My random thoughts

Anything that doesn't quite fit in elsewhere...
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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In this sci fi film, Mr. Stitch, the main character is constructed from the body parts of 44 dead males and 44 dead females, thus representing the full diversity of humankind. He also has superhuman strength and intelligence, and computer implant in his brain.



I don't think posthumans will look like Mr. Stitch, but I think they will have superhuman abilities and individuals will encompass the full genetic diversity of our species. One posthuman might contain the full genomes of hundreds or thousands of different humans, along with their wisdom and knowledge, and it could shapeshift to turn into any one of them, or any combination thereof.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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Better genetic technology will let us grow purebreed animals, like dogs and cats, in labs. The vagaries of meiosis ensure that even if two, prizewinning purebred animals are bred, most of their offspring will have some characteristics that make them fall short of prizewinning status. The result is large numbers of unwanted animals created for every one prizewinner, which is costly and leads to a lot of animal suffering.

A solution would be to identify a few perfect examples of each breed and to clone them, over and over, for whoever wanted them. Genetic defects could also be spotted and eliminated in the labs, ensuring that all the birthed animals were healthy, further helping animal welfare.

Note: I have no interest in animal shows and in fact think the phenomenon is creepy. I merely put this idea forward as a way to improve animal welfare, not to make animal breeders and show organizers richer.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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I've been reading about the challenges of transferring military vehicles to Ukraine in light of the Ukrainian's unfamiliarity with repairing, maintaining, and operating some types of equipment. In the future, this will not be a problem for machine armies, since they will have encyclopedic files on every type of vehicle and weapon system, as well as masterful levels of mechanical and engineering skills. You could give them any type of gun, tank or plane, and they'd be able to use it without a problem. They would also have a better grasp of the design tolerances of their equipment and would push them beyond those limits less often than humans, meaning their weapons would break less often.

This reminds me of the scene from The Second Renaissance, where the Machine Army prevails in spite of its ragtag composition.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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Intelligent machines will revolutionize the shipbreaking industry since they'll be immune to toxic substances found on ships, like asbestos, lead paint, and mold. They will be able to break down those ships as easily and as cheaply as any other, and all the mothballed vessels (mostly ex-warships) that are still afloat because their owners lack the money to pay humans in biohazard suits to scrap them will disappear.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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I had a talk with my friend about futurism. One thing I mentioned is that, as the animal kingdom shows, there is no single, idea body form, so the most highly evolved type of posthuman would be a shapeshifter. It could assume any form it needed to at a given moment. I said this would lead to a basic psychological disconnect with natural humans like us, since it wouldn't be able to contemplate being stuck in one, fixed body that it didn't even choose for itself.

My friend made the point that, while a shapeshifter would be superior to us, our limited human experiences might still offer some value to posthumans and to the universe as a whole. Our inherent limitations force us to cope with the world and its unforgiving forces in ways that a shapeshifter or even an AGI couldn't imagine. In the same way that today's AIs come up with counterintuitive tactics for beating video games, maybe it's the case that we humans, by virtue of being so mentally and physically limited, come up with modes of thinking and behaving that a more advanced and resilient intelligence couldn't formulate by itself.

It was an intriguing hypothesis, though let me be clear that I doubt humankind creates as much useful, creative output as a civilization made of superintelligent machines could. But maybe we are unique and worthy in spite of it all.
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Re: My random thoughts

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Once autonomous cars are standard, speed bumps should disappear since there will be no need to force human drivers to slow down. Machines will always obey speed limits. Cars will last slightly longer since they won't have to deal with the impacts.
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Re: My random thoughts

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Due to a drought, Lake Mead's water level is the lowest it has been since the 1930s. Long-dead bodies that have been resting on the lake bottom are now being exposed:

The first body, discovered on May 1, was likely a murder victim who died from a gunshot wound "some time in the mid '70s to early '80s, based on clothing and footwear the victim was found with."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/09/us/lake- ... index.html

Imagine what else we'll find in the future, when drones are everywhere and map the whole planet, including its aquatic regions. I envision something like a robotic alligator that can swim quickly through the water, yet also walk on the sea floor and grasp things with its fingers. A few dozen of them would be assigned to Lake Mead, and would slowly swim through it in a grid pattern, mapping every square inch, and finding everything that has been lost to history.
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Re: My random thoughts

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A trope I've seen several times in future sci-fi is the robot servant that kills its human master because it finds out the master has ordered a more advanced replacement, and the older robot is headed for the scrapyard. I doubt anything like this will ever happen, since old robots could get software upgrades to make them more capable, and since it wouldn't make sense to junk them merely because they weren't top-of-the-line anymore. Like with cars, older robots would be sold secondhand to poorer people.  
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Re: My random thoughts

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If it were possible to upload minds, I would make several of myself. One as a child, one as a teenager, one as a twentysomething, etc. We would live, laugh, and cry together like a family. If I had so many uploads, I don't think I'd be scared to die anymore.

"Live," I would say on my deathbed. "LIVE!"
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Re: My random thoughts

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Modern combine harvester vehicles are incredibly heavy and have huge wheels. When they drive over farm fields, they compact the soil, causing many problems.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-61468116

Robotics will provide a solution: A farmer will be able to own many smaller, lighter, autonomous combine harvesters. Even smaller machines will be able to create and manage backyard gardens for average people, boosting global food output, and giving people more control over the quality of their own food.
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