> Well, would you consider yourself to be a heavily augmented fish?
Among other things, yes. There are enormous amounts of biochemical machinery we are still running today originating from the dawn of life. Although I believe intentionally designed augmentations would be (and in a way: already are) a complete game changer, in at least as much as the advent of higher reasoning and shared culture was the game changer that gave birth to us. So there may well be an insurmountable wall of separation between us and our successors.
From my admittedly biased perspective I think the most important aspects worth porting over to a new species are not even necessarily biological, but cultural and emotional. I personally think there is a potential for experiential richness that I would love to see explored in a human-like but highly advanced lifeform. To be clear, I wouldn't object to personally being that lifeform, either, but alas I was born too early.
Among other things, yes. There are enormous amounts of biochemical machinery we are still running today originating from the dawn of life. Although I believe intentionally designed augmentations would be (and in a way: already are) a complete game changer, in at least as much as the advent of higher reasoning and shared culture was the game changer that gave birth to us. So there may well be an insurmountable wall of separation between us and our successors.
From my admittedly biased perspective I think the most important aspects worth porting over to a new species are not even necessarily biological, but cultural and emotional. I personally think there is a potential for experiential richness that I would love to see explored in a human-like but highly advanced lifeform. To be clear, I wouldn't object to personally being that lifeform, either, but alas I was born too early.