From Edward O. Wilson’s Consilience: “Thanks to advances  of genetics and molecular biology underway, hereditary change will soon depend less on natural selection than on social choice….The prospect of this ‘volitional evoltion’ –a species deciding what to do about its own heredity–will present the most profound intellectual and ethical choices humanity has ever faced….humanity will be positioned god-like to take control of its own ultimate fate. It can, if it chooses,  alter not just the anatomy and intelligence of the species, but also the emotions and creative drive that compose the very core of human nature.(p. 299-300)

Other than the repair of disabling defects, they will resist hereditary change.  They will do so in order to save the emotions and epigenetic rules of mental development. , because these elements compose the physical soul of the species. The reasoning is as follows: Alter the emotions and and epigenetic rules enough , and some people might seem “better,” but they would no longer be human. Neutralize the elements of human nature in favor of  pure rationality, and the result wold be badly constructed, protein-based computers. Why should a species give up the defining core of its existence, built by millions of years of biological  trial and error? (p 303)

Wikipedia tells us that “Throughout history, it has been frequently assumed that robots will one day be able to mimic human behavior and manage tasks in a human-like fashion. Today, robotics is a rapidly growing field, as technological advances continue; researching, designing, and building new robots serve various practical purposes, whether …

The ambition of modern robotics goes beyond copying humans, beyond the effort to make walking,talking androids that are indistinguishable from people. Future robots will have superhumanabilities in both the physical and digital realms.  From pr for new book.

Thre’s discussion about making a robot that can be your friend…It’s been pointed out that sex robotics would free up a lot of time taken for dating, but spare time won’t be a problem, due to jobs being replaced by robots.  Do any followers of this blog have thoughts about robots?