THE SINGULARITY AND THE LAW: EXPOUNDING TRANSHUMANISM, EXPONENTIAL TECHNOLOGY AND THE INCIPIENT LEGAL, ETHICAL AND POLITICAL CHALLENGES

Abstract

Transhumanism is a socio-political philosophy which advocates the use and development of technology that enhance the human condition by improving things like cognition, intelligence, physique and longevity (life extension).Some trans humanists also believe that humans will overcome their mortality in the 21st century with the help of technology .The transhumanists plan to do it through technologies like biotech, nanotech, ai, neurotechnology and quantum computing. The development of these technologies they believe will be so sophisticated and advanced that at some point in the 21st century their development will become uncontrollable and irreversible resulting in runaway technology or what is also popularly known as the ‘technological singularity’. The singularity is pegged to take place in 2029 according to the futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil who has won the national medal of technology and innovation; the highest technology award given by the US government. He also has honours from three different U.S presidents, 21 honorary doctorates from different universities and along with that he occupies the hall of fame of the U.S patent and trademark office. It’s worth noting here that Mr.Kurzweil in 2005 had predicted the year of the ‘singularity’ to be 2045 but in recent times has changed his stance. He claims that advances made in quantum computing will aid the development of emerging technologies more exponentially making the ‘singularity’ possibly happen by the end of this decade at which point machines will become smarter than humans .A lot of people may dismiss all of these predictions to be science fiction but the credentials of Mr. Kurzweil cannot be overlooked and it should also be taken into account that Mr. Kurzweil success rate in his future predictions is 86 percent according to various research and media organizations .The world’s richest men are already pouring billions into biotechnology to cure and reverse aging. Some of them notably are Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Sergey Brin and Larry Page (Founders of google).The companies that they have invested in aim to do it through technologies like cell rejuvenation/cellular reprogramming, gene therapy and genetic engineering.