Engineered Organisms

[Aksannyi]

Re: Engineered Organisms

Awesome.

[Malacite]

Re: Engineered Organisms

Some of that was really cool, but a lot of it was very disturbing as well. Can someone please tell me what the hell is the point of a Liger?

I'm all for pushing this kind of tech, but in a very ethical & pragmatic manner. Like how they want to take some animals and make them naturally produce the chemicals that would otherwise require heavy industry. By doing this you would theoretically lower the costs and impact of making these chemicals dramatically.

The bioluminescence was also incredibly awesome, though I don't get why it's being used in animals. USE IT IN PLANTS! Just like Windurst lol! Seriously though, having plant life that naturally produces light at night would be great on so many levels.

Genetically altered fruits & veggies could be the key to finally ending world hunger. It'd be really awesome if we could grow fruit that had the same nutrients as say, broccoli and other vegetables that aren't very palatable but contain essential vitamins and minerals.

The cyborg stuff is kinda scary, though it does have potential to help disabled people.


As far as any human manipulation goes, I'm only really supportive of universally useful/helpful things like putting an end to birth defects, balding, genetic diseases etc. I know for a fact that science is getting close to figuring out how to genetically extend our lives. Immortality (at least in terms of aging anyway) is not just some fantasy anymore, it's a distinct possibility given enough time to research it.

There's already this amazing new tech that makes older people feel like they're in their 20's again. They're still old, but they don't physically feel like it and really, how awesome is that? Actually being able to enjoy your retirement instead of living out your last days possibly decrepit and in a home? They're also getting close to being able to change our metabolism so we can't get fat. Not sure how I feel about that one honestly, it could be good but I can see that leading to some (probably minor) bad stuff.


On the dark side of things, I don't ever want to see that clip from Gundam SeeD where some mother is in a hospital bitching about how her son's hair isn't blonde and that she wanted him to have blue eyes not green happen in real life. There has got to be a limit on some of this stuff. The potential military applications (or even terrorism) of this kind of tech is just too frightening.

[Empedocles]

Re: Engineered Organisms

key to finally ending world hunger.

Sad to say, but we already have the tech/ability to end world hunger. The reason why it hasn't happened is that it's not profitable.

[Taskmage]

Re: Engineered Organisms

Sad to say, but we already have the tech/ability to end world hunger. The reason why it hasn't happened is that it's not profitable.

This applies to a depressingly ridiculous number of things. There's far more money in renting a miserable existence to cancer sufferers than there would be in curing them, for example. People who suffer from baldness command a much greater percentage of the world's wealth than those dying of malaria so that's the problem that gets the investment money.

[Feba]

Re: Engineered Organisms

Considered posting in this thread before anyone else just go to "inb4 Aksannyi misreads the title", since it was inevitable.

Anyway, Takelli, cyborgs are human. You're thinking of androids, and your concept is the basis behind Feba's concept of Robocommunism.

Basically, as AI improves, human workers become not just less motivated, but employers are less inclined to use humans, as they simply cost more and are less efficient. This in turn leaves people jobless, and without the traditional "you do a job, you get paid" model in place, the economic model society is currently based on, leaving us basically in a world run by robots, for people.

[Malacite]

Re: Engineered Organisms

Basically, as AI improves, human workers become not just less motivated, but employers are less inclined to use humans, as they simply cost more and are less efficient. This in turn leaves people jobless, and without the traditional "you do a job, you get paid" model in place, the economic model society is currently based on, leaving us basically in a world run by robots, for people.

I've always wondered how society will end up striking a proper balance. I mean shit, just look at what the Assembly Line did - You used to have a lot more people working in factories before Ford came up with that idea.


And while you could argue that instead of doing the manual labor that's now being done by machines, people can be trained to maintain said machines - not everyone is cut out for University. That's part of the problem with all the talk about jobs and education lately, too much focus on high tech and pushing people to master math & science. Not saying we shouldn't do that, but you can't just ignore blue collar folks either. We can't all be Engineers and Astrophysicists.

But anyway, glad Feba made the distinction. I doubt we'll see Androids any time soon, but Cyborgs are a possibility. There's already a company in the U.S. (they showed it on CNN a while back) working on powered armor for the military. So yeah, shit like Halo's Spartan II's might not be too far away. Maybe not quite on the same level, but we're definitely heading there.

I just can't help but wonder if the future of warfare will come down to machines vs machines rather than actual humans fighting. Personally, and realistically, I'm most afraid of either shit like Coordinators or "The Great Purification" from Star Craft happening as a worst-case scenario with all this new tech on the horizon.

