Would you still be yourself after rejuvenating your whole body with advanced technology?

Introduction

Would you still be yourself after rejuvenating your whole body with advanced technology? For some people, the answer is definitely a “no”. There are already a number of ersatz humans walking around these days.

And not just because of the extreme cosmetic procedures like dermabrasion and laser hair removal, but because more and more people are turning to technology to improve their health prospects.

To experience new sensations for instance, such as virtual reality, or even completely new biological states that have never been seen before.

Our body is a complex network of systems. And we’re built to be adaptable. Naturally, being able to adapt ourselves to new states and experiences is a way for our bodies to keep up with the times. Humans have evolved new biological selves for everything since we’ve been around, from the alteration of our DNA systems to shape-shifting into other beings or even simply into forms that can survive in cold climates.

Towards Rejuvenation Technology

Today rejuvenation technology has taken off, and there are multiple ways to improve your body’s physical capacities and make yourself stronger, faster, and better:

Gene therapy: one of the most recent areas of research, gene therapy has resulted in several amazing technologies that can actually modify DNA.

There are many uses for this technology though; one area is fighting diseases. Diseases like cancer are caused by errors in the genes which lead to abnormal cell growth. We can use gene therapy to modify those genes or replace them with healthy ones to prevent or even treat diseases.

Robotics: robotics is similar to gene therapy in that it allows humans to alter their bodies. There are numerous devices allowing users to boost their strength and capabilities, such as exoskeletons and robotic legs.

Clonebodies: another way of improving your body is by using clonebodies. When you transfer your consciousness into a clone body, you are essentially transferring yourself into a new shell; one with almost identical capabilities to the original.

This can be done through surgery and actually switching bodies, which gives users the ability to heal broken bones or to even amputate if they so choose.

After rejuvenating our whole body with advanced technology, we would still be us, but in a better quality.

The discussion around these technologies is ongoing and controversial: many people feel that we should not use technology to improve the human body, but rather serve other purposes like artificial intelligence and robotics.

Others in turn see them as a way to keep up with the times and stay relevant when Earth’s resources are finite.

Would you still be yourself after rejuvenating your whole body with advanced technology?

Well, it depends on it. The question is kind of meaningless because it assumes that you are the same person as you were before, right?

See, it’s a common misconception that “you” are a single entity. There are so many different parts of you that we define as “you”, and when one part of your body gets older or even improves its functioning capabilities, people can never really assume they are the same person they were before.

You start off with a certain set of beliefs and standards that you brought from the world around you, and these act as filters through which all your thoughts and experiences pass through.

These fundamentals eventually become outdated and may even be completely outmoded by time itself. Every experience you have affects your belief system and the way you see the world.

If you are reading this, it is inevitable that you will change from this point on. You will be a different person than you were before.

Change is inevitable

Like in nature, change is inevitable and constant for humans. So it’s fair to say that your identity is not singular but rather a collective of all the different experiences of all the versions of yourself that have come before going into the future.

In a sense, we all get the chance to be reborn and become a new person every time we go through a struggle or hardship and come out of it with new knowledge and experience.

With the new technology, you can ensure that you keep improving and don’t slow down your progress towards rejuvenation, but at the end of the day, it’s still going to be who you are that matters. You can keep yourself trim and fit until the end of your days, but if you don’t have goals and vision in life, it isn’t enough.

Rejuvenation technology is a means to an end; a means by which you will remain healthy and active for as long as possible so that you can guide your own destiny.

Ourselves, but of better quality

To answer this question: how would you be if you woke up tomorrow and your entire body was like a fresh canvas?

After rejuvenating our whole body with advanced technology, we would still be us, but of better quality. Our bodies are constructed to be able to adapt and evolve with the years.

So even after rejuvenation, it is only because we have made ourselves better that we can keep getting better. But it’s also because we care about ourselves that we continue to improve our capabilities as humans. Because of this mechanism, there will always be an urge to continue improving when rejuvenation technology progresses further into the future.

One thing, at least we should try, though, is to remain humans.