Cyborg
(IN PHOTO)Mirinda Archer of Manchester, England poses for a photograph as she arrives at the "Destination Star Trek London" convention in London October 19, 2012. Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans and thousands of Star Trek fans descend on London this weekend to celebrate one of the world's best-loved television and film franchises at a convention which has all five starship captains in attendance. REUTERS

With an amalgamation of man with machine, the humans might evolve into cyborgs within the next 200 years making them immortals, claims professor Yuval Noah Harari at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is of opinion that people with money will upgrade themselves in such a way that they will become the new type of divine immortals with complete control over life and death.

Human beings are a dissatisfied lot and are always in search for something much better than they already possess. According to Harari, this dissatisfaction will prove to be the possible reason behind the need of the mankind to upgrade themselves. He says, "I think it is likely in the next 200 years or so Homosapiens will upgrade themselves into some idea of a divine being, either through biological manipulation or genetic engineering or by the creation of cyborgs, part organic part non-organic."

As per his opinion, the transformation from man to cyborg will prove to be the greatest of evolution in biology since life first appeared on Earth. He adds that there is not much of a change that happened in terms of biology in the past four billion years. However, the change in humans will be as different as the chimpanzees are now from them. He also puts forward an argument which says losing the belief in religious aspects will drive humans to change. He feels that the religious perspective of people living in the Silicon Valley is different from others since they solve all their issues through technology, hence making it an interesting place to live.

He explains this by saying, “God is extremely important because without religious myth you can’t create society. Religion is the most important invention of humans. As long as humans believed they relied more and more on these gods they were controllable. But what we see in the last few centuries is humans becoming more powerful and they no longer need the crutches of the Gods. Now we are saying we do not need God just technology.” However, he issues a prior warning that the 'cyborg' technology will enhance the gap between the rich and poor in society as it will only be accessible to the wealthiest of the world. Harari has penned his views in his most recent book titled “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” which was originally published in Hebrew under the title 'A Brief History of Mankind.'

To contact the writer, email:ruchira.dhoke@gmail.com

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