To Be a Machine

A sceptic sets out to tell the story of transhumanism by meeting all the dedicated and odd front runners of the movement. We meet Max More who owns 1 of only 4 cryogenics facilities in the world, neuroscientist Randal Koene who ‘s working towards brain uploading techniques, Nick Bostrom who's worried about [b:Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies 20527133 Superintelligence Paths, Dangers, Strategies Nick Bostrom https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1400884046s/20527133.jpg 37286000], Tim Cannon of Grindhouse Wetware who hacks technology into his own body, gerontologist Aubrey De Grey who is researching ways to keep our bodies from aging, and Zoltan Istvan who ran for president in 2016 to raise awareness for Transhumanism. In between there are short primers on the singularity and robots, and a detour to a DARPA Robotics Challenge. The whole book is an outsider's look in, and you never get the feeling that O'Connell truly wants to understand the perspectives of the people he meets. It definitely is a very different book to the usual overviews of technological/futuristic movements, and I doubt many of the people featured in it, enjoy it, as he doesn't shy away from cheekily insulting the oddballs. Despite that the book still gives a great overview of the movement, and the subtle jokes combined with his own musings on death and immortality add up to a very entertaining read.