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I want to be a cyborg.

I wish I had a sleepy rabbit.

It's so cute ;o;

I have mixed feelings about transhumanism. On one hand, cybernetic enhancements would be insanely cool (although the expense could cause a classism issue but I'm bourgeoisie so whatevs), not to mention the ways in which such technology would rapidly improve our lives. Plus, it could immensely lengthen our lifespans if the only diseases we had to worry about were those of the brain.

On the other hand, I immensely distrust the idea that we could upload our consciousness to a computerized system as a way to acquire immortality. Pure transhumanists and empiricists would disagree, but even if you could make a perfectly simulated copy of an adult human's brain, there is something immeasurably different about actual conscious humans versus their robotic/biomechanical copies.

Imagine this scenario: You are born in a future where uploading consciousness is an accepted thing that regularly happens to those on their deathbeds. At a very young age, you are diagnosed with an incurable disease that puts you in a coma. Modern science can't save your flesh-and-blood body for long, so as you pass into unconsciousness for presumably the last time, your parents make arrangements to have your mind uploaded to a computerized copy so they don't have to lose their son/daughter. Your human body is kept around to study the disease and hopefully find a cure that will wipe this mild inconvenience off the map.

However, after months of sleep, you mysteriously wake up, cured of the incurable illness. You are admitted back to your home and you confront your computerized copy. You and the copy will disagree vehemently about who is you (both your original flesh-and-blood body and the computer will both identify as you), yet I imagine your parents would be incredibly distraught if they were forced (let's say by the state) to make the decision between switching off the computerized copy or killing your human one. By making a copy, you are not extending your life or your consciousness: you're making an immortal automaton, but instead of it being in your perfect physical likeness, it is in your perfect mental likeness. But the automaton is not you: it shares your traits and memories, but it is something entirely different.

Therefore, I do not trust the idea that having an "uploaded consciousness" equates to immortality. Unless my loved ones insisted, I would most likely refuse such a procedure at my deathbed.

I wish I had a sleepy rabbit.

It's so cute ;o;

I KNOW MY MANLINESS IS MELTING AWAY

Are we more than our thoughts?

I have mixed feelings about transhumanism. On one hand, cybernetic enhancements would be insanely cool (although the expense could cause a classism issue but I'm bourgeoisie so whatevs), not to mention the ways in which such technology would rapidly improve our lives. Plus, it could immensely lengthen our lifespans if the only diseases we had to worry about were those of the brain.

On the other hand, I immensely distrust the idea that we could upload our consciousness to a computerized system as a way to acquire immortality. Pure transhumanists and empiricists would disagree, but even if you could make a perfectly simulated copy of an adult human's brain, there is something immeasurably different about actual conscious humans versus their robotic/biomechanical copies.

Imagine this scenario: You are born in a future where uploading consciousness is an accepted thing that regularly happens to those on their deathbeds. At a very young age, you are diagnosed with an incurable disease that puts you in a coma. Modern science can't save your flesh-and-blood body for long, so as you pass into unconsciousness for presumably the last time, your parents make arrangements to have your mind uploaded to a computerized copy so they don't have to lose their son/daughter. Your human body is kept around to study the disease and hopefully find a cure that will wipe this mild inconvenience off the map.

However, after months of sleep, you mysteriously wake up, cured of the incurable illness. You are admitted back to your home and you confront your computerized copy. You and the copy will disagree vehemently about who is you (both your original flesh-and-blood body and the computer will both identify as you), yet I imagine your parents would be incredibly distraught if they were forced (let's say by the state) to make the decision between switching off the computerized copy or killing your human one. By making a copy, you are not extending your life or your consciousness: you're making an immortal automaton, but instead of it being in your perfect physical likeness, it is in your perfect mental likeness. But the automaton is not you: it shares your traits and memories, but it is something entirely different.

Therefore, I do not trust the idea that having an "uploaded consciousness" equates to immortality. Unless my loved ones insisted, I would most likely refuse such a procedure at my deathbed.

What about simply modifying the processes already in the brain? the insulators and conductors used to transfer information in and between neurons is painfully slow even compared to modern computers, we only get away with it because they constantly renew and there are just so many of them, additionally this same inefficiency is what causes conditions like Alzheimer's.

The speed of thought, or rather the speed of an electrical pulse through the axon in a neuron is at max 432 km/h while the speed of a pulse in say copper wire is roughly 539,626,424.4 km/h at it's slowest; can you imagine being able to think literally a million times faster? Is that worth it? It would be a ludicrously complex operation, and we are no where near doing something like that... But what about things like that, changing our current brains to make them faster, better at storing information, better at recalling that information?

I wish I had a sleepy rabbit.

It's so cute ;o;

I KNOW MY MANLINESS IS MELTING AWAY

Bunnies are my favorite animal in the whole wide world

I wish I had a sleepy rabbit.

It's so cute ;o;

I KNOW MY MANLINESS IS MELTING AWAY

Bunnies are my favorite animal in the whole wide world

Are you sure about that?

Even one of the German words for a rabbit sounds cute. Quite a feat, since most German words are an assault on our auditory sense.

Afrikaans has two words for it, just like German, of which I prefer the far less cute-sounding "haas" (Afrikaans) and "Hase" (German). The other one is also somewhat similar to the German one. "Konyn(tjie)" vs the German "Kaninchen."

I have no idea why I've remembered those German words and forgotten so many others.

EDIT: STOP POSTING PICTURES OF CUTE ANIMALS. THEY MAKE WANT TO PUNCH SOMETHING IN DIRECT PROPORTION TO THEIR CUTENESS.

God damn, that seal makes me want to murder a whole village.

I wish I had a sleepy rabbit.

It's so cute ;o;

I KNOW MY MANLINESS IS MELTING AWAY

Bunnies are my favorite animal in the whole wide world

Are you sure about that?

Yes I am :D

*Laurentus massacres an entire town

*Laurentus massacres an entire town

Now in my defence you said pictures, you didn't say anything about videos

*Laurentus massacres an entire town

Now in my defence you said pictures, you didn't say anything about videos

Do not look Laurentus it's off the Cuteness charts!!

I wonder why there is such a strong relationship between cuteness and violence. I for one have felt the urge to strangle/beat/throw/dismember/chop up/consume my cats when they have acted unbearably cute -- and my wife, too, at times. Hmm, just one of those things I guess.

*Laurentus massacres an entire town

Now in my defence you said pictures, you didn't say anything about videos

Do not look Laurentus it's off the Cuteness charts!!

We just lost contact with London and New York.

I think he looked.

O MY GOD, O MEIN GOTT, OH MY GOD

It's on, bitches.

Also, um... My deepest apologies to Australia. That country/continent no longer exists as of six seconds ago.

I wonder why there is such a strong relationship between cuteness and violence. I for one have felt the urge to strangle/beat/throw/dismember/chop up/consume my cats when they have acted unbearably cute -- and my wife, too, at times. Hmm, just one of those things I guess.

I imagine as Laurentus' article suggests it's to do with co-stimulation in regions of the brain looking at cute things stimulates the part of your brain that focuses on babies and family in the Limbic section. This likely makes you feel the need to protect and defend, which puts you on alert; this also explains the heightened response in male participants...