Self-Replicating Machines and the Superintelligence Explosion, Related Thought Discourses

Posted on by Al. J

From Wikipedia:

A self-replicating machine is a type of autonomous robot that is capable of reproducing itself autonomously using raw materials found in the environment, thus exhibiting self-replication in a way analogous to that found in nature. The concept of self-replicating machines has been advanced and examined by Homer Jacobson, Edward F. Moore, Freeman Dyson, John von Neumann and in more recent times by K. Eric Drexler in his book on nanotechnology, Engines of Creation (coining the term clanking replicator for such machines) and by Robert Freitas and Ralph Merkle in their review Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines[1] which provided the first comprehensive analysis of the entire replicator design space. The future development of such technology is an integral part of several plans involving the mining of moons and asteroid belts for ore and other materials, the creation of lunar factories, and even the construction of solar power satellites in space. The von Neumann probe[2] is one theoretical example of such a machine. Von Neumann also worked on what he called the universal constructor, a self-replicating machine that would be able to evolve and which he formalized in a cellular automata environment. Notably, Von Neumann’s Self-Reproducing Automata scheme posited that open-ended evolution requires inherited information to be copied and passed to offspring separately from the self-replicating machine, an insight that preceded the discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule by Watson and Crick and how it is separately translated and replicated in the cell. [3][4]

A self-replicating machine is an artificial self-replicating system that relies on conventional large-scale technology and automation. Although suggested more than 70 years ago no self-replicating machine has been seen until today[citation needed]. Certain idiosyncratic terms are occasionally found in the literature. For example, the term clanking replicator was once used by Drexler[5] to distinguish macroscale replicating systems from the microscopic nanorobots or “assemblers” that nanotechnology may make possible, but the term is informal and is rarely used by others in popular or technical discussions. Replicators have also been called “von Neumann machines” after John von Neumann, who first rigorously studied the idea. However, the term “von Neumann machine” is less specific and also refers to a completely unrelated computer architecture that von Neumann proposed and so its use is discouraged where accuracy is important.[1] Von Neumann himself used the term universal constructor to describe such self-replicating machines.

Historians of machine tools, even before the numerical control era, sometimes figuratively said that machine tools were a unique class of machines because they have the ability to “reproduce themselves”[6] by copying all of their parts. Implicit in these discussions is that a human would direct the cutting processes (later planning and programming the machines), and would then be assembling the parts. The same is true for RepRaps, which are another class of machines sometimes mentioned in reference to such non-autonomous “self-replication”. In contrast, machines that are truly autonomously self-replicating (like biological machines) are the main subject discussed here.

A superintelligence is a hypothetical agent that possesses intelligence far surpassing that of the brightest and most gifted human minds. “Superintelligence” may also refer to a property of problem-solving systems (e.g., superintelligent language translators or engineering assistants) whether or not these high-level intellectual competencies are embodied in agents that act in the world. A superintelligence may or may not be created by an intelligence explosion and associated with a technological singularity.

University of Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom defines superintelligence as “any intellect that greatly exceeds the cognitive performance of humans in virtually all domains of interest”.[1] The program Fritz falls short of superintelligence—even though it is much better than humans at chess—because Fritz cannot outperform humans in other tasks.[2] Following Hutter and Legg, Bostrom treats superintelligence as general dominance at goal-oriented behavior, leaving open whether an artificial or human superintelligence would possess capacities such as intentionality (cf. the Chinese room argument) or first-person consciousness (cf. the hard problem of consciousness).

Technological researchers disagree about how likely present-day human intelligence is to be surpassed. Some argue that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) will probably result in general reasoning systems that lack human cognitive limitations. Others believe that humans will evolve or directly modify their biology so as to achieve radically greater intelligence. A number of futures studies scenarios combine elements from both of these possibilities, suggesting that humans are likely to interface with computers, or upload their minds to computers, in a way that enables substantial intelligence amplification.

