Page - 168 - in Cyborg Mind - What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics

168 • Cyborg Mind Caster, a researcher in the field of artificial intelligence whose work focuses on creating a sentient machine that combines both the collective intelligence of everything ever known alongside the full range of human emotions. Not surprisingly, such work brings him much applause but also criticism from anti-technology extremists, who eventually attempt to kill him. However, this only makes Caster more determined to succeed in uploading and tran- scending himself into a computer. As his thirst for knowledge develops into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power, the key question in the minds of his fellow researchers is not whether omnipresence can be achieved, but whether it should even be attempted. The film is interesting because at the very heart of the posthumanist phi- losophy is a vision of a future in which human (or transhuman) beings will be able to copy human minds into a new setting and transcend human biol- ogy. As already indicated, it was Kurzweil’s critically acclaimed 2005 book The Singularity is Near that presented a detailed scientific explanation for how this may one day be achieved. He suggested that such a move would involve re-instantiating the mind’s state in a different, much more powerful compu- tational substrate. Kurzweil then perceives that human beings ‘will continue to have human bodies, but they will become morphable projections of our intelligence’.305 He goes on to explain: Combining human-level pattern recognition with the inherent speed and accuracy of computers will result in very powerful abilities. But this is not an alien invasion of intelligent machines . . . we are creating these tools to make ourselves smarter. I believe that most observers will agree with me that this is what is unique about the human species: We build these tools to extend our own reach.306 As a result, it is suggested that the severe limitations of being human will be superseded and overcome. Rather than just existing in the physical dimen- sion, these ‘software-based humans’ will be able to leave human bodies behind and live out their lives or even attain immortality in virtual reality by having the potential to project their existence whenever and wherever this becomes necessary.307 In a way, such an understanding of the self is similar to the one developed by John Locke, who wrote that the ‘self is not determined by Identity or Diversity of Substance, which it cannot be sure of, but only by Identity of consciousness’.308 For Kurzweil, attaining the goal of uploading human minds into human- made machines is a significant milestone in reaching a posthuman future. Whilst the finite, limiting body will die, the software of a person’s life, his or her personal ‘mind file’, will continue to survive in silicon format, while holographic avatars could interact with other bodiless posthuman entities.309 This open access edition has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale.