Transhumanism describes how technology and science may someday change humans so much that we would no longer be considered the same species. Some key ideas discussed include using nanotechnology to build anything from small pieces, putting nanomachines in our bodies to improve health, potentially living forever through advances in medicine, artificial intelligence that can design even smarter machines, and the idea of mind uploading where one's consciousness is copied into a computer. The presentation raises questions about what life and society may be like if scarcity and death are eliminated through these technological changes.

1. Transhumanism

2. What is “Transhumanism”?
“Transhumanism” is a term used to describe the idea that technology and
science may someday change our lives so much that we would no longer be
the same species that we are today. Many people believe that in the next 100
years, we may be able to solve the problems of hunger, poverty, illness, and
perhaps even death. In the future, people may be so different from us that
they could be called “posthuman”.

3. Opening Discussion
• How do you feel about the future? Will life be
better or worse than it is now?
• What are some important problems that you
think we will be able to solve with science and
technology?
• Do you think it is dangerous for us to keep
making new and better machines?

4. Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the science of building
machines that are so small that they can
work with individual molecules and atoms.
With this technology, we could build
anything: food, clothing, houses; from very
small pieces, and use almost anything to
make it, such as sand or garbage.
Another thing we could do with nanotech is
put very small robots (nanomachines) inside
our bodies where they could make us
healthier by killing diseased cells or
repairing damage to our bodies.

5. The End of Scarcity
Scarcity is the fundamental problem of
having people who have wants and
needs in a world of limited resources.
Because we live in a world with limited
resources, not everyone is able to get
everything they need. However, If you
could use nanotechnology to change
any kind of matter into any other kind of
matter, there is no reason that food and
medicine would be any different from
trash and dirt.
If we can use technology to create more resources than everyone in the whole
world needs, we may enter a post scarcity economy. In a post scarcity economy
things such as goods, services and information would be free, or practically free.

6. Immortality
In Ancient Rome, the average human
life expectancy was 28 years. In the
early 20th century, the average life
expectancy was 31 years. In 2010, the
average life expectancy skyrocketed
to 67.2 years. In other words, in the
2000 years between Ancient Rome
and the 1900s, the life span of the
average person grew only 3 years, but
in the last 100 years, it has grown by
36 years.
Many people believe that in the future, people will be living much longer than they
do today. Some people even believe that, with advances in medicine and
technology, we will be able to live forever.

7. What do you think?
• If there is more
food, water, medicine, housing, and clothing
than people need; will we still have money
and jobs?
• Do you think that people will be able to live
forever? What will we do if we all live that
long?
• Would you let someone put robots inside your
body? Why or why not?

8. A.I.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the
intelligence of machines and the
branch of computer science that aims
to create it. John McCarthy, who coined
the term in 1956, defines it as "the
science and engineering of making
intelligent machines.“
One interesting thing about intelligent
machines is that computers get
faster, cheaper and smarter every
year, but the human brain has stayed
relatively the same.
One thing that intelligent machines can do is start to make other intelligent
machines. When machines start to make themselves smarter, without the need
for people to make them, very strange things may happen.

9. The Singularity
Computers are not only becoming
smarter and faster every year, but the
rate at which they are becoming
smarter is also getting faster. That
means that after one year a computer
becomes 2x as smart as it was the year
before, but the next year it becomes 4x
as smart, and the year after that 8x as
smart.
Some scientists think that in the
future, computers will become so
smart that in every second they will
make themselves smarter and at that
moment, people will not be able to tell
how smart they are or how fast they
are growing. This moment is known as
the singularity.

10. Mind Uploading
Today, many scientists are working on ways
to connect computers to the human brain.
In the future, we may be able to control
machines using only our thoughts, and we
won’t need to use a mouse or a keyboard.
If machines become much smarter than
people, connecting our brains to
computers may be a way for us to
communicate with them.
If this becomes possible, we might also be
able to scan and copy our minds into a
computer and create a program that thinks
and acts just like us. This is called mind
uploading. Some people think this might
be a way to live forever, but others
disagree.

11. Cryonics
Some people just can’t wait for the future to get
here. For a very high fee, some people have
begun to have themselves frozen when they die.
This is called cryonics, from Greek kryos-
meaning icy cold. The reason that people want to
do this is because they think that in the
future, medicine will be so advanced that it will
be possible to cure their diseases and bring them
back to life.

12. What do you think?
• Do you think computers will become smarter
than people?
• If computers rule the world, do you think it
will be better or worse for people?
• If you make a copy of your brain that thinks
and feels exactly like you do, is it really
another you?
• Would you ever pay to have yourself frozen so
that you could wake up in the future?
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