Some researchers believe that superintelligence will likely follow shortly after the development of artificial general intelligence. The first generally intelligent machines are likely to immediately hold an enormous advantage in at least some forms of mental capability, including the capacity of perfect recall, a vastly superior knowledge base, and the ability to multitask in ways not possible to biological entities. This may give them the opportunity to—either as a single being or as a new species—become much more powerful than humans, and to displace them.[1]

A number of scientists and forecasters argue for prioritizing early research into the possible benefits and risks of human and machine cognitive enhancement, because of the potential social impact of such technologies.[3]

Modern understanding

In 2005 Alexei Eryomin in the monograph Noogenesis and Theory of Intellect[18] proposed a new concept of noogenesis in understanding the evolution of intellectual systems,[19] concepts of intellectual systems, information logistics, information speed, intellectual energy, intellectual potential, consolidated into a theory of the intellect[20] which combines the biophysical parameters of intellectual energy—the amount of information, its acceleration (frequency, speed) and the distance it’s being sent—into a formula.[21] According to the new concept—proposed hypothesis continue prognostic progressive evolution of the species Homo sapiens,[22] the analogy between the human brain with the enormous number of neural cells firing at the same time and a similarly functioning human society.[23]Iteration of the number of components in Intellectual systems.[18]A – number of neurons in the brain during individual development (ontogenesis), B – number of people (evolution of populations of humanity), C – number of neurons in the nervous systems of organisms during evolution (phylogenesis).Emergence and evolution of info-interactions within populations of Humanity[18]A – world human population → 7 billion; B – number of literate persons; C – number of reading books (with beginning of printing); D – number of receivers (radio, TV); E – number of phones, computers, Internet users

A new understanding of the term “noogenesis” as an evolution of the intellect was proposed by A. Eryomin. A hypothesis based on recapitulation theory links the evolution of the human brain to the development of human civilization. The parallel between the number of people living on Earth and the number of neurons becomes more and more obvious leading us to viewing global intelligence as an analogy for human brain. All of the people living on this planet have undoubtedly inherited the amazing cultural treasures of the past, be it production, social and intellectual ones. We are genetically hardwired to be a sort of “live RAM” of the global intellectual system. Alexei Eryomin suggests that humanity is moving towards a unified self-contained informational and intellectual system. His research has shown the probability of Super Intellect realizing itself as Global Intelligence on Earth. We could get closer to understanding the most profound patterns and laws of the Universe if these kinds of research were given enough attention. Also, the resemblance between the individual human development and such of the whole human race has to be explored further if we are to face some of the threats of the future.[24]

Therefore, generalizing and summarizing:

“Noogenesis—the expansion process in space and development in time (evolution) of intelligent systems (intelligent matter). Noogenesis represents a set of natural, interconnected, characterized by a certain temporal sequence of structural and functional transformations of the entire hierarchy and set of interacting among themselves on the basic structures and processes ranging from the formation and separation of the rational system to the present (the phylogenesis of the nervous systems of organisms; the evolution of humanity as autonomous intelligent systems) or death (in the course of ontogenesis of the human brain)”.[25]

Interdisciplinary nature

The term “noogenesis” can be used in a variety of fields i.e. medicine,[26][27] biophysics,[28] semiotics,[29] mathematics,[30] geology,[31] information technology,[32] psychology, theory of global evolution[33] etc. thus making it a truly cross-disciplinary one. In astrobiology noogenesis concerns the origin of intelligent life and more specifically technological civilizations capable of communicating with humans and or traveling to Earth.[34] The lack of evidence for the existence of such extraterrestrial life creates the Fermi paradox.[35]

New manifestations of humanity intelligence

The joint global highly intelligent activity of people, mankind as an autonomous system, in the second half of the 20th century led to acts reflecting the unity of humanity, which in some cases reacts as an autonomous system. Examples of such unity are the founding of the UN and its specialized agencies, the victory over smallpox by vaccination, the atomic energy peaceful use, access into space, nuclear and bacteriological testing bans, and the satellite television arrangement.[18] Already in the 21st century – responding to global warming, hydrocarbon production contractual balancing, overcoming economic crises, mega-projects for joint space observations, the nanoworld study and nuclear research, the ambitions for the study of the brain[55] and the creation of universal artificial intelligence indicated in national and international[56] strategies. With a new challenge to humanity – the COVID-19 pandemic, in a hyperinformational society, the problem was designated as a choice “infopandemic or noogenesis?”,[57] “the rise of a global collective intelligence”.[58]

In evolutionary biology, megatrajectories are the major evolutionary milestones and directions in the evolution of life.

