If he thinks he is me, then there is a person identical to me, with all my memories, all my feelings and all my thoughts, who thinks he is me. This is a good definition of "me".

John: Your mind is your brain, and your brain is your mind, and _therefore_ I am confident that we will be able to download consciousness once we are able to extract a sufficiently complete part of the information physically encoded in a biological brain. If the mind/brain systems is based on physics (as opposite to…

Very good science has been done, and is done right now, on the space station, but the scientists who understand (or care for) it are a very small minority. The science is good, but its PR value is nil. Politicians care about votes, and will not give a damn about space until there is significant public support. Public…

@John - lack of imagination. If/when technology makes humans immortal (I prefer using the term "indefinite lifespan"), we may gradually move to space or start living in virtual reality scapes as uploads (ref. many novels by Greg Egan and others).

Many commenters point out that 3D printing is not going to solve all the problems of the world in a week. Of course they are right, but this is the beginning of a trend. Today we can only print plastic toys downloaded from the Pirate Bay, but the 3D printing ecosystem has good potential to evolve toward the "feeds"…

From here in Europe, I hear a U.S. politician who says all the things that I want to hear about colonies on the Moon, going back to space to stay, colonize the planets, and other aspects of a sexy high tech future. He has said the same things for decades, so this is not (only) electoral maneuvering. It is good that I…

True, going to Mars would be way more exciting, but remember that _we can see_ the Moon every clear night, from urban canyons or from the countryside. If I were a kid I would look at the city lights on the Moon and promise to myself that I will do my f## best to become one of them.

I was a child when I saw Armstrong walking on the Moon. It was one of the more powerful events in my life, and pushed me toward science. Many people of our generation can say similar things. When children of the newest generation will watch people walking and working on the Moon _in permanent colonies_, the future…

Hi Artifex, I have taken that quiz and similar tests many times. I consistently score halfway between left and libertarian. If I have to label myself I often say that I am a "social libertarian" or something like that. I hold personal freedom, autonomy and self-ownership as primary values. But I want these things for…

I must say that I like Gingrich's positions on other issues only slightly more than a violent headache. But I must also admit that I liked this speech a lot, it was as energizing as JFK's 1961 "Moon speech." I find it sad that other politicians, with more progressive positions on social and cultural issues, do not…

There is also another reason, as important as the four featured reasons: we need a permanent moon base for our mental health as a species. We were mentally healthy in the 60s (probably the most innovative decade ever) and I think the space program played an important role.

Great article! Enough with the post911 gloom and defeatism, we need pore positive visions like this.

I hope there is a cash prize for the first who finds ET.

Re Dawkins, my favorite Dawkins quote (from The God Delusion) seems to support transhumanist-like interpretations of religions. There is no supernatural God, but probably there are natural gods in the universe, and perhaps we can become like gods:

Perhaps he was John Galt?

In this particular experiment, it does not. But there have been experiments on worms that have demonstrated transfer of memories via cell grafts (google it), and the technology can only become better. If you believe that memories and knowledge have a material basis, then some specific grafting procedure will permit…

I don't see anything irrational, or illogical. It is the same concept extrapolated to the future by a few decades. But I guess we will be able to implant knowledge and skills directly from computers to brain, without going through wet brain grafts.

This was also my first thought, I would really prefer to have the same functionality in glasses easy to put on and take off. But I guess those who are already wearing contact lenses are used to it.

The scenario is not impossible.

In a good SF novel titled The Second Angel by Philip Kerr