The constant improvement and change in technology has become quite a topic and underlying idea in modern society, writes Connor Sherson, of Logan Park High School.
Every few years a major piece of human media and industry changes, when millennia ago, innovation was slow and would take decades merely to spread the knowledge of its existence.
It is this technology that has led to a new idea of the human future. When, from all the technology we have, we could call ourselves gods in our own right.
But is there any merit to this idea?
Today, almost every major medium has been changed by technology in little over two decades. Research and education was changed by the Internet becoming widely available in the early nineties, and is still changing it today.
The music industry feels like it's been hit badly by modern file sharing techniques that made internet distribution decentralised and even cheaper.
Since iPods first appeared in 2001, the device and similar MP3 Players have become wide spread and the preferred music players.
Television first become commercially available in the 1920s, but is starting to have to compete with things like Youtube from 2005, and video-streaming services like Netflix.
Books have remained near completely unchanged since the invention of the printing press, but now that too is having modern tech trying to overthrow the old ways, with eReaders such as the Amazon Kindle.
Technology is improving all the time, and its rate of improvement is constantly increasing.
But could we really become as powerful as a god?
Writers and philosophers noticed quite quickly the jumps in tech each year becoming larger and larger, and have predicted an inevitable time when technology improves so fast, that almost anything is possible.
This event is called "The Singularity".
With all this new technology we will find ways to modify ourselves, our minds, and the entire human condition using genetic engineering and robotic implants.
The prediction that once the singularity has occurred if humans choose to modify themselves, we will work towards humans of such insanely long life spans, of intelligence and ability that outshines the entirety of the human race at this moment, that we will become gods in the eyes of our former societies.
They call this new life form, the post-human, literally meaning "After-human".
The people who support the movement from human to post-human, call themselves the "transhumanists".
This idea will become more and more of a centre issue as we move closer and closer to the predicted Singularity.
As it does become more important, we will have to ask the most important question humanity has ever faced; "Do we want to do this? Should we change everything about our society forever?" This is humanity's most important question, because it will define all of humanity from that point after.
Asking this question brings forward a Pandora's Box of conflicts.
Most of the religious world would revolt against the post-human, seeing it as a crime against their choice of one of various creator gods.
This could cause a revival of religious violence that characterised Europe before the secularisation movement.
The working class masses would revolt against private-owned means of Transhuman modification, because it would create an even greater gap between the proletariat poor and the wealthy business owners of world.
The rich would become superhuman in their modifications they could privately fund.
The poor would become inferior in their very nature as a life form. This class struggle could very well revive the idea of a global worker revolution that philosopher Karl Marx predicted in The Communist Manifesto.
And there would be simple bio-conservatives, people who despise the idea of the post-human merely out of seeing it as unnatural.
This issue could easily be the cause of future civil wars, in dozens of countries across the world.
Just as there would be interpersonal aggressive conflicts surrounding this issue, there would also be intrapersonal existential conflicts.
What defines a human anyway? Is it really important we always try to functionally improve our society, or should we focus on ethical, social and philosophical improvement of society?
What kind of psychological and emotional issues will it cause if we reach this post-human, where we have the power of a god, but none of the wisdom of one?This is a powerful notion, and claim, that humanity will eventually challenge the status and actions of our current and former deities.
And many people may question that.
But we have already begun to challenge this status.
To the creation of life, I point to merely last year when biologists created microscopic life with all new DNA.
It has no ancestors. Its parent was a machine.
To the numerous healings and miracle recoveries from illness, I point to the endless list of medical conditions cured and treatable by modern medical science.
To the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah being consumed in fires as act of God, I point to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We may be closer to the post-human god than you think.
We may be late in discussing this issue.
- Connor Sherson is a Year 13 student at Logan Park High School
