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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.

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.

It is believed that supercomputers will achieve the computational power of human brains by about 2020, personal computers just a few years later, so figuring out the details of the brain's structure and functioning needs to keep pace. A major challenge in this has been the limits of MRI resolution, which is why the news of a major breakthrough has such significance.

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies is reporting on a recent NanoFrontiers Workshop, where Nanofrontiers: Visions for the Future of Nanotechnology made its debut.