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.To move from a human organism toward a robot, we must begin replacing portionsof the human organism with robotic parts.We already do that in some ways.Forinstance, a good percentage of the original material of my teeth is nowmetallic, and metal is, of course, the robotic substance par excellence.The replacements don t have to be metallic, of course.Some parts of my teethare now ceramic in nature, and can t be told at a glance from the naturaldentine.Still, even though dentine is ceramic in appearance and even, to anextent, in chemical structure, it was originally laid down by living materialand bears the marks of its origin.The ceramic that has replaced the dentineshows no trace of life, now or ever.We can go further.My breastbone, which had to be split longitudinally in anoperation a few years back is now held together by metallic staples, whichhave remained in place ever since.My sister-in-law has an artificial hip-joint replacement.There are people who have artificial arms or legs and suchnon-living limbs are being designed, as time passes on, to be ever morecomplex and useful.There are people who have lived for days and even monthswith artificial hearts, and many more people who live for years withpacemakers.We can imagine, little by little, this part and that part of the human beingreplaced by inorganic materials and engineering devices.Is there any partwhich we would find difficult to replace, even in imagination?I don t think anyone would hesitate there.Replace every part of the humanbeing but one the limbs, the heart, the liver, the skeleton, and so on and theproduct would remain human.It would be a human being with artificial parts,but it would be a human being.But what about the brain?Surely, if there is one thing that makes us human it is the brain.If there isone thing that makes us a human individual, it is the intensely complexPage 220ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlmakeup, the emotions, the learning, the memory content of our particularbrain.You can t simply replace a brain with a thinking device off somefactory shelf.You have to put in something that incorporates all that anatural brain has learned, that possesses all its memory, and that mimics itsexact pattern of working.An artificial limb might not work exactly like a natural one, but might stillserve the purpose.The same might be true of an artificial lung, kidney, orliver.An artificial brain, however, must be the precise replica of the brainit replaces, or the human being in question is no longer the same human being.It is the brain, then, that is the sticking point in going from human organismto robot.And the reverse?In The Bicentennial Man, I described the passage of my robot-hero, AndrewMartin, from robot to man.Little by little, he had himself changed, till hisevery visible part was human in appearance.He displayed an intelligence thatwas increasingly equivalent (or even superior) to that of a man.He was anartist, a historian, a scientist, an administrator.He forced the passage oflaws guaranteeing robotic rights, and achieved respect and admiration in thefullest degree.Yet at no point could he make himself accepted as a man.The sticking point,here, too, was his robotic brain.He found that he had to deal with thatbefore the final hurdle could be overcome.Therefore, we come down to the dichotomy, body and brain.The ultimate cyborgsare those in which the body and brain don t match.That means we can have twoclasses of complete cyborgs:a) a robotic brain in a human body, or b) a human brain in a robotic body.We can take it for granted that in estimating the worth of a human being (or arobot, for that matter) we judge first by superficial appearance.I can very easily imagine a man seeing a woman of superlative beauty andgazing in awe and wonder at the sight. What a beautiful woman, he will say,or think, and he could easily imagine himself in love with her on the spot.Inromances, I believe that happens as a matter of routine.And, of course, awoman seeing a man of superlative beauty is surely likely to react inprecisely the same way.If you fall in love with a striking beauty, you are scarcely likely to spendmuch time asking if she (or he, of course) has any brains, or possesses a goodcharacter, or has good judgment or kindness or warmth.If you find outeventually that good looks are the person s only redeeming quality, you areliable to make excuses and continue to be guided, for a time at least, by theconditioned reflex of erotic response.Eventually, of course, you will tire ofgood looks without content, but who knows how long that will take?On the other hand, a person with a large number of good qualities who happenedto be distinctly plain might not be likely to entangle you in the first placeunless you were intelligent enough to see those good qualities so that youmight settle down to a lifetime of happiness.What I am saying, then, is that a cyborg with a robotic brain in a human bodyis going to be accepted by most, if not all, people as a human being; while acyborg with a human brain in a robotic body is going to be accepted by most,if not all, people as a robot.You are, after all at least to most people whatyou seem to be.These two diametrically opposed cyborgs will not, however, pose a problem tohuman beings to the same degree.Consider the robotic brain in the human body and ask why the transfer shouldbe made.A robotic brain is better off in a robotic body since a human body isfar the more fragile of the two.You might have a young and stalwart humanbody in which the brain has been damaged by trauma and disease, and you mightPage 221ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthink, Why waste that magnificent human body? Let s put a robotic brain in itso that it can live out its life.If you were to do that, the human being that resulted would not be theoriginal.It would be a different individual human being.You would not beconserving an individual but merely a specific mindless body.And a humanbody, however fine, is (without the brain that goes with it) a cheap thing.Every day, half a million new bodies come into being.There is no need to saveanyone of them if the brain is done.On the other hand, what about a human brain in a robotic body? A human braindoesn t last forever, but it can last up to ninety years without falling intototal uselessness.It is not at all unknown to have a ninety-year-old who isstill sharp, and capable of rational and worthwhile thought
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