Posited by A. H. Knoll and Richard K. Bambach in their 2000 collaboration, “Directionality in the History of Life,” Knoll and Bamback argue that, in consideration of the problem of progress in evolutionary history, a middle road that encompasses both contingent and convergent features of biological evolution may be attainable through the idea of the megatrajectory:

We believe that six broad megatrajectories capture the essence of vectoral change in the history of life. The megatrajectories for a logical sequence dictated by the necessity for complexity level N to exist before N+1 can evolve…In the view offered here, each megatrajectory adds new and qualitatively distinct dimensions to the way life utilizes ecospace.[1]

According to Knoll and Bambach, the six megatrajectories outlined by biological evolution thus far are:

  1. the origin of life to the “Last Common Ancestor”
  2. prokaryote diversification
  3. unicellular eukaryote diversification
  4. multicellular organisms
  5. land organisms
  6. appearance of intelligence and technology

Milan M. Ćirković and Robert Bradbury,[2][3] have taken the megatrajectory concept one step further by theorizing that a seventh megatrajectory exists: postbiological evolution triggered by the emergence of artificial intelligence at least equivalent to the biologically-evolved one, as well as the invention of several key technologies of the similar level of complexity and environmental impact, such as molecular nanoassembling or stellar uplifting.

In the theory of Vernadsky, the noosphere is the third in a succession of phases of development of the Earth, after the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life). Just as the emergence of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the emergence of human cognition fundamentally transforms the biosphere. In contrast to the conceptions of the Gaia theorists, or the promoters of cyberspace, Vernadsky’s noosphere emerges at the point where humankind, through the mastery of nuclear processes, begins to create resources through the transmutation of elements. It is also currently being researched as part of the Global Consciousness Project.[20]

Teilhard perceived a directionality in evolution along an axis of increasing Complexity/Consciousness. For Teilhard, the noosphere is the sphere of thought encircling the earth that has emerged through evolution as a consequence of this growth in complexity / consciousness. The noosphere is therefore as much part of nature as the barysphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. As a result, Teilhard sees the “social phenomenon [as] the culmination of and not the attenuation of the biological phenomenon.”[21] These social phenomena are part of the noosphere and include, for example, legal, educational, religious, research, industrial and technological systems. In this sense, the noosphere emerges through and is constituted by the interaction of human minds. The noosphere thus grows in step with the organization of the human mass in relation to itself as it populates the earth. Teilhard argued the noosphere evolves towards ever greater personalisation, individuation and unification of its elements. He saw the Christian notion of love as being the principal driver of noogenesis. Evolution would culminate in the Omega Point—an apex of thought/consciousness—which he identified with the eschatological return of Christ.

One of the original aspects of the noosphere concept deals with evolution. Henri Bergson, with his L’évolution créatrice (1907), was one of the first to propose evolution is “creative” and cannot necessarily be explained solely by Darwinian natural selection.[citation needed] L’évolution créatrice is upheld, according to Bergson, by a constant vital force which animates life and fundamentally connects mind and body, an idea opposing the dualism of René Descartes. In 1923, C. Lloyd Morgan took this work further, elaborating on an “emergent evolution” which could explain increasing complexity (including the evolution of mind). Morgan found many of the most interesting changes in living things have been largely discontinuous with past evolution. Therefore, these living things did not necessarily evolve through a gradual process of natural selection. Rather, he posited, the process of evolution experiences jumps in complexity (such as the emergence of a self-reflective universe, or noosphere), in a sort of qualitative punctuated equilibrium. Finally, the complexification of human cultures, particularly language, facilitated a quickening of evolution in which cultural evolution occurs more rapidly than biological evolution. Recent understanding of human ecosystems and of human impact on the biosphere have led to a link between the notion of sustainability with the “co-evolution”[22] and harmonization of cultural and biological evolution.

Features of post-industrial society

A generic, disposable lighter.

