There doesn't seem to be any reason to oppose becoming a machine. On one hand if our consciousness is already enclosed in the brain, then in a sense we are already organic machines. The brain is the processor, our arms, legs and eyes are the mouse, keyboard and screen. On the other hand, any technological conservatism towards new things such as cars, television or internet is rendered irrelevant in barely a generation. before such things quickly become commonplace and taken as fundamental by the following generation, born into it. What this is means is that resistance to eventual cybernetic or robotic appendages is meaningless as general adherence to them by society is inevitable, and not really in itself a threat to our humanness if not interfering with brain processes.
This age has unprecedented possibilities not even dreamed of by former science fiction authors. The sum of human knowledge and communication with a faraway person at the distance of a click, which is great thing of course.
Now suppose technology reaches a point where it becomes able to stimulate in the brain human emotions without their "real-life" counterpart actions. For me the definite point is when two people with an internet connection and a brain apparatus agree to have "sex" separated by continental distances and share an orgasm without any sense of physical distance felt mentally (even touch is, after all, mental).
Are we a hair's breath away from this scenario? Would this mean we are closer or further from each other as humans? Would it make sense to attempt to impede the Matrix? We can't stop even if we wanted to, again, the following generation will already be born into the new technological paradigm.
Will the will to live be led astray, or will it find a way?
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