I'd start with option 2 but as my lifespan decreases i could see myself being convinced to go up to 3 or 4 in an attempt to prolong my existence. Not like i'm terribly attached to my body tbh or have moral qualms about the nature of souls (if they do exist then we truly have nothing to fear from death, if they dont then i made the "right" call).
Option 5 for me. I would venture I might consider Option 6 after that, but right now I kind of lack the information to process that thought really. Hard to imagine it. Something like Option 6, I think, would come over time (which, with Option 5, I have a lot of).
5 or 6. I don't like my body. It's held together by pritt stick and pieces of rope. I'd start out going to five, and probably end up going to six a bit later. I don't know, maybe being a sentient cloud of nanorobots is fun.
What ever I can get away with without needing to find a mechanic, so probably option 2.
The idea of "relying on others to make your body work" first struck me as disturbing, but then I realised that I am destine to take pills for the rest of my life due to chronicle illness.
I'd take it as far as possible. We're talking about artificial advancement of mankind to an entirely new level that couldn't be reached naturally, I'd want humanity to convert and augment itself to the point that any undeveloped civilisation would see us as gods.
No illness or disease, strength beyond measure, mental and physical performance that makes natural geniuses and athletes look like weak simple children.
Option three. I don't think it matters how the molecules that make up my arms or legs or any other part look like or if my bones are made from calcium, carbon or anything else. The tendons that move my fingers as i'm typing are mine and they'd still be part of me if they where made from other materials.
One could argue that you are what you eat, literally to some extend and that replacing bones with metal rods is just one step above from caring about your calcium intake to ensure the stability of your bones.
The only thing that would bother me is the possible loss of my regenerative abilities. If you break a bone, just set it straight again and it'll repair itself, i doubt my body can manage to weld a broken steel rod together.
What happens if some spambot floods the twitter feed in my eye? D:
I wouldn't tamper with my Brain since i don't know everything it does. I could be augmenting this or that mental ability while unwittingly stunting another. We know very little of our brains.
You'd have to be very careful to limit any augmentations to your body; if you make some super awesome legs you could find yourself enjoying sports to a degree where you develop intense self loathing towards your former lazy ass which might lead to depression.
Depression is something found rather often and all the augmentations we have now are hearing aids and glasses...
Depends how good the augmentations are. If we're talking cosmonik levels of tech[footnote]From Peter F Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy - Humans adjusted for life in freefall/vacuum - hardened skin/exoskeleton, often fed through tubes, radiation resistance, improved visual spectrum, augmented and replaced skeleton and musculature[/footnote] then probably only to level 2 or grudgingly 3, because in that universe the technology isn't good enough to 'replace what's lost'. They still look rather monstrous and can't do things like taste, speak normally etc. You lose something for everything you gain.
If we have better technology then that resistance falls away. If it's Ceph[footnote]
where Prophet has managed to control the suit to such a degree that he's rebuilt his body and is basically posthuman
[/footnote] or Peter F Hamilton's Commonwealth[footnote]Where sufficient enhancement allows people to have inbuilt pulse weapons and hugely resistant to damage, real time hacking for computers and other people's nervous systems, massively improved sensory perception, neural systems, and, for want of a better way of putting it, cloud backup for memories and personality[/footnote] level tech then there's no meaningful opposition because all you do is improve, with no appreciable difference to your appearance (unless you want to), and no detrimental effects.
I also don't see the distinction between body and mind as so absolute. I'd probably be more inclined to get basic neural enhancements (eidetic memory, communications, improved sensory discrimination) than physical ones. It's also notable that a significant amount of body enhancement would probably require some neural enhancement to control - how are you going to efficiently control your wideband visual spectrum or third limb without having some kind of auxiliary thought process?
Option 5. Really I would be option 5 with basically no doubt. Our minds are what makes us what we are. Of course you still need something to sustain your mind. And I still want to have some form of body. And you know, have a human looking body is something I like.
In order to go option 6 I would need way more information. I would have to know I remain as me. And according to what you said I don't. If nothing if me remains, not my mind or anything, then it isn't me. And I wouldn't want that.
I'd definitely go option 5, but I would be very interested in option 6, simply to experience another reality of being. Something unimaginable and untouchable. Very interested indeed, but I'd want to know more first.
I'm not particularly attached to my body, but nor do I see a particular use for physical augmentation. Mental modification would lead to changes in character and perception, thus my self, and as such if done at all, would have to be done electively and gradually. The most appealing point of transhumanism would obviously be in the extension of life, and appealing it is. Posthumanism sounds... risky, metaphysically speaking, but something I'd be willing to consider. Previous stages seem less risky, more likely to be acceptable.
I went option #7 (other) because I'm very precise with my transhumanism. In terms of body I'm somewhere between #3 and #4. More is better, but some things need to stay human if you know what I mean... Unless those things could be "fully functional" as in I could still have kids if I wanted, and be able to turn off the ability to have kids. Cus condoms are so 21st century. As for the brain and nervous system. There can be no changes only aids such as a module to improve reaction time, memory, ect ect. In short if it could mess with my personality or be used to brain jack me it's not gonna happen.
6. Posthuman: Want to become an Lovecraftian eldritch abomination whose very physical form cannot be perceived by lesser beings, with a mind that cannot be understood? You'll be entirely posthuman, nothing of what you once were will remain.
Will I retain my semantic, declarative, procedural, episodic and autobiographical memories; hopes, dreams, drives, ambitions, aspirations and aesthetic sensibilities?
Death and old age have their price as well. And it's too expensive for me. In desperation, one's own humanity seems like such a small price to pay.
Zak757 said:
6. Posthuman: Want to become an Lovecraftian eldritch abomination whose very physical form cannot be perceived by lesser beings, with a mind that cannot be understood?
See post 57 for my lvl of augmentation. I would limit myself because I want to retain the "self". I don't know if the machine bits in my brain would sustain me, simply copy me, or change me (not to mention control me). I guess the short answer is I'm not prepared to be a full on transhumanist. I am not prepared to lose myself for an assumed improved state of mind.
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