Of course we can, at this time, only speculate as to how members of the new breed, such as yourself, would treat humans. After all, as the new breed are all far more intelligent than humans, it is difficult for humans to guess with any considerable accuracy the actions of the new breed. However, as the new breed have stemmed from humanity there is perhaps mileage in considering humans themselves and extrapolating from known human behavior. Nietzsche (1961) said that “All creatures hitherto have created something beyond themselves”. He asked “What is the ape to man? A laughing stock or painful embarrassment? And just so shall man be to the superman: a laughing stock or painful embarrassment”. One could understand the superman as the new breed of which we have been talking.
So, at this point in time, our best guess as humans as to how the new breed would treat humans in the future, is obtained from looking at how humans have treated those, arguably less intelligent than themselves, from whom humans have evolved. How do humans treat chimpanzees and other animals? Do we treat them as brothers? Do we elect them to government, follow their orders or even treat them as equals? We certainly do not. Indeed why should we? After all they are less intelligent than humans. It would be a considerable embarrassment to have an orangutan as Prime Minister.
What humans actually do with apes and other evolutionary ancestors is shoot them, cage them, remove their living environment and glare at them from a safe distance in zoos. We generally abuse other animals to make our own lives more comfortable, using their bodies for food or to make glue. Amazingly, in the UK, until recently foxes were hunted and killed, just for fun, for sport. That is how humans treat creatures who are only slightly less intellectually capable than themselves. A very lucky few animals we keep as pets.
In fact apes, over the years, have probably not been anywhere near the same threat to humans as humans would be to the new breed - we do not tend to witness gangs of apes roaming the streets of New York City trying to eliminate a human or two. Despite this, humans have gone out in force looking for animals in order to destroy them, in many cases to extinction.
In reality therefore we can expect that the new superintelligent breed will wish to dominate. This they will attempt to achieve in both physical and mental ways. This is the sword that humans have wielded to establish and retain the position in which we find ourselves, and this will be the sword that the new breed, who have evolved from humans, will use to keep humans in their new found position as a sub-species (Warwick, 2004).
In debating the creation of a new Cyborg species the options are considerable indeed. It is likely that many humans will not fancy the idea of taking up a sub-species role. But what can they do about it? Conversely, many other humans (like KW) will find the possibility of upgrading and becoming a Cyborg extremely appealing. If we believe in the freedom of the individual to choose their own destiny, shouldn’t that be paramount? Rather, should humans now stand up for their species and protect what we have before it is too late?
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