{"id":8018,"date":"2013-05-24T14:11:22","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T21:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/?p=8018"},"modified":"2017-06-04T20:30:03","modified_gmt":"2017-06-05T03:30:03","slug":"dirrogate-singularity-a-transhumanism-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2013\/05\/dirrogate-singularity-a-transhumanism-journey","title":{"rendered":"Dirrogate Singularity \u2014 A Transhumanism Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

A widely accepted definition of Transhumanism is: The ethical use of all kinds of technology for the betterment of the human condition.<\/span><\/p>\n

This all encompassing summation is a good start as an elevator pitch to laypersons, were they to ask for an explanation. Practitioners and contributors to the movement, of course, know how to branch this out into specific streams: science, philosophy, politics and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

- This article was originally published on ImmortalLife.info<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We are in the midst of a technological revolution, and it is cool to proclaim that one is a Transhumanist. Yet, many intelligent and focused Transhumanists are asking some all important questions: What road-map have we drawn out, and what concrete steps are we taking to bring to fruition, the goals of Transhumanism?<\/span><\/p>\n

Transhumanism could be looked at as culminating in Technological Singularity. People comprehend the meaning of Singularity differently. One such definition: Singularity marks a moment when technology trumps the human brain, and the limitations of the mind are surpassed by artificial intelligence. <\/span>Being an Author and not a scientist myself, my definition of the Singularity is colored by creative vision. I call it Dirrogate Singularity.<\/span><\/p>\n

I see us humans, successfully and practically, harnessing the strides we\u2019ve made in semiconductor tech and neural networks, Artificial intelligence, and digital progress in general over the past century, to create Digital Surrogates<\/strong> of ourselves \u2014 our Dirrogates. <\/span>In doing so, humans will reach pseudo-God status and will be free to merge with these creatures they have made in their own likeness\u2026attaining, Dirrogate Singularity.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, how far into the future will this happen? Not very far. In fact it can commence as soon as today or as far as, in a couple of years. <\/span>The conditions and timing are right for us to \u201ctrans-form\u201d into Digital Beings; Dirrogates.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll use excerpts from the story \u2018Memories with Maya\u2019 to seed ideas for a possible road-map to Dirrogate Singularity, while keeping the tenets of Transhumanism in focus on the dashboard as we steer ahead. <\/span>As this text will deconstruct many parts of the novel, major spoilers are unavoidable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dirrogate Singularity v\/s The Singularity:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The main distinction in definition I make is: I don\u2019t believe Singularity is the moment when technology trumps the human brain. I believe Singularity is when the human mind accepts and does not discriminate between an advanced \u201cTranshuman\u201d (effectively, a mind upload living in a bio-mechanical body) and a \u201cNatural\u201d (an un-amped homo sapien)<\/span><\/p>\n

This could be seen as a different interpretation of the commonly accepted concept of The Singularity. As one of the aims of this essay is to create a possible road-map to seed ideas for the Transhumanism movement, I choose to look at a wholly digital path to Transhumanism, bypassing human augmentation via nanotechnology, prosthetics or cyborg-ism. As we will see further down, Dirrogate Singularity could slowly evolve into the common accepted definitions of Technological Singularity.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is a Dirrogate:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

A portmanteau of Digital + Surrogate. An excerpt from the novel explains in more detail:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s run the beta of our social interaction module outside.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Krish asked the prof to follow him to the campus ground in front of the food court. They walked out of the building and approached a shaded area with four benches. As they were about to sit, my voice came through the phone\u2019s speaker. \u201cI\u2019m on your far right.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Krish and the prof turned, scanning through the live camera view of the phone until they saw me waving. The phone\u2019s compass updated me on their orientation. I asked them to come closer.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have my full attention,\u201d the prof said. \u201cExplain\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSo,\u201d Krish said, in true geek style\u2026 \u201cDan knows where we are, because my phone is logged in and registered into the virtual world we have created. We use a digital globe to fly to any location. We do that by using exact latitude and longitude coordinates.\u201d Krish looked at the prof, who nodded. \u201cSo this way we can pick any location on Earth to meet at, provided of course, I\u2019m physically present there.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI understand,\u201d said the prof. \u201cOtherwise, it would be just a regular online multi-player game world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cPrecisely,\u201d Krish said. \u201cWhat\u2019s unique here is a virtual person interacting with a real human in the real world. We\u2019re now on the campus Wifi.\u201d He circled his hand in front of his face as though pointing out to the invisible radio waves. \u201cBut it can also use a high-speed cell data network. The phone\u2019s GPS, gyro, and accelerometer updates as we move.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Krish explained the different sensor data to Professor Kumar. \u201cWe can use the phone as a sophisticated joystick to move our avatar in the virtual world that, for this demo, is a complete and accurate scale model of the real campus.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The prof was paying rapt attention to everything Krish had to say. \u201cI laser scanned the playground and the food-court. The entire campus is a low rez 3D model,\u201d he said. \u201cDan can see us move around in the virtual world because my position updates. The front camera\u2019s video stream is also mapped to my avatar\u2019s face, so he can see my expressions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNow all we do is not render the virtual buildings, but instead, keep Daniel\u2019s avatar and replace it with the real-world view coming in through the phone\u2019s camera,\u201d explained Krish.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHmm\u2026 so you also do away with render overhead and possibly conserve battery life?\u201d the prof asked.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCorrect. Using GPS, camera and marker-less tracking algorithms, we can update our position in the virtual world and sync Dan\u2019s avatar with our world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we haven\u2019t even talked about how AI can enhance this,\u201d I said.<\/em><\/p>\n

