生物科技時(shí)代

????德米特里?伊茨科夫?qū)⑺陌⒎策_(dá)項(xiàng)目視為人類(lèi)進(jìn)化的下一步,，他這么做并不一定是頭腦發(fā)昏。但彼得?戴爾蒙迪斯博士的闡述可能更清晰：地球上剛剛開(kāi)始出現(xiàn)生命時(shí),，為了提高存活能力,，一些細(xì)胞進(jìn)化出細(xì)胞核以及其他更先進(jìn)的細(xì)胞器,，出現(xiàn)了低級(jí)單細(xì)胞生物體到更復(fù)雜的單細(xì)胞生物體的飛躍。也就是說(shuō),，當(dāng)這些細(xì)胞接納,、整合更好的生物技術(shù)時(shí)，它們獲得了巨大且重要的發(fā)展,。庫(kù)茲韋爾繪制了一幅類(lèi)似的進(jìn)化軌跡,，詳述了人類(lèi)生命史上的其他質(zhì)變時(shí)刻，例如：一些早期動(dòng)物的大腦中進(jìn)化出新的皮層（新皮層主管感官知覺(jué)和意識(shí)思維等更高功能）時(shí),，我們迎來(lái)現(xiàn)代哺乳動(dòng)物的誕生,；再比如，部分靈長(zhǎng)類(lèi)動(dòng)物在我們現(xiàn)在所知的大腦額葉區(qū)進(jìn)化出更大量的新皮層時(shí),，區(qū)別人和動(dòng)物的大腦部分形成,。

????包括庫(kù)茲韋爾和戴爾蒙迪斯在內(nèi)的一些與會(huì)發(fā)言人表示，人類(lèi)是唯一能延伸生物特性的物種——數(shù)千年前我們已經(jīng)能這么做了,，通過(guò)使用科技,，我們現(xiàn)在的出行速度更快，力量更大,，能夠聽(tīng)到不在聽(tīng)力范圍之內(nèi),、甚至是身處另外一個(gè)大洲的人說(shuō)話(huà)。我們現(xiàn)在要著手做的是,，更進(jìn)一步把融入我們的生物特性中,，比如，通過(guò)將病人自己的細(xì)胞培養(yǎng)出的可移植器官或是將可移植的機(jī)器放入人體內(nèi),，來(lái)更改或改善身體性能（心臟起搏器就是一個(gè)例子）,。

????隨著納米技術(shù)向更小更強(qiáng)的領(lǐng)域進(jìn)一步迅猛發(fā)展，微型設(shè)備將成為醫(yī)療和日常生活的常規(guī)部分,。此外,，我們已經(jīng)開(kāi)始明白，身體更像是一臺(tái)機(jī)器,，即生物學(xué)（和遺傳學(xué)）是軟件,，驅(qū)動(dòng)我們身體的硬件。我們已經(jīng)在實(shí)驗(yàn)室環(huán)境下的基因治療,、3D打印器官和干細(xì)胞治療等技術(shù)中見(jiàn)識(shí)到：通過(guò)對(duì)軟件重新編碼,，就能對(duì)身體這臺(tái)機(jī)器進(jìn)行程序改編。

????而且,，回顧之前提到的大腦圖譜,，擁有在超級(jí)電腦上模擬身體中最復(fù)雜功能的這種能力意味著我們很快就會(huì)越來(lái)越擅長(zhǎng)治療身體中損壞的部分，優(yōu)化運(yùn)行不太理想的部分,，最終能夠使用移植和其他技術(shù)改善身體狀況和思維,。怎樣做呢,？“未來(lái)機(jī)器將越來(lái)越分子化，”丘奇說(shuō),。換言之,，通過(guò)融合生物兼容材料、3D打印,、干細(xì)胞技術(shù)和遺傳學(xué)的突破,，我們將會(huì)創(chuàng)造出新的機(jī)器，它們看上去更像生物體,、而不是智能手機(jī),。未來(lái)生物技術(shù)氣息濃厚，如果半機(jī)械人的屬性讓你覺(jué)得不自在,，你也只能接受,。“其實(shí)現(xiàn)在的我們相比以前已經(jīng)有了很大的延伸,，”丘奇對(duì)觀眾說(shuō),。“要去適應(yīng)這些變化,?！?/p>

The biotechnology age

????Dmitry Itskov views his Avatar Project as the next evolutionary step for humankind, and he's not necessarily crazy for doing so. But perhaps Dr. Peter Diamandis sells it more clearly: When life on this planet began, the leap from simple single-celled organisms to more complex single-celled organisms occurred when some cells evolved a nucleus and other more advanced organelles that enhanced their survivability. That is, when these cells embraced and integrated better biotechnology they made a huge and critical leap forward. Kurzweil draws a similar evolutionary trajectory describing other advances in the history of human life, like when some early animals developed the neocortex in the brain (the neocortex is home to the higher functions like sensory perception and conscious thought) giving rise to modern mammals and again when some primates developed a good deal more neocortex in the area now known as the frontal lobe -- or the part of the brain that makes humans human.

????Several speakers, including Kurzweil and Diamandis, noted that humans are the only species that extend our biological reach -- we've done so for millennia with technologies that allow us to travel faster, increase our strength, or hear someone that is out of earshot (or on another continent). What we're starting to do now is integrate that technology more deeply into our biologies, be it through transplantable organs fabricated from a patient's own cells or implantable machines that are placed inside the body to alter or improve its performance (like pacemakers).

????As nanotechnology marches further into the realm of the ever-smaller-and-more-capable, tiny machines are going to become a regular part of medical therapies and our everyday lives. Moreover, we've begun to understand the body more like a machine itself; that is, that biology (and genetics) is the software driving our bodily hardware. We're already seeing this in the lab via gene therapies, 3-D printed organs, and stem cell treatments -- the reprogramming of the human machine by recoding the software.

????Further, harkening back to the aforementioned brain map, the ability to model all of the body's most complex functions on supercomputers means we're rapidly going to become better and better at fixing what's broken, optimizing what doesn't work well, and ultimately enhancing both our bodies and our minds with implants and other technologies. How? "In the future, machines will become more molecular," Church said. In other words, converging breakthroughs in biocompatible materials, 3-D printing, stem cell technologies, and genetics will lead to new kinds of machines that look less like a smartphone and more like biological objects. And if the cyborg-like nature of this biotech-heavy future makes you uncomfortable, there's not much you can do about it. "We already augment ourselves extensively," Church told the audience. "Get used to it."