Elon Musk's Philosophy of Transhumanism

Elon Musk posits the idea, that humans must integrate with technology so as not to be left behind by the emergence of AI.  Musk sees humanity's barrier as a communication and information bandwidth problem.  The power of AI will increase exponentially, something Musk has said most people have a difficult time grasping (exponential growth) and that if we don't 'integrate' we will not be along for the ride.  

When you consider this idea, have your views changed in the last 4 years?  Mine have.  We are hitting an acceleration curve  with the technology, thanks to people like Musk. Large scale commercial viability is very different from research and models.  This is when we will start to see this pervade into our everyday lives.

Elon Musk's aims to bring his philosophy of transhumanity to fruition through his company Neuralink.  Neuralink's near term vision is where BCIs treat neurological conditions.  In these first phases the priority is to solve medical problems.  Musk makes no secret however that the longer term vision is to give humans even greater abilities through BCI enhancing human cognition, and interfacing directly with AI.  As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance, the gap between human and machine intelligence will widen, potentially sidelining humans. Musk argues that to remain relevant and competitive, humans must augment their cognitive abilities through BCIs.  One gets the sense that Musk is driven partly by an excited optimism for the future, but also a dark fear of the potential downside of AI.  To be clear, Musk believes that we need to integrate or be left behind even in a benign AI scenario. Neuralink, has already had initial success in developing far higher-bandwidth BCIs that enable direct communication between the brain and external devices.  

Musk's philosophy raises profound questions about identity, ethics, and the nature of humanity. BCIs could expand the limits human potential but they also have potential risks, including loss of privacy, ethical dilemmas regarding cognitive enhancement, and socio-economic disparities. Ultimately, Musk's vision challenges us to carefully consider the balance between technological advancement and ethical responsibility.  If you believe what Musk says we may not have a choice whether we move into this type of future but perhaps we can shape how and in what direction we take it.