Philosophy

How Artificial Are We Already?

Many balk at the idea of embracing the artificial, but how artificial are we already? How much of our outer selves is enhanced by bolt-on bits and pieces? What becomes of a “self” when it is a composite of commercial components, be those medical or cosmetic, off-the-peg or bespoke?

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Here’s a thought: will people eventually demand that their inherited body parts are removed and synthetic replacements installed in their place? Prosthetic limbs, for example, will never wear out – their joints could just be replaced. Robotic parts could provide everybody with world class athletic capabilities and aesthetics. I predict only the poor will drag around the meat suits they were born into. Everybody able to afford the upgrades will have them. Some will be merely brains riding upon a bipedal machine. Death will be sudden and unpredictable, there being no discernible gradual loss of function, as there is with the meat suit.

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