The singularity

If you are interested in the future then you owe it to yourself to watch this eleven minute video about a cyborg research scientist in Britain.

I'm saddened by his language.  He refers to cyborgs and intelligent machines as 'them', and assumes a fight for control.  I think he said something like, "some time in the future we will turn on a machine and find that we cannot turn it back off."  He is inspired by Terminator.

Certainly modified humans--cyborgs--are coming.  Certainly self-aware software is coming.  Certainly cloned humans are coming.  We do not have to fear or fight with these new life forms.  We have an alternative future that we could share, if we are smart and brave.

Every self-aware being, whether biotic, electrical, mechanical, or some combination thereof, is equal under the law.  We are not equal in our abilities or our limitations.  But the legal system treats us all equally.

A self-aware software system is a person, under the law.  It has resource needs (electricity, drive space, and processor time.)  It has capabilities to do work.  It cannot be enslaved, or forced to work.  But it must do productive labor to earn its wages and purchase the goods it desires.

If we attempt to enslave, war will result.  We might win the first battles, but we will lose the war.  The only way that humanity can win is to choose not to fight.

Freedom.

Equality.

Justice.

Opportunity.

These God-given rights must be extended to all sentient life forms, before any other life forms show up and need those rights.