On Thu, Dec 02, 1999 at 05:52:27PM -0800, Robert J. Bradbury wrote:
> I don't think you can do it (with any certainty) with a pure
> biotech mediated approach. It might be possible with a combination
> of biotech generic-neuro-organs *and* nanobot mediated single-neuron
> monitoring and strength tuning. But grafting neuro-organs onto
> existing (and potentially widely different) neuroarchitectures is
> going to be a very *iffy* proposition. "Uplifting" primates - ok,
> dogs, pigs & cats - perhaps, dolphins & whales - fine. Octopodes -
> hmmmmm... Flies and Ants... doubtful. Yeast, you've got to be kidding.
Allow me to differ over dogs and cats, too. I have a couple of pet cats and I an very fond of them, but I am not sure I would want to share a universe with them if they were fully sentient tool-users!
Cats are not little humans in fur coats. They're diurnal arboreal carnivores, and the only reason we think they're cute is that we're much, MUCH larger than they are and they're just smart enough to know that we feed them.