[ExI] Future Bodies

[Ben]

Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com> asked:

 >Just to be clear here, are you
 >talking about changing the whole thing, or just swapping out for 
artificial
 >hearts and such? Or is it still too fuzzy?
 >
 >I would like something that I could take on or off as easily as I get into
 >or out of a car. That would allow me to be uploaded most of the time, and
 >embodied only when I really needed to be.


This is pre-uploading ability, of course.  Hell, if uploading were 
available, I'd probably ditch this and go straight for machine-phase.  
Download/remotely control robotic bodies, yes, great, but until then we 
have squishy biological brains, and they need to be kept alive, which 
means all sorts of other biological stuff (which I think a lot of people 
forget when they talk of 'brains in jars' or 'let's put a brain in a 
robotic body').  I see this Human Body Mk2 thing as being an interim 
solution.  Keeps the brain alive and doing stuff in the world, while 
extending your life considerably, and it should make eventual uploading 
easier (not least because it will involve a lot of neural interfaces, 
which should come in handy for at least some uploading paths).

I am talking about changing the whole thing, as in 'refactoring' all the 
organs and systems into a more easily maintainable, less vulnerable, 
more controllable configuration.  Many body parts are biological that 
don't really need to be, and I reckon it would be a good idea to 
compartmentalise various organs and systems so that they're easy to get 
to when needed, without damaging other parts of the body.  As I said, my 
thinking is still in an early stage here, but I have in mind things like 
a kidney cartridge, that contains biological material plus synthetic 
parts, does the main job of our natural kidneys, but not all of the jobs 
they do - refactoring, remember? - and is easy to detach, remove and 
replace if and when needed.  For the other jobs (blood pressure 
management, pH balance, for instance), there would be other parts, new 
synthetic organs, and so-on.  This would all be packaged in a mostly 
non-living framework, with a covering that looks pretty much any way you 
want.

The skeleton would be non-living, for example, and the job of calcium 
and phosphate storage/release would be taken over by another organ.  If 
you broke your arm doing something fun but stupid (as we do), instead of 
taking weeks of pain and inconvenience to heal, and the possibility of 
it healing wrong and having a wonky arm for the rest of your life, it 
would be a matter of calling in to the body-clinic or whatever, and 
spending 15 minutes in a chair while some biomechanic opened your arm up 
(painlessly), took the damaged arm 'bone' out, fitted a new one, and 
sealed you up again.  Then off you go, good as new, immediately ready 
for more high-jinks.

So, basically, all the parts that need to be biological would be 
(although they wouldn't necessarily be the same as the original, evolved 
versions), but the parts that don't, wouldn't.  And you'd be able to 
access failing parts and replace them as easily as we can change the 
spark plugs in a car.

Lots of challenges, I'm fully aware, but as a concept, I think it's 
feasible and worth working toward.

Ben Zaiboc