Will Our Loss of Connection Lead to Techno Assimilation?

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        I was speaking to a young woman today who has an interest in the topic of artificial intelligence. I asked her if she would accept the idea of being merged with a computer and losing her conscious; becoming an avatar of the computer. She asked if she would be more efficient and I noted she would be, but she, herself, would be dead while her brain and body functioned in an enhanced manner. She said she would really like that and that it could solve many of today's social ills if everyone had that done to them...it would be the perfect society that had no racism, hate, war, pollution, waste of resources, etc.

In other words, a giant ant colony run by a "queen" AI system. People would still reproduce, but at a certain age they would get the implant and cease to exist as individuals. It would be the final evolution of the industrial revolution.

I believe she is not alone. We have seen Christianity crushed in so many people that, as Fyodor Dostoyevsky noted in "Crime and Punishment" with the main character, they see no purpose but to deconstruct society while claiming moral superiority and altruism. Efficiency becomes a goal in an of itself and this may be the "elite's" way of ushering in a Brave New World, based, not on biological perfection without a foundational base in ethics, but rather one based on the brain being a mere machine that can be enhanced through AI. And obviously, such an attitude will not be one that sees a value in anything traditional, religious or sentimental.  

True, the average American has no idea what a nihilist is, has no clue who Dostoyevsky was or even what demographics is all about. They are becoming as empty as most northern Europeans and just like those people their birthrates will plunge. You see, religion tends to give people a sense of connection to something grander than what their five senses can perceive. This sense of purpose leads to a sense of awe towards creation as well as connection to the chain of life.  This is why the more devout of all faiths tend to have more children. Lose this and people see satisfaction of the senses as the main purpose of life. They seek to experience all they can, after all, life is short and then you die. Children require sacrifice but there tends to still be that matter of maternal and paternal drives - so even still such people often have at least one child to satisfy their yearnings. Yet often that child is not so convinced of maintaining at least some desire to reproduce when they grow up, and thus, the family line dies out afterwards.

More analysis of nihilism and its threat to our society:

As for modern people feeling little desire to hold onto connection to tradition, as well as feeling connected to meaningful social networks, human nature yearns for such connection -- we are a tribal species afterall.  We are ill-equipped to survive on our own. See how long a man or woman would live if left naken in the forest, jungle or desert. He or she would likely starve, but even if food were available, and some sort of natural shelter could be found, it would not be long until a bear or mountain lion or whatever made them into lunch.  Numbers meant survival, numbers meant some could hunt, some could protect, some could grow food and some could make items like clothes. This is why it is hard-wired into our DNA to seek connection. Those who did not have this trait did not survive long enough to be our ancestors.

Yet what about our artificial world where we have the ability to work and earn money for needed/wanted items and, for the most part, are not in danger of being eaten alive? It does not matter - we are still that fragile being that yearns for tribal membership.  And yet what does our current society give us as substitution? We are told that we "belong" based on our career, or the car we drive or the clothes we wear or the neighborhood we can afford to live in. And at the same time things that could give us connection, be it pride in nation, family, and religion are often attacked as out-dated at best, or actually evil at worse.  This is a terrible irony but why is it so? Perhaps there are those who want to tear down our society because they hate it. Then there may be those who feel alienated themselves and they gain a certain validation by being negative; an "I gain meaning in life by joining others in attacking what others believe in" mentality. Others may do it because they see it as trendy to do so. Whatever the reason, it all contributes to a breakdown in both social cohesion, and facilitates individual alienation.

So maybe in the future people will be at a stage where, believing in nothing anyway, finding little connection anyway, they will, as the young woman, stand in line to get uploaded to the system.  Maybe they will be chatting with each other about what it will feel like to be part of the technological "one" and if any of their individual conscience will still be able to perceive being part of the grand design. Or maybe they will just be checking their updates on social media to see how many likes they got with the announcement that they were being integrated that morning.  

Hopefully at least a significant minority of that future will hold onto what really matters in life and would resist the temptation to be assimilated.