This was an article found in the 2008-04-11 edition of <i>The Hays Rebellion</i>, the local high school newspaper. Although all of the students in the "who cares" mode (nearly out of hell), it's somewhat inexcusable to ignore local contacts who have vested interests and knowledge in these topics.<br /><br /><br />


Scientists Predict Rise of the Nanobots Advanced AI Technology by 2029<br />
by Lauren Williams<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br /><br />
<font color="green">
> Current advances in nanotechnology have scientists believing that by <br />
> the year 2029, computers will be as smart as humans, and that small <br />
> robots called nanobots will be implanted into human brains and will <br />
> help make humans smarter and healthier.   <br />
<br />
> "We're already a human machine civilization, we use our technology to<br />
> expand our physical and mental horizons and this will be a further <br />
> extension of that," inventor and futurist Raymond Kurzweil said.  <br />
<br />
> Nanobots are predicted to enter brains through capillaries and <br />
> interact with biological neurons. Variations of interactions are <br />
> thought to bring about positive responses, such as strengthening of <br />
> the immune system and stimulation of portions of the brain that deal <br />
> with intelligence and memory. Another hope for great thinkers is the <br />
> eradication of disease through nanotechnology.     <br />
<br />
> While there are a number of different factors that could prevent this <br />
> utopia from becoming a reality, one cannot deny that this generation <br />
> is 21 years away from a cyber revolution and this is one of the <br />
> greatest technological advances of our time; the first step to <br />
> becoming a machine automated society.    <br /></font>

<br /><br /><br /><br />
<hr>
Spence,<br />
<br />
I am a little disappointed--- you guys could have asked me to set up an interview with Ray. Additionally, there's a number of important, interesting contributors to the posthuman concept here in Austin that I visit with monthly to discuss the technological and social implementation of these ideas. Maybe emphasizing the local aspects of it would be more relevant to a high school newspaper, if at all. That being said, I think there are some corrections that should be made.<br /><br />

I am also forwarding this message over to some transhumanist mailing lists -- both you and Lauren are welcome to participate in the discussions.<br />
<br />
Scientists Predict Rise of the Nanobots Advanced AI Technology by 2029<br />
by Lauren Williams<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br />
<br />
The scientists who are predicting this include Fretias, Drexler, Merkle, but to my knowledge Kurzweil isn't actually directly participating in the science/tech, he's the The Singularity is Near guy. I have a copy of his 2005 book if you are interested. And I have a video of one of Fretias' presentations at Alcor (the cryonic suspension organization in Arizona). http://alcor.org/<br />
<br />
<font color="green">> Current advances in nanotechnology have scientists believing that by </font><br />
<br />
Not really - only a very small minority. Wish it was more. :)<br />
<br />
<font color="green">> the year 2029, computers will be as smart as humans, and that small <br />
> robots called nanobots will be implanted into human brains and will <br />
> help make humans smarter and healthier.   </font><br />
<br />
Perhaps. But the problem with portraying it like this is that it's fear mongering. People don't need to be afraid of this technology: nobody is going to run around inserting these things into people who don't want it.<br />
<br />
<font color="green">> "We're already a human machine civilization, we use our technology to<br />
> expand our physical and mental horizons and this will be a further <br />
> extension of that," inventor and futurist Raymond Kurzweil said.  </font><br />
<br />
<font color="green">> Nanobots are predicted to enter brains through capillaries and </font><br />
<br />
It's whatever we design them to do.<br />
<br />
<font color="green">> interact with biological neurons. Variations of interactions are <br />
> thought to bring about positive responses, such as strengthening of <br />
> the immune system and stimulation of portions of the brain that deal <br />
> with intelligence and memory. Another hope for great thinkers is the <br />
> eradication of disease through nanotechnology.</font><br />
<br />
Only some diseases. The problem is that we are not able to tell when one thing is a disease and another thing isn't, so we need to be careful and do very specific molecular sensors.<br />
<br />
<font color="green">> While there are a number of different factors that could prevent this <br />
> utopia from becoming a reality, one cannot deny that this generation </font><br />
<br />
Nothing about utopia here.<br />
<br />
<font color="green">> is 21 years away from a cyber revolution and this is one of the <br />
> greatest technological advances of our time; the first step to <br />
> becoming a machine automated society.    </font><br />
<br />
Please check out the relevant websites:<br />
http://transhumanism.org/<br />
http://kurzweilai.net/<br />
http://lifeboat.com/<br />
http://alcor.org/<br />
http://imminst.org/<br />
and many others (just ask- I have thousands of bookmarks)<br />
<br />
Also, on my website I run the transhumanist technical roadmap group, we specialize in transhumanist technologies, such as self-replicating machines (nanobots but not necessarily nano), brain implants, genetic engineering, do-it-yourself synthetic biology, and it's all open source / free. For example, here's the website for the biohacking project where you can download the files *right now* to get started:<br />
<br />
http://biohack.sf.net/<br />
http://heybryan.org/mediawiki/<br />
<br />
- Bryan<br />
________________________________________<br />
http://heybryan.org<br />
http://heybryan.org/mediawiki/index.php/Roadmap<br />