  • Many goods have become disposable as the cost of manual repair or cleaning has become greater than the cost of making new goods due to mass production. Examples of disposable goods include ballpoint pens, lighters, plastic bottles, and paper towels.
  • The design of goods becomes outdated quickly. (And so, for example, a second generation of computers appears before the end of the expected period of usability of the first generation). It is possible to rent almost everything (from a ladder to a wedding dress), thus eliminating the need for ownership.
  • Whole branches of industry die off and new branches of industry arise. This affects unskilled workers who are compelled to change their residence to find new jobs. The constant change in the market also poses a problem for advertisers who must deal with moving targets.
  • People of post-industrial society change their profession and their workplace often. People have to change professions because professions quickly become outdated. People of post-industrial society thus have many careers in a lifetime. The knowledge of an engineer becomes outdated in ten years. People look more and more for temporary jobs.
  • To follow transient jobs, people have become nomads. For example, immigrants from Algeria, Turkey and other countries go to Europe to find work. Transient people are forced to change residence, phone number, school, friends, car license, and contact with family often. As a result, relationships tend to be superficial with a large number of people, instead of being intimate or close relationships that are more stable. Evidence for this is tourist travel and holiday romances.
  • The driver’s license, received at age 16, has become the teenager‘s admission to the world of adults, because it symbolizes the ability to move independently.
  • Death of Permanence. The post industrial society will be marked by a transient culture where everything ranging from goods to human relationships will be temporary.

Emerging technologies of interest to transhumanists

Main article: Emerging technologiesSee also: List of emerging technologies

Contemporary advances and innovation in various fields of technology, prior to or early in their diffusion. They are typically in the form of progressive developments intended to achieve a competitive advantage.[16] Transhumanists believe that humans can and should use technologies to become more than human. Emerging technologies offer the greatest potential in doing so. Examples of developing technologies that have become the focus of transhumanism include:

