Nier: The future Androids
Nier Automata: Spoiler alert!
Nier Automata projects a future where humans are extinct. What is left are machines and Androids whose appearance resembles the human body. The androids' minds have evolved to have the human consciousness and developed humanlike features such as emotions and attractions. This concept is super exciting concept and scary at the same time. This topic also touches upon the way we see human eternity. Let's see if I manage to explain the theory as I see it might be real one day.
"If you can think it, you can do it." Humans have difficulty literally thinking outside our personal box. Our personal experiences become our own truth. With no sense of understanding of other humans' ideas and beliefs, conflicts may arise. When two people can come to an understanding by walking in the other person's shoes, something magical happens. A bond is formed. Your mind expands, and you evolve. It now exists in your head, and you can grasp it. Simplifying the idea here of "If you can think it..".
This generation of the human race has achieved marvelous goals that the previous generation never thought were possible. Humanity keeps surprising when the next generations of what we can achieve. Each generation has left remarkable achievements for the next generation to build on. The impossible has become possible with each generation. If we look at sci-fi movies and books we have achieved what the author has described more or less. Imaginations have become real. "If you can think it, you can do it." With that in mind, let's dive into the concept of the future androids.
Humans of today have the components needed to build the first androids. We have materials to assemble the body. We have the technology to train the conscious. We have the massive data collected. But, for an android to become as advanced as the ones in the Nier franchise, it needs even more massive data to train with. AI and ML technology are already here, and entities are using them in the daily development of their business. We already have our first Android having her first citizenship, Lucy. It seems like we are moving in that direction. Regulations tend to lag behind but might have an opinion of a future with androids similar to Nier. You and I most likely will not be living in our biological bodies when the day comes when androids have somewhat reached the Nier Andriods' intelligence.
Technology has rapidly evolved in the latest two decades at a pace where our elderly cannot keep up. We are in a new era where data has become the new oil, and entities are harvesting it like crazy. Maybe in the future, we will have a world like Nier where humanity has gathered as much data that makes it possible for us to have such an Android that will no longer be in our imagination.
People voluntarily upload their personal data, applications that gather your behavior, location, political and religious beliefs, shopping patterns, relationships, and so on. This means that future technology can recreate YOU as a digital conscious. If it gets that advanced, the concept of "reviving" you might be possible for the future generation. But, your data needs to be collected in one place. Your loved ones, your great great great grandchildren will have the opportunity to "meet" you in the future.
This concept of you in another form can be tied back to a previous post I have written, Ship of Theseus. Are you still you if all your parts have been replaced? In Nier, the android bodies can be destroyed multiple times, and they can still keep what is considered them by uploading their data, and backing up their memory. Their identity as who they are is tied to an ID and not to their physical form.
This topic is fascinating and massive beyond what the human mind can think. It might be a never-ending philosophy. I work in the tech industry but have not yet touched upon biotech. But I do find this concept of Nier androids very much possible. Some version of it. But the possibility that I will experience this is much more likely none. However, I look forward to growing old and seeing how far humanity has come with this technology. I guess dreams, stories, and people with such advanced fantasies pave the way for humanity's evolution course. We need to be able to dream to be able to act.
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