Researchers at Biodesign Institute have revved the engine of biological evolution to unheard of speed, creating completely new proteins in an infinitesimal fraction of the time it took nature to do the same thing.

I hope you've had a chance to watch Ray Kurzweil's presentation on yesterday's post. My interest was piqued by several things he mentioned. (I wish I could think about them all at the same time, but possessing that kind of capability will have to wait for some heavy duty augmentation.) One thing in particular got a good grasp on my attention. Ray spent about 2 seconds on the idea that technological advances in virtual reality and artificial intelligence will allow me to create several virtual personalities to perform the routine transactions made necessary by modern life.

I wish everyone would watch this presentation by Ray at the Killer App Expo in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There's a natural skepticism people feel when they first hear or read about the predictions made by Ray's Law of Accelerating Returns, but when you listen to him explain how it has worked and will work, you can't help but take him seriously.

I read an interesting article this morning from the Burlington Free Press featuring the work of Josh Bongard, hired by the University of Vermont as an assistant professor of computer science. The article focused much of its attention on Bongard's self-aware robot, Black Starfish.

I've been reading up on some of the considerations that must be part and parcel with the actual process of developing strong AI (defined as artificial intelligence that equals or exceeds human-level intelligence), and it seems clear that some pretty important questions must be asked and answered as part of the process.

Throughout our history, mankind has created tools the same way, essentially using the top-down approach. Think about it. In the stone age, a sharp cutting tool was fashioned by using a larger stone to chip away pieces until the cutting stone was sharp enough. Today, a computer chip is made by a large laser that etches the circuits into a piece of silicon.

When it comes to nanotechnology, we've already pointed out that the public is blissfully unaware. I'm not sure why advertisers aren't making more of a fuss about it; perhaps they're wary of a negative reaction from consumers who may be a bit frightened by it. It's possible that people who would accept it, even welcome it, don't have as much money as the fraidy cats. But this is all speculation.

You've all heard the metaphor, right? Boiling a frog? Gradually increasing the temperature of the water so the frog gets used to it until it's hot enough to boil? Yes, that one. Apart from the sad conclusion of the analogy, the idea of gradual change not being very noticeable fits the way that accelerating technological change will be accepted by humans.

I almost said "alive," but we're not there yet. In an announcement that's eerily reminiscent of Terminator, PublicTechnology.net reported Friday that the UK's latest military satellite, dubbed Skynet 5A, is now in service.

Now, why would these theologians find fault with the idea of extending human life? The message we're used to hearing from them is that life is sacred. I guess it is sacred only so long as you don't have too much of it.

Considering the implications of the singularity is a fascinating exercise. We will be facing choices and available enhancements that require of us quite a bit of imagination if we are to even tentatively understand them. In this article I will raise an issue that I think will confront society at large and ourselves as individuals within the next few decades: Should I go virtual and leave reality behind?

When you hear about nanotechnology (and you will hear about it more and more since it's moving into the mainstream of manufacturing), you might wonder what a nanomachine might look like. Since you can't see them with your unaided eye, you have to look at highly magnified images. But for the folks whose job it is to design the tiny parts for the nanomachines, some powerful design software comes into play.

One of the most onerous limitations against which we are forced to labor as human beings is our handicapped stream of consciousness. We seem to be capable of only one each. Why is that? It has been postulated that humanity as a whole may possess its own consciousness, of which its individual components are unaware and to which we are denied access.

A bit of backstory is required here. I spent half of my life as a Christian minister. I am no longer a Christian, and obviously not a minister. Today I am an atheistic blogger, although the focus of my blogs is unrelated to atheism. I tell you this not to offend those of you who believe in God, not to curry favor with those of you who do not. I only mention it because I will quote some scripture in this post, but the post is about religion. It is about the singularity, transhumanism, and radical life-extension. So please bear with me.

For many years researchers have been attempting to understand how human memory works. Precisely how it works. Down to the specific molecules in play. That's what I call attention to detail. The researchers involved in a recent study at Brandeis University have, for the first time, identified the specific molecule involved in memory storage in the brain.

Will Humans Become Attached to Robots?Many have speculated about how humanity will react to robots. There are researchers who are focused entirely on making robots look more like humans, adding facial expressiveness, gestures and head movements like nods and shakes, all designed to help us accept robots into our lives. But I don't think that's going to be a problem.

Nanotech is the key to some new methods of precision drug-delivery and diagnostics. Two spinoff companies in Austalia have announced some new products under development promise "to provide better health outcomes with reduced costs to the community." The specific projects currently in the pipeline at Interstitial NS are nanostructured medicines for diabetes and asthma whose nanoscale manufacture makes possible otherwise impractical delivery methods.

For those of you who are new to the concept of the coming technological singularity, this NPR podcast, featuring Vernor Vinge (pronounced vin-gee), a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author, will be well worth your time. In it, he talks about AI as refering to "amplified intelligence" rather than artificial intelligence, among other highly visionary predictions.

Consider the power of self-replication. Biological systems are all products of self-replication, from the very first bit of self-replicating DNA, down through billions of years, entwined in every branch of the tree of life and our own DNA.