Hmmm? Would you do it?

FLYING!!!

I guess if I’d dumped the quotes I woulda got told the term didn’t apply to the local wildlife.

Carry on!

anyone who lives in your air-quotes exists only in your head.

Jeezus. When did “progressives” get so freaking close-minded?

Since every time this topic comes up, duh.

Why don’t you kids get back to something you understand – like whining about Nader?

If I live in the treetop, I AM dropping my crap out, because DUH, I don’t want to LIVE with it. The flies, the smell?

Nope. Don’t think so. Oh, I know, if I go down out of the treetop, I’ll step in crap, but let me remind you, that is NOT where I live…

mikey

Ah, yes, the Servant Problem. You’d think those scienteriffic types would come up with some kinda kool word to exemplify the bitter reality that there will never be a Master Race that doesn’t rely upon some kind of… i dunno… robot worker to empty the drainpans and polish the contacts?

Because if we can just kick the drudgework far enough downstream, it’ll all be good, right?

I swear, half of humanity’s problems are related to the fact that we still believe if you drop your crap out of the treetop, it’s been disappeared forever.

Sure, people don\’t \’need\’ those meds in that they won\’t die without them, but if the difference can be disability or a job, that seems like a need to me.

When some people through the luck of the genetic draw live to be a healthy 100, independent and at home until they\’re 99, and other people live to 75, the last 5 in a nursing home, yes, I do want to have better tools.

The medicines that\’ll help prevent those 5 years of fading frailty will, if taken by healthy people, might make them live a bit longer. So, what, do we tell people that \”Hey, we expect you\’re only going to make it to 85, so no help for you after 80, and nevermind that some people naturally make it to 100.\”

I watched my partner\’s father fade from Alzheimer\’s. Seeing the same right now with my brother in law\’s grandma, and then 20 years from now it\’ll be his father and uncles, and later him. Knowning how the brain works and being able to hack it seems useful. If a healthy person gets a better memory because there’s anti-Alzheimer’s medicine that helps them keep their memory: I’ll vote for memory.

ADD and ADHD, depression, narcolepsy, bipolar disorder, anxiety… the more science learns about these, the more science can design meds that are specific to narrow biochemical pathways. (Sure, some of these are helped by therapy, but therapy only works on some types of brain disorders)

For example, recently they\’ve figured out how to make an anti-anxiety medicine that isn’t addictive by redesigning it to not work on certain receptors. For people with debilitating anxiety, this is going to be great, because right now doctors are afraid to prescribe anti-anxiety meds long-term for fear of addiction.

And that design work may also help in making pain meds that the DEA isn”t going to throw doctors in jail for prescribing. Far, far too many people live in pain because of fears of addiction. Far too many people live on disability because the only pain meds that work also make them sleepy.

Sorry folks, but any time you have a collection of humans, you are going to have competition for power; cyborg, meatsack, or FreeRoaming ElectroRace are/will not be immune. That right there guarantees unfair distribution of resources, and someone/something being exploited for those on the top of the heap.

The point of whole process is precisely to get rid of some unfortunate kinks that evolution left in during our transformation from our primate ancestors.

More of the series here.

A couple of notes. First off, you’re talking about collections of trans- or metahumans, not necessarily all humans. I’m not suggesting there will be a flip of a switch and human nature becomes irrelevant, but physical changes will inevitably bring other changes.

Secondly, what if there’s more than one heap? If I’m in an Immortal Android Body, why the hell should I care about the Matrixulator war over processor time? If I can put myself on a slow boat to Rigel or M31, what power does anybody else have over me?

As Douglas Adams told us: “Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to space.” There’s lots of of room, resources and time for humanity (including its trans, meta and post varieties). Maybe we get to that point, maybe we don’t, but one thing is for sure: Humanity isn’t going to stay the way it is forever. The choices seem to be cake or death. Which do you choose?

Bite my shiny metal ass!