Technological advances are blurring the lines between humans and machines. This article explains how innovative technologies such as lifelogs, regenerative medicine, and cyborgs are contributing to the extension of human life and emphasizes the importance of philosophical and ethical considerations in technological advancements.
Lifelogging, the concept of healthcare that records and dataizes every aspect of a person’s life, has gained traction in recent years. This is because it is quite innovative to record and analyze an individual’s 24-hour information through a wearable device or a chip inserted into the body, and to collect and analyze this personal information to manage the health of the entire human population through big data analysis.
The combination of human life extension and technological advancement is also evident in the field of regenerative medicine, the regeneration and production of organs, and the prevention of physical and mental aging. Regenerative medicine involves replacing organs that have worn out over the course of a person’s life with new organs that are regenerated and produced by culturing stem cells. In addition, the discovery of SRT1720, a drug that activates the anti-aging gene SIRT1, and the discovery of telomeres, the protagonists of the aging phenomenon, could literally slow down human aging and reverse time. Not only physical aging, but also dementia, the mental equivalent of aging, can be treated through the implantation of memory devices called brain implants and reverse engineering to unlock the secrets of the brain.
When technology goes beyond being a human assistant and becomes more closely associated with humans, the concept of the cyborg is born. A cyborg is a human body with mechanical devices that are part of the body. While it’s possible to have a fancy cyborg like in the movies, there are already many cyborgs around us, such as pacemakers and hearing aids. In the future, cyborg technology could become so advanced that even normal humans could have external mechanical devices attached to their bodies to enhance their physical abilities. Or, thanks to advances in neurotechnology, it may be possible to upload your mind so that your body dies but your mind lives on forever. This revolutionary advancement in technology has even led to the creation of frozen humans, with the idea that diseases that are currently incurable will be treatable in the future.
Although this book is ostensibly neutral and does not offer any opinions on technological advancements, the author’s views are favorable. Given the technologies introduced in this book and their impact on the advancement of human life, I am also in favor of the desire to sustain human life and the resulting technological advancements. It is human instinct, and it is the nature of technology. Not only humans, but all living beings have an infinite interest in their own survival, and it is only natural for humans to exercise their intellectual abilities for this purpose. Furthermore, the development of technology should be further oriented, because it is the nature of technology to develop, for better or worse, and if it does not develop and becomes complacent, it is no longer technology.
However, there is something missing from the UN Future Report 2045. It is the philosophical part. The contents of this book may raise questions about the boundaries between humans and technology, and whether humans should be allowed to develop technology to this extent without following the natural order of nature.
In response to these points, I argue that the philosophical part of the book should be reinforced by the fact that there should be some kind of ideological foundation for technological advancement. It is the lack of a philosophical foundation that makes technological advancement problematic, and it is the worry about what happens afterward that causes the problem. In the absence of a fully developed philosophy, the worry that humans will be able to adapt to and cope with a life that will be unnaturally enhanced by non-natural means, or, to exaggerate a bit, near eternal life, leads to concerns about technological overdevelopment, and, by extension, to ethical and religious reasons.
The ideological underpinnings begin with a consideration of where the boundaries between humans, machines, and technology lie. This question has recently been seriously discussed by scholars as the concept of “prosthesis” and is a major topic in fields such as anthropology and posthuman studies. The boundary between humans and technology is a profound topic, but in some ways it can be explained by the simple concept of “consciousness”. People often refer to humans as rational animals, and when asked what distinguishes us from robots, the answer is the ability to think and make judgments on our own – a difference in consciousness. The dividing line between humans and machines may be fluid depending on the situation, but it is always a matter of degree, and the element of consciousness is always present, which means that humans can control machines. If humans lose control of the machine when they invent a technology or become a cyborg by implanting a machine into their body, the relationship between humans and machines is reversed, and humans are manipulated by machines. In terms of consciousness, this means that the machine’s consciousness has surpassed the human consciousness and is already out of control from the human perspective.
In other words, humans should pursue technological advancement with the ideology of making themselves controllable. This includes not only control over the technology itself, but also consideration of its social and cultural impact. For example, human life expectancy has increased by nearly 20 years over the past 30 years due to technological advances. However, the vessel of society has not grown as much as technology has, leading to a number of problems in an aging society, such as the lack of jobs for the elderly. This is because we developed medical technology while forgetting the basic ideology of controllable levels. As a result, people realized the problem in hindsight and made social and cultural efforts, such as reforming the taxation system and actively using elderly resources. For example, Japan, one of the oldest countries in the world, has made great efforts to improve aging issues, such as setting aside 7.27 billion yen in 2002 as a budget for the Silver Talent Center. However, the same results could have been achieved at a fraction of the cost and time if social and cultural efforts had been made in parallel with technological development.
To summarize, the recent development of innovative technologies has blurred the lines between humans, machines, and technology, and there are many opinions and debates about it. I’m basically in favor of continued technological advancement. However, I am not unconditionally in favor of technological development, but as an ideological basis for technological development, I believe that balanced development is possible only if the technology is developed under the control of human beings in its own right and under the control of human beings in society and culture, i.e., human consciousness is the top priority. Therefore, if humans pursue the maintenance of human life while thinking about social, institutional, and cultural development, it can be interpreted as a pure challenge to survival, not a blasphemy against nature.
