Are AIs and uncontained consciousness the next step for the human race?

     Neuromancer may have been the beginning of the new cyberpunk sub-genre, but the theme of escaping our physical existence in it's ending is pretty common through out the science fiction genre as a whole.
     According to many beliefs, or at least a lot of authors, the best alternative to our current existence is one without flesh. Think about it, in the Christian religion, and many other similar beliefs systems there is the idea that we could eventually be free from our bodies and live in eternal joy (i.e heaven). I don't want to step on any toes here, but it also makes a lot of sense to me that now that we have the distant possibility, with our current progress in technology, we are intrigued by the idea uploading our consciousness or neural makeup to some sort of digital "matrix.", in the same way people yearn for heaven. It makes sense that human's would be into that idea of being free of physical shells - freedom from discrimination, non-mental illnesses, aging, death, etc.
      For Case, when he is taken out of a virtual world where he is limitless, he falls into a path of self destruction and depression. Even at the end when he is given access to hack, he still gets his body back in shape for drug abuse (another type of escape from the physical world). Overall, Case is big in escapism. However his dream is eventually realized by the Necromancer (bringer of neural activity?), and he is allowed to live with Linda forever, as they are both uploaded to the Matrix.

90's Kid's toys + Medical 3-D printing = the scientific advancement we've all been waiting for.

    Have you ever thought to yourself that most band aids are kind of an eye-sore?.. Even the hello kitty kind? Besides, there's just got to be a more effective way to help the skin heal than just slapping a piece of sticky cloth to the skin, right?.... and fun, did we slap skinmention fun?  

   Well lucky you! You're thinking just like the engineers at the Aislinn Incorporated Labs! Here we believe in practicality, innovation, customizability, and style above all. Dreamed up by the same person who claimed thy "could make anything" with a 3-D printer and the genius behind Lisa Frank's marketing, we bring you Slap Skin!  Combining the amazing kinetic abilities of the classic slap on bracelet, and the cutting edge science of printing out tissue made of live human cells. With this amazing invention we promise a sterile and discreet healing of superficial scratches to 3rd degree burns. Just open up your packaged Slap Skin (covered with a sanitizing protectant), press the edge gently to the skin surrounding the wound (little force is necessary with our amazing new design), and wait for the skin adjusting technology to adapt to your healthy skin color, texture, and dimensions of your trauma for the ideal and efficient skin repair. We now offer a 20 pack of standard Slap Skins! for the low price of $50, which should last for about a year (since the individual strips have the ability to cell replicate, on strip should be sufficient for any size scathe)    

       Based off of this medical technology, Aislinn Incorporated has also created a cosmetic version called Slap Style! This is not for tissue repair, but rather harmless and painless body modification. With a quick slap onto the wrist this 2nd layer of skin will spread across the body and cover it with a variety of different colors, patterns, finishes, and or disguises of your choice. This is perfect for the daring fashionista or the undercover spy; either way this is only temporary, as it is absorbed by the bloodstream at the end of the week.  These are perfect for recreational purposes, but also great for corporate uniform (please place a custom order in bulk for us). 

     This is a new product, but we are sure that it's possibilities are endless. Please purchase the product off of our website within the next 24 hours for a 20% discount!

                                                                          

Synthesis between West World and the first 30 minutes of Blade Runner

         So, as the title suggests I've only watched a bit of blade runner, but given the fact I'm neck deep in the HBO show West World (The prospect of a 2nd season is the only thing that has kept my faith in humanity over the last year), I think I can provide at least a semi-intelligent opinion on the ethics of human like and possibly sentient androids.

To get straight to the point, the thing that is really interesting about the seemingly universally acknowledged fear of highly intelligent machines, is that our fear is not really of the machine like qualities, but rather their perceptibly human-like characteristics. Generally, the things we fear in machines are things like empathy, sentience, self-preservation, vengeance, and personal sovereignty. I have two theories that could explain why we have such a fundamental fear of man-like machines.  

Theory 1: To allow machines to posess these qualities would put humans in a state of moral murkiness or ambiguity based on the often inhumane treatment of these machines
      Evidence by how customers treat the hosts in West World. They purge their unacceptable behaviors because they believe, or at least want to believe, that hosts are non sentient which excuses those behaviors.

Theory 1b: A less forgiving addition to theory 1 is that the reason behind humans not wanting to infringe on humane rights of man-like machines because they fear that machines with superior abilities would then try to defend their humanity through violence.
     ie the entire plot of Blade Runner

Theory 2: Man made machines will never be identical to humans, but will instead be so incredibly similar that it would unsettling or creepy to humans. Humans avoid "creepy" things because they are an unknown quantity; should we fear or accept? - we just don't know. The biologically ingrained reaction to the unknown is fear; think Hal's macabre voice. 
     Think about the robot vs human test in Blade Runner; while it is 100% accurate at predicting the classification of the examined, if the only thing separating a man and an advanced robot a flash of non-empathy at a single image, is the difference between man and machine even significant? Who knows? .. eerie.