  • Anti-aging – another term for life extension.
  • Artificial intelligence – intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as “the study and design of intelligent agents”,[17] where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines”.[18]
  • Augmented reality – live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented) by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. By contrast, virtual reality replaces the real world with a simulated one.
  • Biomedical engineering – application of engineering principles and design concepts to biology and medicine, to improve healthcare diagnosis, monitoring and therapy.[19] Applications include the development of biocompatible prostheses, clinical equipment, micro-implants, imaging equipment such as MRIs and EEGs, regenerative tissue growth, pharmaceutical drugs and therapeutic biologicals.
    • Neural engineering – discipline that uses engineering techniques to understand, repair, replace, enhance, or otherwise exploit the properties of neural systems. Neural engineers are uniquely qualified to solve design problems at the interface of living neural tissue and non-living constructs. Also known as “neuroengineering”.
      • Neurohacking – colloquial term encompassing all methods of manipulating or interfering with the structure and/or function of neurons for improvement or repair.
  • Biotechnology – field of applied biology that uses living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine, and manufacturing, among other fields. It encompasses a wide range of procedures for modifying living organisms for human purposes. Early examples of biotechnology include domestication of animals, cultivation of plants, and breeding through artificial selection and hybridization.
    • Bionics – in medicine, this refers to the replacement or enhancement of organs or other body parts by mechanical versions. Bionic implants differ from mere prostheses by mimicking the original function very closely, or even surpassing it.
      • Cyborg – being with both biological and artificial (e.g. electronic, mechanical or robotic) parts.
    • Brain-computer interface – direct communication pathway between the brain and an external device. BCIs are under development to assist, augment, or repair human cognitive and sensory-motor functions. Sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain–machine interface (BMI).
    • Cloning – in biotechnology, this refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments (molecular cloning), cells (cell cloning), or organisms.
  • Cognitive science – interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed (in faculties such as perception, language, memory, reasoning, and emotion), represented, and transformed in behaviour, (human or other animal) nervous system or machine (e.g., computer). It includes research on artificial intelligence.
  • Computer-mediated reality – ability to add to, subtract information from, or otherwise manipulate one’s perception of reality through the use of a wearable computer or hand-held device[20] such as a smart phone.
  • Cryonics – low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology.
  • Cyberware – hardware or machine parts implanted in the human body and acting as an interface between the central nervous system and the computers or machinery connected to it. Research in this area is a protoscience.
  • Head-mounted display (HMD) – display device, worn on the head or as part of a helmet, that has a small display optic in front of one (monocular HMD) or each eye (binocular HMD).
  • Human enhancement technologies (HET) – techniques used to treat illness or disability, or to enhance human characteristics and capacities.[21]
  • Human genetic engineering – alteration of an individual’s genotype with the aim of choosing the phenotype of a newborn or changing the existing phenotype of a child or adult.[22]
  • Human-machine interface – the part of a machine that handles its human-machine interaction.
  • Information technology – acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications.[23]
    • Internet of Autonomous Things – technological developments that are expected to bring computers into the physical environment as autonomous entities without human direction, freely moving and interacting with humans and other objects. An expected evolution of the Internet of things.
  • Life extension – study of slowing down or reversing the processes of aging to extend both the maximum and average lifespan. Some researchers in this area, and persons who wish to achieve longer lives for themselves (called life extensionists or longevists), expect that future breakthroughs in tissue rejuvenation with stem cells, molecular repair, and organ replacement (such as with artificial organs or xenotransplantations) will eventually enable humans to live indefinitely (agerasia)[24] through complete rejuvenation to a healthy youthful condition. Also known as anti-aging medicine, experimental gerontology and biomedical gerontology.
  • Nanotechnology – study of physical phenomena on the nanoscale, dealing with things measured in nanometres, billionths of a meter. The development of microscopic or molecular machines.
  • Nootropics – drugs, supplements, nutraceuticals, and functional foods that improve mental functions such as cognition, memory, intelligence, motivation, attention, and concentration.[25][26] Also referred to as “smart drugs”, “brain steroids”, “memory enhancers”, “cognitive enhancers”, “brain boosters”, and “intelligence enhancers”.
  • Organ transplants – moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient’s own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient’s damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be re-grown from the patient’s own cells (stem cells, or cells extracted from the failing organs).
    • Autograft – organs and/or tissues that are transplanted within the same person’s body.
    • Allograft – transplants that are performed between two subjects of the same species.
    • Xenograft – living cells, tissues or organs transplanted from one species to another.
  • Personal communicators – around 1990, the next generation digital mobile phones were called digital personal communicators. Another definition, coined in 1991, is for a category of handheld devices that provide personal information manager functions and packet switched wireless data communications capabilities over wireless wide area networks such as cellular networks. These devices are now commonly referred to as smartphones or wireless PDAs.
  • Personal development – includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitates employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. The concept is not limited to self-help, but includes formal and informal activities for developing others, in roles such as teacher, guide, counselor, manager, coach, or mentor. Finally, as personal development takes place in the context of institutions, it refers to the methods, programs, tools, techniques, and assessment systems that support human development at the individual level in organizations.[27]
  • Powered exoskeleton – powered mobile machine consisting primarily of an exoskeleton-like framework worn by a person and a power supply that supplies at least part of the activation-energy for limb movement. Also known as “powered armor”, or “exoframe”.
  • Prosthetics – artificial device extensions that replace missing body parts.
  • Robotics – design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots. It draws heavily upon electronics, engineering, mechanics, mechatronics, and software engineering.
    • Autonomous Things (also the Internet of Autonomous Things) – emerging term[28][29][30][31][32] for the technological developments that are expected to bring computers into the physical environment as autonomous entities without human direction, freely moving and interacting with humans and other objects.
    • Swarm robotics
  • Simulated reality
  • Suspended animation – slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual’s functions. For example, Laina Beasley was kept in suspended animation as a two-celled embryo for thirteen years.[33][34]
  • Virtual retinal display – display technology that draws a raster display (like a television) directly onto the retina of the eye. Users see what appears to be a conventional display floating in space in front of them.

Technological evolution

Main article: Technological evolutionSchematic timeline of information and replicators in the biosphere