THE GREAT PURIFICATION
Like the bloody Inquisitions that devastated Europe eight hundred years before, the UPL set in motion one of the harshest agendas ever conceived by humanity: Project Purification. This genocidal crusade was the Government's final solution to the matter of cleansing humanity of its more degenerate facets. UPL troops scoured every nation on earth, rounding up dissidents, hackers, synthetics, the cybernetically enhanced, tech-pirates, and criminals of every kind. This planet wide culling resulted in the eradication of nearly 400 Million people. The world-media, now under the strict control of the UPL, downplayed the horrific violence and kept the general populace of earth unaware of the scope of the atrocities being committed.

Despite their heinous acts, the UPL succeeded in advancing many core technologies. Fields of research that had lain dormant for decades were opened again under UPL control. The Space Exploration programs of the mid-twentieth century, abandoned by the American and Russian governments due to drastically reduced budgets and incessant political sabotage, became the basis for a new era of exploration for humanity. The coupling of cryogenic hibernation with warp-drive technology resulted in the ability to travel amongst the stars. Within the span of forty years the UPL founded colonies upon the moon and many other planets within the Terran solar system.

During this period, a brilliant young scientist named Doran Routhe made plans to consolidate his power within the UPL. Uninvolved with the vulgarities of Project Purification, Routhe was obsessed with founding colonies upon the world beyond the Terran Sector. Routhe was convinced that the discovery of new minerals and alternate fuel sources on the outlying worlds would make him one of the most influential men on earth. Through his political connections and personal fortune, Routhe was able to secure thousands of UPL prisoners to use as guinea pigs for his secret plans.
The prisoners, slated for mass execution under the edict of Project Purification, were transported to Routhe's private laboratories. Routhe, planning on sending the prisoners off to colonize the outlying worlds, had his science crews prep nearly 56,000 people for long-term cryogenic hibernation. Cataloguing the various mutations and cybernetic enhancements of the prisoners, Routhe input all of the data into a revolutionary supercomputer. This Artificial Tele-empathic Logistics Analysis System, known as ATLAS then processed this genetic information and was able to predict which of the prisoners should be able to survive the trial to come. Only 40,000 of the prisoners were deemed viable to survive the rigorous conditions. Those 40,000 were then loaded onto four gargantuan, automated deep-space supercarriers. As the prisoners were prepped for cryogenic 'cold-sleep', the ships were loaded with enough supplies, rations and hardware to aid them once they arrived at their scheduled destination. The navigation computer was then programmed with the co-ordinates of the outlying planet Gantris VI. All seemed in perfect preparation, but even Routhe could not have imagined that the prisoners would be launched to their almost certain deaths in the galactic rim.

^ Cudos to Blizzard for coming up with that all those years ago. It's definitely a plausible scenario.

[Feba]

Re: Engineered Organisms

Assembly line wasn't really Ford's idea, we already have androids and cyborgs (not on the level of science fiction, but certainly enough to meet any reasonable definition of what one is), and really, the issue isn't "Not everyone is smart enough to be a mechanic". The issue is that it's going to start making more sense for the machines to repair (and manufacture) themselves.

There will likely be human oversight (at least at first), but that could be done by a small bureaucratic force of a few hundred humans, until the machines either stop caring, or humans become complacent and trust them.

[Armando]

Re: Engineered Organisms

This in turn leaves people jobless, and without the traditional "you do a job, you get paid" model in place, the economic model society is currently based on, leaving us basically in a world run by robots, for people.

And then, Mega Man.

I also read the thread title wrong.

[DakAttack]

Re: Engineered Organisms

Can I also pretend sentience is something inanimate objects can magically obtain?

[Taskmage]

Re: Engineered Organisms

If you want to pretend that sentience is something organic objects can magically attain, then I don't see why not.

[DakAttack]

Re: Engineered Organisms

I don't.

[Taskmage]

Re: Engineered Organisms

Then the question is rather moot.

[DakAttack]

Re: Engineered Organisms

Then the question is rather moot.

I'm sure you knew this before you asked.

[Kailea]

Re: Engineered Organisms

And then, Mega Man.

I also read the thread title wrong.

again... *waits for his cyborg augments to become a super fighting robot*

OH GOD it has already started in Japan!.....damn they are fast....

[Takelli]

Re: Engineered Organisms

Anyway, Takelli, cyborgs are human. You're thinking of androids, and your concept is the basis behind Feba's concept of Robocommunism.

Basically, as AI improves, human workers become not just less motivated, but employers are less inclined to use humans, as they simply cost more and are less efficient. This in turn leaves people jobless, and without the traditional "you do a job, you get paid" model in place, the economic model society is currently based on, leaving us basically in a world run by robots, for people.

I just had the wrong name for them is all.

And that is basically what I was getting it. Its already hard enough to get a job as it is (And to keep one for certain people.). With this tech, it will make it even harder, and people wil become depressed even more (I became severely depressed when I wasn't able to find a job, and its happening again.). Yea, going to college might help with this type of thing, as I could , but I can not afford it, nor is my IQ high enough for that.