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Technology & the Body Where are we going and what does it mean?

Technology & the Body Where are we going and what does it mean?. Mr Jonathan White BMedSci ( Hons ) MB BCh BAO MSc(Med Ed) PhD FRCS(Gen Surg ) Associate Professor and Tom Williams Chair in Surgical Education Department of Surgery, University of Alberta jswhite1@ualberta.ca.

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Technology & the Body Where are we going and what does it mean?

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  1. Technology & the BodyWhere are we going and what does it mean? Mr Jonathan White BMedSci(Hons) MB BCh BAO MSc(Med Ed) PhD FRCS(Gen Surg) Associate Professor and Tom Williams Chair in Surgical Education Department of Surgery, University of Alberta jswhite1@ualberta.ca

  2. Who is this guy?

  3. Tom Williams Endowed Chair in Surgical Education

  4. What are we for? http://www.tinyurl.com/surgery101

  5. What are we for? http://www.tinyurl.com/surgery101

  6. The Good Side of Biology • It’s free • It’s familiar • It’s self-replicating & (mostly) self-repairing • It’s got a long battery life • It looks after itself: homeostasis, autonomic system • We evolved with it: opposable thumbs, bipedal locomotion, the brain • It’s all we’ve got for now

  7. The Downside of Biology • It’s unreliable and fragile • No back-up function – can’t restore after a crash • No warranty: single-use only • It has a limited shelf life • Some of the basic functions are messy • Making new units is fun but slow • Limited processor speeds • Limited capacity for upgrades

  8. Alternatives to the Body?

  9. Option 1 Transcend through controlling the Body

  10. Option 2 Transcend through Augmentation of the Body

  11. Option 3 Transcend by backing up the body

  12. Option 4 Transcend by running on another substrate

  13. Option 5 Transcend by abandoning the physical entirely

  14. Kurzweil: “Saturating our local space-time continuum with information”

  15. The Body & TechnologyWhere are we going and what does it mean? Mr Jonathan White BMedSci(Hons) MB BCh BAO MSc(Med Ed) PhD FRCS(Gen Surg) Associate Professor and Tom Williams Chair in Surgical Education Department of Surgery, University of Alberta jswhite1@ualberta.ca

  16. A sensitive subject

  17. Technology Information

  18. Technology Information

  19. Connectedness

  20. Fragility

  21. Time

  22. Loss

  23. Fear

  24. WE ARE KURZWEIL’S SPIRITUAL MACHINES

  25. What are we for?

  26. For Discussion

  27. Thinking the Unthinkable • What would it mean if we moved to something better than biology? • Something reliable and upgradeable with a low rate of breakdown and a back-up function?

  28. Thinking the Unthinkable • No eating, sleeping, pooping • No work • No poverty, no war • No need to reproduce • No pressure of time • No separation • No death

  29. Thinking the Unthinkable • Are you still you if your body changes? • Would you want to leave your body behind? • What happens to those who don’t want to transcend?

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