A thought experiment.

[G3]

There's no reason to think humans are fundamentally unpredictable, they are actually boringly predictable most of the time. If they are, there is also no reason to think it can't be emulated in a code, or with emerging complexity. Finally, deterministic doesn't imply predictable, like AT ALL, the Lorenz Attractor for example arises from a simple ordinary difference equation's system and it's way less predictable than any human.

I think you are assuming too many things.

Way cool, yeah I had to look up Lorenz. The results, no matter what the random nature of the parameters, still fall into a range, right? Did I get that correct? Anyway, another interesting thing is your first line which is are humans fundamentally unpredictable. Yes, no, sometimes. But we all BELIEVE we are unpredictable. It's almost as inherent a source of pride as individuality (whatever that is) or having our own fingerprints (which we don't, yes, it's statistically improbable there is a match, but it can happen) So we believe we have free will and will respond to environmental obstacles through free choice. Neo chased the rabbit. Chose one pill. Unfortunately it was one of those loops where he always did that every time through.

 

[Adventurer2626]

Uhhhhhhhh. Short answer I dunno. Might be cool to be "born" as an advanced human-level AI android/program. I also wouldn't mind transferring a copy of my neural connections to an android or supercomputer. But I wouldn't trade my human experience for it. Robot sex just doesn't sound as fun to me.

 

[Tanakh]

The results, no matter what the random nature of the parameters, still fall into a range, right? Did I get that correct?

Eventually, it's an attractor of an ODE system, you can however find chaotic ODE systems without attractors, but they are usually less interesting to study.

But we all BELIEVE we are unpredictable.

With 7+ billion human beings and the current state of affairs in the world, I would say we are as a whole as predictable and habit bound as any other living being, our entire society is build on that as are sciences like psychology or sociology. Think about it bro, which one is harder, predict what a human will do on a given situation or a coin toss? I would bet all my savings most humans would be more accurate at the former.

Of course we sometimes break the pattern, but such instances are few and far between in the vast majority of individuals.

 

[Tanakh]

Robot sex just doesn't sound as fun to me.

Lack of imagination! Some good programming/hacking skills and the sky is the limit.

 

[lunam-kardas]

I would prefer a cybernetic body that's partially organic myself. Part of being human is how information is filtered to us through our senses. I could not imagine what an existence devoid of those senses would be like.

 

[Professor Idle]

Only if I could die, immortaility scares the shit out of me

 

[Zombie Sodomy]

I'm fine with this happening to humanity, but I wouldn't do it myself. I've grown attached to my body and don't intend on giving it up anytime before I die.
Edit: kind of ironic, considering my avatar.

 

[Smiley Face]

With regards to the OP, while I would be concerned at the potential for abuse, that wouldn't be an overriding concern. And while it would certainly change society as a whole, and the thoughts and lives of any individual affected by it (lack of hormones and biological needs would be a huge game changer for an individual's mental experience - I, for instance, often don't have enough sleep, which noticeably affects my mental acuity.) It would change the human experience in very drastic ways - and alas, without experiencing it myself, or fully understanding all the effects and implications, I can't attest to whether it would be a positive or negative change.

For me, probably positive. I've never really cared much for my body and the limitations it tends to place on me, it's a necessary evil for me, generally speaking. Not much of a nuisance mind you, but a nuisance all the same. That said, the elimination of physical intimacy... don't know what to say about that.

There are of course, extremely important metaphysical questions to be asked, namely, is it me, or is it a copy of me? This of course depends greatly on your individual definition of personhood, but for this I'll settle for continuity of consciousness - Is it the same consciousness, or just a copy of it? In all likelihood, there really is no way to tell, and there are strong arguments that all consciousness functions in a discontinuous, copied fashion - but ultimately, it's not an easily settled debate, and unless it comes down on continuity of consciousness, I won't go for it if it means terminating my own.

 

[Zombie Sodomy]

Personally? No, call me old fashion but I feel like our body is part of what makes us, human, and becoming simply programs really removes our humanity.

How do you know that hasn't already happened? One of the theories throw out there is that any civilisation sufficiently advanced enough would be able to make a perfect simulation of itself. Then on top of that that simulation when it becomes advanced enough would be able to make a simulation of itself, essentially existence could be nothing more than advanced simulations built on top of advanced simulations.

Think about it 50 years ago we had little in the way of simulation tech, now it is possibly to make pretty accurate representations of flight, driving, etc the next step would, logically, would be simulations of more finite entities and at some point the ability to simulate the human brain along with the nuances that a body impose on it, i.e the concept of self. If it's possible to simulate that then does having a physical form really matter, would you even know the difference in a sufficiently advanced simulation?

I think a society advanced enough to achieve that would be able to make a better simulation than this.

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

Hard question. I enjoy being human. I enjoy nature. I love natural selection and evolution.
This would be scary for me since I would cease to be human, cease to be organic. My thoughts infinite, my life eternal.

I think I would and I wouldn't mind it but everything would be so radically different that I can't even imagine what it would be like.

 

[Aramis Night]

I would love this. No longer subject to this human form would be a dream for me. I dislike all the upkeep it requires. Though i think this would be a nice compromise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFe9wiDfb0E

 

[Angie7F]

I wouldnt mind.
I already feel like I spend 80% of my life inside my head/ internet and have no real human contact.

 

[JoJo]

I would love this, I would finally be able to discard my human body and choose one that reflects my inner self, not that my current body is bad by any means but still, I'd prefer to chose. I'm holding out for meaningful virtual reality within our lifetimes.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Humanity is more than just the physical body but the mindset to become something more. Cyberspace would enable humanity to become gods of their domain