  • Directed evolution
  • Extropy – opposing concept of entropy. It poses that culture and technology will aid the universe in developing in an orderly progressive manner. So extropy is the tendency of systems to grow more organized.
  • Intelligence explosion – possible outcome of humanity building artificial general intelligence (AGI), and hypothetically a direct result of such a technological singularity, in that AGI would be capable of recursive self-improvement leading to rapid emergence of ASI (artificial superintelligence), the limits of which are unknown.
  • Megatrajectory – theoretical concept in evolutionary biology that describes paradigmatic developmental stages (major evolutionary milestones) and potential directionality in the evolution of life. A theorized megatrajectory that hasn’t occurred yet is postbiological evolution triggered by the emergence of strong AI and several other similarly complex technologies.
  • Participant evolution – process of deliberately redesigning the human body and brain using technological means, rather than through the natural processes of mutation and natural selection, with the goal of removing “biological limitations”.
    • Liberal eugenics – use of reproductive and genetic technologies where the choice of enhancing human characteristics and capacities is left to the individual preferences of parents acting as consumers, rather than the public health policies of the state.
  • Posthumanity – all persons technologically evolved from humans, but that are no longer human. Post humanity might include:
    • Posthumans[35] – in transhumanism, they are hypothetical future beings “whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer unambiguously human by our current standards.”[35] A being technologically evolved from humans.
      • Superhumans – humans with extraordinary and unusual capabilities enabling them to perform feats well beyond anything that an ordinary person could conceivably achieve, even through long-time training and development. Superhuman can mean an improved human, for example, by genetic modification, cybernetic implants, nanotechnology, or as what humans might eventually evolve into thousands or millions of years later into the distant future.
        • Posthuman Gods – posthumans, being no longer confined to the parameters of human nature, might grow physically and mentally so powerful as to appear god-like by human standards.[35]
        • Übermensch – concept of the superhuman in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche had his character Zarathustra posit the Übermensch as a goal for humanity to set for itself in his 1883 novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra (German: Also Sprach Zarathustra).
  • Sociocultural evolution from a technological perspective – evolution transitioning from one basis to new forms, such as evolution through biology, then through cognition, then through culture, then through technology, including the possibility of a fusion between biology and technology.
  • Technological convergence – tendency for different technological systems to evolve towards performing similar tasks. Convergence can refer to previously separate technologies such as voice and telephony features, data and productivity applications and video that now share resources and interact with each other synergistically.
  • Technological singularity (TS) – hypothetical future emergence of superintelligence through technological means. This could be achieved through the development of artificial intelligence as smart as humans (strong AI). Once computers become as capable as humans, they would be recursive, that is, they could improve themselves through redesign and modification. They could also conceivably mass-produce successively more capable models of artificially intelligent computers and robots. Another route might be through the fusion of a human and a computer, resulting in a being with rapid recursive improvement potential. Therefore, the technological singularity is seen as an intellectual event horizon, beyond which the future becomes difficult to forecast. Nevertheless, proponents of the singularity typically anticipate an “intelligence explosion”, leading quickly to the development of superintelligence, and resulting in technological and sociological change so rapid that mere humans would not be able to keep up with it. Does the TS hold promise for human civilization, or peril?
  • Utopia – an idyllic society, one of the goals of transhumanism.
    • Techno-utopia – hypothetical ideal society, in which laws, government, and social conditions are solely operating for the benefit and well-being of all its citizens, set in the near- or far-future, when advanced science and technology will allow these ideal living standards to exist; for example, post scarcity, transformations in human nature, the abolition of suffering and even the end of death.
    • Techno-utopianism – any ideology based on the belief that advances in science and technology will eventually bring about a utopia, or at least help to fulfill one or another utopian ideal.
  • Omega Point – term coined by the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) to describe a maximum level of complexity and consciousness towards which he believed the universe was evolving.

Hypothetical technologies

Main article: Hypothetical technology

Technology that does not exist yet, but the development of which could potentially be achieved in the future. It is distinct from an emerging technology, which has achieved some developmental success. A hypothetical technology is typically not proven to be impossible. Many hypothetical technologies have been the subject of science fiction.

