Martine Rothblatt Explains How The Goal of Technology is the End of Death

 Transhumanism  

Speaking at the 2013 Global Futures International Congress, Martine Rothblatt explains how the end goal of technology is to overcome death. From therapeutic pharmaceuticals, to mindclones Rothblatt paints a detailed picture of the potential of digital immortality.

Recently talks given at the 2013 conference, Global Future 2045 International Congress were made available online.  One of the most inspirational discussions was given by Martine Rothblatt, on how technology's overall goal is to end death.

Well known to the transhumanist community, Rothblatt, the visionary entrepreneur,  lawyer, author, and founder of Sirius satellite radio and United Therapeutics.

"Described broadly biotechnology is the creation of medical tools to enhance life processes. What is rarely even whispered, though, is that the real goal of biotechnology is the end of death."

Rothblatt, the author of Virtually Human: The Promise---and the Peril---of Digital Immortality, describes the critical skills the technology entrepreneur needs based on her experience in satellite communications and life science companies to achieve living mindclones in the decades ahead.

According to Rothblatt, closely related to these entrepreneurial skills are the social and policy interactions needed with governments and NGOs.  Through this, Rothblatt is working to help ensure the Avatar Project of the 2045 Initiative is welcomed as a positive contribution to building the world as it should be.

Rothblatt's expertise in biotechnology came from her role in saving her daughter's life. Motivated by her daughter being diagnosed with life-threatening pulmonary hypertension, Rothblatt entered the world of the life sciences by first creating the PPH Cure Foundation and later by founding United Therapeutics. "Today instead of three thousand people having pulmonary hypertension, 60,000 people have it, that's because there are 57,000 people who have it who would otherwise be dead, but are alive because a pharmaceutical treatments that are able to help them manage their condition."

"Biotechnology creates some of mankind’s most remarkable and much loved products, from treatments to forestall blindness to cures for several cancers. Described broadly biotechnology is the creation of medical tools to enhance life processes. What is rarely even whispered, though, is that the real goal of biotechnology is the end of death," describes Rothblatt. "This is taboo because it is politically incorrect at best, and Galilean in its challenge to established theology and moral philosophy. Nevertheless, because biotechnologists undertake to cure diseases, and because death is generally the victory of disease over life, the ultimate goal of biotechnology is in fact the end of at least unwanted, non-violent and non-accidental death. "

Rothblatt thinks that the next step for biotechnology is in the cybernetic and digital domain. "The vanguard of biotechnology is in the digital domain where preparations are being made for transplanting the mind from a diseased brain, or an end-stage diseased body, to a computational substrate. I call this process creating a mindclone, and it enables effective immortality for a person’s consciousness."

Related articles Do You Want To Live Forever?  Google Once Again Shows That It Is Serious About Making The Singularity A Reality  David Sinclair Talks About Aging

Working with David Hanson, she has created a prototype of this first mindclone prototype, Bina 48 (shown above).   Rothblatt intends to "transplant" minds into robotic Avatar prosthetics like Bina 48.

According to Rothblatt, the mindcloning process involves: creating a mindfile, a collection of your mannerisms, personality, recollections, feelings, beliefs, attitudes and values.  This can be based on computer files, cloud files or even your Facebook account.

"Over the next two or three decades, there is a rapid effort to develop 'mindware,'" states Rothblatt. "Mindware is software that analyzes a mindfile, tunes itself to reflect a consciousness operating persona that reflects the same mannerisms, personality, recollections, feelings, beliefs, attitudes and values that are in your mindfile. So mindware is a consciousness operating system."

Rothblatt argues the development of artificial intelligence, including deep learning, today is essentially the development of mindware.


SOURCE  2045 Initiative

By 33rd Square

Embed