Scientists give mice supervision. Humans are probably next.

[gizmodo.com]

Decent article from Discover magazine.

[blogs.discovermagazine.com]

Great subject - we will be trying to answer a very fundamental question: What is the essential part of a human, without which that being is something other than human? There probably will never be universal alignment on that and we will debate but proceed and then segregate into new tribes (unless that's the upgrade).

For me, I'd take the upgrade.

True, however, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the advances due to Moore's Law are going to inevitably lead to both negative and positive outcomes that far exceed the impact of a wooden toe or an insulin pump.

The point is in the capabilities that the technology will confer. A wooden toe may have given a caveman the ability to walk correctly when he couldn't before, so there's no net advantage that he has over his fellows because of it. The example of the insulin pump was also one of correcting a flaw and bringing the body back to more or less normal function. Glasses, as an example given earlier, restore more or less normal vision. They don't give you the ability to read a poster that's a mile away or see things in wavelengths of the spectrum that we currently can't. But bionic eyes might.

What we're talking about here is not just fixing a problem and restoring normal function. What we're talking about is enhancing and extending function and giving abilities and powers that didnt exist before.

Lol, we already do this, on biomolecular level with vaccines, drugs or using glasses, adding a layer of artificial fur (clothes) etc.
But if you are telling bout machines, electronics...
we do this to, insulin pumps, the one in the heart that i don't remember the name etc.
Anyway. Go for it, and call it the way you want XD.

I am extremely curious if the Technological Singularity comes to fruition or not. Some of the best minds humanity has to offer seem to fall on both sides of the question...which makes it a very interesting question indeed.

I think were pretty destructive already, just as we are. It would depend on what would be improved.

No one has ever got a technology genie to get back in the bottle. It will happen good thing or not.

I think it is unavoidable. It has been happening for quite sometime (augmenting our bodies). Just the next logical step. With any new technologies, you will have the early adaptors who alot for new technologies and so on. I am all for it. I am certain with the advances in neuroelastivity and Neuro sciences, we will be able to download and zip file our consciousness in the future.

Could lead to a whole new class division problem, though. We lord it over animals because of our so called superior intellect. How do you deal with a race of post humans who truthfully say that they're superior to you and therefore have more rights than you, as well as the ability to enforce it, being posthuman and all. That's a very real concern here isn't it?

My glasses are on the table as I comment. And my house is keeping the snow and cold outside. And my car is waiting for a chance to take me to the store.
We've been augmenting out lives throughout our time here and sometimes we're successful, sometimes not.

If anyone wants to try things, I say more power to them as long as they don't screw it up for the rest of us.
Personally I see it as with the last part of the Wiccan Rede -- 'An' ye harm none, do what ye will'.

Humanity will abuse the technology.
Just like we fuck-up everything we touch.
The unintended consequences will be absolutely devastating.

We can do that through education. Unfortunately, so many are not willing to participate.

Not even a new idea

"When you think about it, what with false teeth, false arms and legs, glass eyes and hearing aides, there are some people walking about with next to nothing left that they started out with"

Tony Hancock "the Blood Donor" 1961

I’ve always desired to have an electronically enhanced phalanx, or robo-toe.

Transhumanism advocates, as was pointed out below, augmenting ourselves with bionic components, as well as other ways of interfacing with technology. For example there are some who speculate that we may be able to upload our consciousness into a computer, which would be putting ourselves into the machine rather than putting the machine into ourselves but the concept remains. As with anything of this nature, of course there is a wide spectrum of thoughts, ideas and even self-experimentation. Biohacking is a very real phenomenon. In my opinion there is a great deal of nonsense and dangerous ideas around the concept of biohacking. People have died. But of course real progress in any field is messy, and has it has its genius as well as its duff's trying to figure it out. It's a very interesting field of study, and there is a great deal to be found, but you may have to move a lot of dirt to find a diamond. I'm curious to know what people think about this as it is a growing phenomenon, and it's one that we are very likely going to have to deal with whether we choose to do it for ourselves or not.

Until they can fix the human brain, it really doesn't matter.

How Science Is Crucial To Improving Health Worldwide

"In 1900, the average life expectancy for Americans was just 48 years and the major causes of death then were infectious diseases and, for women, also complications of childbirth. Since then, food and water safety, improved hygiene and sanitation, vaccines, antibiotics, and other medications, better nutrition and improved access to health care extended Americans’ average lifespan by more than 30 years.

"That’s a 40 percent increase in lifespan in one century—what a remarkable achievement! This represents a greater increase than occurred in the prior 200,000 years that the human species has existed!"

[huffingtonpost.com]

What is "transhumanism"? Never heard of it.