I walked a few steps away from them, counting as I went. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can either follow Dan or a few steps more and contact will be broken. This way in a social scenario, virtual people can interact with humans in the real world,\u201d Krish said. I was nearing the personal space out of range warning.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWait up, Dan,\u201d Krish called.<\/em><\/p>\n

I stopped. He and the prof caught up.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s how we establish contact,\u201d Krish said. He touched my avatar on the screen. I raised my hand in a high-five gesture.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSo only humans can initiate contact with these virtual people?\u201d asked the prof.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHumans are always in control,\u201d I said. They laughed.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAap Kaise ho?\u201d Krish said.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMain theek hoo,\u201d I answered a couple of seconds later, much to the surprise of the prof.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe AI module can analyze voice and cross-reference it with a bank of ten languages.\u201d he said. \u201cTranslation is done the moment it detects a pause in a sentence. This way multicultural communication is possible. I\u2019m working on some features for the AI module. It will be based on computer vision libraries to study and recognize eyebrows and facial expressions. This data stream will then be accessible to the avatar\u2019s operator to carry out advanced interaction with people in the real world\u2013\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSo people can have digital versions of themselves and do tasks in locations where they cannot be physically present,\u201d the prof completed Krish\u2019s sentence.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCannot or choose not to be present and in several locations if needed,\u201d I said. \u201cThere is no reason we can\u2019t own several digital versions of ourselves doing tasks simultaneously.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cEach one licensed with a unique digital fingerprint registered with the government or institutions offering digital surrogate facilities.\u201d Krish said.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe call them di-rro-gates.\u201d I said.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

One of the characters in the story also says: \u201cHumans are creatures of habit.\u201d and, \u201cWe live our lives following the same routine day after day. We do the things we do with one primary motivation\u2013comfort.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether this is entirely true or not, there is something to think about here\u2026 What does \u2018improving the human condition\u2019 imply? To me Comfort, is high on the list and a major motivation. <\/span>If people can spawn multiple Dirrogates of themselves that can interact with real people wearing future iterations of Google Glass (for lack of a more popular word for Augmented Reality visors)\u2026 then the journey on the road-map to Dirrogate Singularity is to see a few case examples of Dirrogate interaction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Evangelizing Transhumanism:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

In writing the novel, I took several risks, story length being one. I\u2019ve attempted to keep the philosophy subtle, almost hidden in the story, and judging by reviews on sites such as GoodReads.com<\/a>, it is plain to see that many of today\u2019s science fiction readers are after cliff hanger style science fiction and gravitate toward or possibly expect a Dystopian future. This root craving must be addressed in lay people if we are to make Transhumanism as a movement, succeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d noticed comments made that the sex did not add much to the story. No one (yet) has delved deeper to see if there was a reason for the sex scenes and if there was an underlying message. <\/span>The success of Transhumanism is going to be in large scale understanding and mass adoption of the values of the movement by laypeople. Google Glass will make a good case study in this regard. If they get it wrong, Glass will quickly share the same fate and ridicule as wearing blue-tooth headsets.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the first things, in my view, to improving the human condition, is experiencing pleasure\u2026 of every kind, especially carnal.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that sense, we already are Digital Transhumans. Long distance video calls, teledildonics and recent mainstream offerings such as Durex\u2019s \u201cFundawear\u201d can bring physical, emotional and psychological comfort to humans, without the traditional need for physical proximity or human touch.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"durex_fundawear_dirrogate_sex\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(Durex\u2019s Fundawear \u2013 Image Courtesy Snapo.com)<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

These physical stimulation and pleasure giving devices add a whole new meaning to \u2018wearable computing\u2019. Yet, behind every online Avatar, every Dirrogate, is a human operator. N<\/span>ow consider: What if one of these \u201cFundawear\u201d sessions were recorded? <\/span><\/p>\n

The data stream for each actuator in the garment, stored in a file \u2013 a feel-stream, unique to the person who created it? <\/span>We could then replay this and experience or reminisce the signature touch of a loved one at any time\u2026even long after they are gone; are no more. Would such as situation qualify as a partial or crude \u201cMind upload\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

Mind Uploading \u2013 A practical approach.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Using Augmented Reality hardware, a person can see and experience interaction with a Dirrogate, irrespective if the Dirrogate is remotely operated by a human, or driven by prerecorded subroutines under playback control of an AI. <\/span>Mind uploading [at this stage of our technological evolution] does not have to be a full blown simulation of the mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider the case of a Google Car. Could it be feasible that a human operator remotely \u2018drive\u2019 the car with visual feedback from the car\u2019s on-board environment analysis cameras? Any AI in the car could be used on an as-needed basis. <\/span>Now this might not be the aim of a driver-less car, and why would you need your Dirrogate to physically drive when in essence you could tele-travel to any location?<\/span><\/p>\n

Human Shape Shifters:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Reasons could be as simple as needing to transport physical cargo to places where home delivery is not offered. Your Dirrogate could drive the car. Once at the location [hardware depot], your Dirrogate could merge with the on-board computer of an articulated motorized shopping cart. Check out counter staff sees your Dirrogate augmented in the real world via their visor. You then steer the cart to the parking lot, load in cargo [via the cart\u2019s articulated arm or a helper] and drive home. In such a scenario, a mind upload has swapped physical \u201cbodies\u201d as needed, to complete a task.<\/span><\/p>\n

If that use made your eyes roll\u2026here\u2019s a real life example:<\/span><\/p>\n