As someone who rabidly anticipates the day when people can live forever by storing their personalities on a hard drive (or by using the required/appropriate technology for such a task), I am somewhat required to be an advocate of other controversial and progressive surgeries/treatments. To support such a technology is to support transhumanism, which is in turn to support all (or most) preceding progressive steps in the same direction. Using this logic, I can confidently claim to support those who desire unnecessary amputation; the staple argument of personal freedom to choose is a cornerstone to my opinion.
That said, those who choose to disable themselves should not receive free benefits from various disability services, and should not be guaranteed continued employment. The act of willfully disabling oneself is enough to void such institutionalized charities. Of course, unless one schedules a professional, unnecessary amputation (which one may not do if it voids any anticipated special treatment), it will be hard to determine whether or not the received disability was an accident. This could cause many who have been legitimately disabled to be unfairly forced to (successfully or unsuccessfully) argue their case, and potentially lose otherwise guaranteed aid for their disability.
It's difficult to determine exactly how such a situation will affect society, but, though it might not prove functional in today's political and social structure, I view the liberalization of medical, scientific, and technological advancements as an inevitability. Though many will fight it, hindered by countless ethical and social conflicts, I believe progress (even if you view such technological advancement as a negative) is ultimate.
I liked this post quite a bit. The idea of living forever through technology has always been an intriguing one for me. While I still don't know where I sit on who is provided what because they decided to cut off an extension of their body, I do not have any issues with people elongating life through technology.
ReplyDeleteIn a sense, I'm somewhat a hopeless romantic for the whole 'humans will live in space one day' dream. Regardless of how we feel about it, I do think that technology will continue to advance and I'm sure that there will be many more, possibly even more controversial topics that will rise from it. Even so, I think it is too late to 'undo' technology; at some point we will have to come to the realization that technology is a double edged sword, so there will always be consequences of some sort. I think the real question is how to live with them and minimize them versus 'is it right or is it wrong.' Black and white dichotomies are a thing of the past, which is funny because are digital world is now just a bunch of 1s and 0s. :)
The one to google here is Ray Kurzweil, brilliant (and I think wacky) 'Futurist.' In K's view, we're approaching a 'singularity' where death will finally be conquered--and we can all be downloaded into silicone life forms.
ReplyDeleteI read it like all brilliant fictions--for what it says about us. For me, on this one, about FEAR.