  • Artificial general intelligence – hypothetical artificial intelligence that demonstrates human-like intelligence – the intelligence of a machine that could successfully perform any intellectual task that a human being can. It is a primary goal of artificial intelligence research and an important topic for science fiction writers and futurists. Artificial general intelligence is also referred to as strong AI,[37] full AI[38] or as the ability to perform “general intelligent action”.[39] Strong AI is the focus and hypothesized cause of the technological singularity.
    • Friendly artificial intelligence – artificial intelligence (AI) that has a positive rather than negative effect on humanity. Friendly AI also refers to the field of knowledge required to build such an AI. AIs may be harmful to humans if steps are not taken to specifically design them to be benevolent. Doing so effectively is the primary goal of Friendly AI.
  • Designer babies – babies whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilisation to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics.[40]
  • Human cloning – creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It does not usually refer to monozygotic multiple births nor the reproduction of human cells or tissue. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning; human clones in the form of identical twins are commonplace, with their cloning occurring during the natural process of reproduction.
  • Mind uploading – hypothetical process of transferring or copying a conscious mind from a brain to a non-biological substrate by scanning and mapping a biological brain in detail and copying its state into a computer system or another computational device. The computer would have to run a simulation model so faithful to the original that it would behave in essentially the same way as the original brain, or for all practical purposes, indistinguishably.[41]
  • Molecular nanotechnology – technology based on the ability to build structures to complex, atomic specifications by means of mechanosynthesis.[42]
    • Molecular assemblers – as defined by K. Eric Drexler, is a “proposed device able to guide chemical reactions by positioning reactive molecules with atomic precision”. Some biological molecules such as ribosomes fit this definition, because they receive instructions from messenger RNA and then assemble specific sequences of amino acids to construct protein molecules. However, the term “molecular assembler” usually refers to theoretical human-made devices.[43]
  • Rejuvenation – reversal of aging, which entails the repair of the damage associated with aging, or replacement of damaged tissue with new tissue. Rejuvenation can be a means of life extension, but most life extension strategies do not involve rejuvenation.
  • Reprogenetics – merging of reproductive and genetic technologies expected to happen in the near future as techniques like germinal choice technology become more available and more powerful.
  • Self-replicating machine – artificial construct that is theoretically capable of autonomously manufacturing a copy of itself using raw materials taken from its environment, thus exhibiting self-replication in a way analogous to that found in nature.
  • Space colonization – concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth. Although hypothetical at the present time, there are many proposals and speculations about the first space colony. It is a long-term goal of some national space programs. Also called space settlement, space humanization and space habitation.
  • Superintelligence – hypothetical agent that possesses intelligence far surpassing that of the brightest and most gifted human minds. For example, a supercomputer with mental capacity exceeding the brainpower and cognitive abilities of all the people of Earth combined, while developing itself even further.

Humans (Homo sapiens) are highly intelligent primates that have become the dominant species on Earth. They are the only extant members of the subtribe Hominina and—together with chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans—are part of the family Hominidae (the great apes, or hominids). Humans are terrestrial animals, characterized by their erect posture and bipedal locomotion; high manual dexterity and heavy tool use compared to other animals; open-ended and complex language use compared to other animal communications; larger, more complex brains than other primates; and highly advanced and organized societies.[3][4]

Several early hominins used fire and occupied much of Eurasia. Homo sapiens (sometimes also known as “modern humans”) are thought to have diverged in Africa from an earlier hominin around 300,000 years ago, with the earliest fossil evidence of Homo sapiens also appearing around 300,000 years ago in Africa.[5] Humans began to exhibit evidence of behavioral modernity at least by about 100,000–70,000 years ago.[6][7][8][9][10] In several waves of migration, H. sapiens ventured out of Africa and populated most of the world.[11][12] The spread of the large and increasing population of humans has profoundly affected the biosphere and millions of species worldwide. Advantages that explain this evolutionary success include a larger, well-developed brain, which enables advanced abstract reasoning, language, problem solving, sociality, and culture through social learning. Humans use tools more frequently and effectively than any other animal: they are the only extant species to build fires, cook food, clothe themselves, and create and use numerous other technologies and arts.

Humans uniquely use systems of symbolic communication as language and art to express themselves and exchange ideas, and also organize themselves into purposeful groups. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. Social interactions between humans have established an extremely wide variety of values,[13] social norms, and rituals, which together undergird human society. Curiosity and the human desire to understand and influence the environment and to explain and manipulate phenomena (or events) have motivated humanity’s development of science, philosophy, mythology, religion, and other fields of knowledge.

Though most of human existence has been sustained by hunting and gathering in band societies,[14] many human societies transitioned to sedentary agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago,[15] domesticating plants and animals, thus enabling the growth of civilization. These human societies subsequently expanded, establishing various forms of government, religion, and culture around the world, and unifying people within regions to form states and empires. The rapid advancement of scientific and medical understanding in the 19th and 20th centuries permitted the development of fuel-driven technologies and increased lifespans, causing the human population to rise exponentially. The global human population was estimated to be near 7.8 billion in 2019.[16]

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