Cyborgs, uploading and immortality — Some serious concerns

Transhumanism and Extropianism are two recent ‘movements’ which aspire to transcend the perceived limitations of human biological evolution. This paper takes a critical look at two of the most controversial aspects of Extropianism—Uploading and Immortality. Uploading is the process by which a human...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Harle, Robert F. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Springer Netherlands 2002
In: Sophia
Year: 2002, Volume: 41, Issue: 2, Pages: 73-85
Further subjects:B Philosophical Perspective
B Entire Content
B NASA Lewis Research
B Language Capability
B Intrinsic Intentionality
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Transhumanism and Extropianism are two recent ‘movements’ which aspire to transcend the perceived limitations of human biological evolution. This paper takes a critical look at two of the most controversial aspects of Extropianism—Uploading and Immortality. Uploading is the process by which a human will be able to transfer the entire contents of their brain to a more suitable supercomputational medium. When the newentity exist as software, immortality is virtually assured. This should be possible, it is claimed, within the next fifty years! From both a pragmatic and philosophical perspective, I argue that these claims are at best misguided and at worst absurd.
ISSN:1873-930X
Contains:Enthalten in: Sophia
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/BF02912238