of servers, and our consciousness would eventually blend into the net. Then our bodies only would be the extension of the "supermind" that would constitute the net. Let's call it The Beast... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightflight Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Hey put your body suit back on ... actually... extrapolate the current state of virtual reality down a million years. I'm sure we'll be able to isolate the essence of our consciousness and install it on another receiving bio frame Imagine duplicating that essence and actually simultaneously controlling many bio frames YIKES !!!!... where is my pill <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah, but the thread title said 1,000,000 C.E. Surely we would get beyond bodies by then, beyond even material technological bodies. At that point we would be so far beyond what is know as human as to be unrecognizable. Think of the possibilities! Right now we experience the universe with many limits. What if one day we have not just five senses, but thousands; we would maybe also experience time differently, knowing the past present and future as a singularity........we would be like gods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Think of the possibilities! Right now we experience the universe with many limits. What if one day we have not just five senses, but thousands; we would maybe also experience time differently, knowing the past present and future as a singularity........we would be like gods. Agree. And maybe we are able to mold time/space in any way we want, and we create a new universe in the multiverse by saying "Let there be light!", and the race is on again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prolix Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 The last Christian in the universe will be the first to make contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. He'll (or she, maybe) will convert the aliens to Christianity and convince them to destroy humanity. It'll go something like this. Christian: Wow, so you're really an alien? Alien: C'yeah. Christian: Well, I'm the last Christian in the universe. How do you do? Alien: You're the last what? Christian: Christian. Ever heard of Jebus Khrist? Alien: The pediophile? Christian: Em, no, the God person. Alien: Explain. Christian: Well, basically, nobody on Earth was a Christian. So, God had to knock up this guy's fiance- Alien: He couldn't have gotten his own chick? Like, one that wasn't going to be married in a few weeks? Christian: Well... I'm not sure, but the Lord works in mysterious ways, so- Alien: Was she really that hot? Christian: Shut the fuck up! please. I'm the only one allowed to speak during a conversion attempt. Alien: Sorry, geeze... Christian: Now, anyway, Christ had to be tortured in order to convince God that he shouldn't make everybody on Earth burn forever in hell for not believing before that Christ had come to die for their sins. Alien: Did he? Christian: No. Why would you ask such a stupid question? Well, anyway, now that Christ died all you have to do is do a little song, dance and prayer, and you won't suffer forever. Alien: And what about people who never heard of Christ? Christian: They go to hell, of course. Alien: How can you justify that? Christian: God determines who will get to heaven before they are born. Alien: And all those not chosen are going to hell for eternity? There's little point in them staying alive except to reduce their suffering. But what is eternity to our finite lifetime? There would be no difference in them dying and going to hell right this second than eighty years from now. And since you're the last human Christian in the universe, that means the rest have not been chosen... Christian: So what are you saying? Alien: It's time for a heathen hoe-down! It's scary because it could really happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Good one Prolix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Agree. And maybe we are able to mold time/space in any way we want, and we create a new universe in the multiverse by saying "Let there be light!", and the race is on again. So humans evolve into Q? Interesting idea. I actually used it in a fanfic once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spamandham Posted September 20, 2005 Author Share Posted September 20, 2005 Think of the possibilities! Right now we experience the universe with many limits. What if one day we have not just five senses, but thousands; we would maybe also experience time differently, knowing the past present and future as a singularity........we would be like gods. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Now suppose we prove that we can not break light speed, and we also prove time travel (into the past) is impossible. But suppose we also discover we can simulate the entire universe using quantum computers. Don't you suppose we would do it? Do you think we might peek into the universes we created to see what's happening, looking for one that is identical to our own? Would we find ourselves, simulating quantum universes? Hmmm.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Would we find ourselves, simulating quantum universes? Then suddenly, while looking into the quantum universe machine (QUM) we discover that we can see ourselves in it, looking into the quantum universe machine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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