A famous quote from a comic strip was, "we have met the enemy, and he is us." Perhaps the best way to begin this blog is to say we have gazed into the future and it is not only more amazing than we thought, but much closer than we could have imagined. Ray Kurzweil, in his 2005 book, "The Singularity is Near," posits a merging of Man and Machine beginning around 2050. Look around; I think he was looking too far out.
Let's begin, then, with an observation and one of many questions whose answers we did not think would be needed for a long time, but whose need is rapidly approaching. We are on the threshold (i.e. 2-5 years) of being able to grow new organs in a tissue culture on a matrix and implant them. They will be from the individual's own cells, so there will be no rejection or need for immuno-suppressive drugs. Urinary bladders have already been done, and we're moving on to hearts, lungs, etc. When we attain the ability to do the same thing with the brain and transfer or restore knowledge, memories and experiences, will the individual with the transferred information still be us? Are we more than the sum of our knowledge and experience? We're closer than we think to finding out.
