All this talk of technology changing our humanity is missing the point.
Change is one of the defining characteristics of a human. Our genes
inhabit the dangerous niche on the very edge of the survivability
envelope. It is pre-programmed into us to pick up a new tool and bash
away with it, wether we get flint cuts in our fingers or give our
children an unhealthy glow and two heads.
Our forefathers took one look at a mountain or an ocean and started
finding ways to cross it. So long as one male and one female gets across
the divide with their reproductive organs mostly intact, our genes dont
give a damn about the rest who drowned or got frostbite.
The only way to loose your humanity is to stand still, wether it is in
the face of new technology, the future, agression, atrocity, whatever.
Change is what we are, computers and biotechnology simply enhance our
ability to make better shells to protect ourselves or make it so that, in
the future, only one female (probably) has to survive to carry the genes
onwards. I'm with Dawkins, our genes are our second worst enemy.
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Halibut | Flame me all you like, just make sure I get the beer marinade
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