I truly believe that creating AI and 'thinking' machines to replace human activity is the wrong move and humanity will regret it deeply.  We have been given various possible scenarios [the Terminator series for example] to show why it is a dangerous pursuit, but those with the ability to create AI [and the power to stop it] will continue regardless of the consequences... and life on Earth will change forever.

Fortunately, the majority of us won't be around to see these consequences, but our future generations will be, and sadly, they will not enjoy life as we can and do.  We're already witnessing some horrific changes for mankind, but worse is to come because the human race never truly learns from its mistakes.  Therefore it keeps making them with increasing ability and efficiency, over and over again. 

Trouble is, mankind has multiplied the ways and means to inflict misery upon itself, and let's not think for one moment that civilisation will save us.  Mankind has never let being 'civilised' get in the way of doing wholesale wrong in the past and won't again.

The devil has a plan: He/she/it wants to merge humans and machines.  

The message is clear: Humans aren't good enough. We need to be augmented with technology.

Meanwhile they are perfecting biology, creating clones and undetectable trannies. They know hardware is a dead end, because there is no life, no soul.

I don't think anyone needs a machine to replace their memory. This generation now seems to be doing quite well already demanding and controlling what they want now without any machine for their brains. Their way is the only way. Just do your own polling and listen.  

How about the brain injured, et. al.? 

That would be a positive if that is what it's specifically used for. As you said "therapeutic uses". 

Doubt it will be limited to such useful things. Somewhere it would become a brain washing device one way or another. Of course it will never be called such a thing.

If there is a biological problem, the solution must be biological too. One of the richest men in the world recently passed away at the respectable age of 101. He had had seven heart transplants, the first one in 1976. He was evil so probably why his hearts kept failing. He could afford real biological hearts, no problem there. He said he felt "rejuvenated" after getting a new heart.

I know some people are living with pacemakers, so tech can be used for good causes. Problem is that tech can be hacked and is never as good as a biological living solution. It's one thing to have your computer hacked. It's far worse to have your brain hacked.

I do think we'll see a lot of interaction between human/tech in the future, because this is what's being pushed. This makes me sad because I think it's a dead end for human evolution. Tech is a good servant, but a horrible master. We should keep it at an arm's length distance (literally). Electricity isn't really bio-compatible.

Hollywood has been selling this cyborg/terminator narrative for a long time. I can't rule out that these things won't be created in the future. This is not a human future, but maybe a phase that humanity as a species needs to go through in order to understand that it's the wrong path.

Ten years ago I had a positive outlook on the future of this world. Now I hope I die before things get totally out of hand... Things have already gone too far in many areas and Internet of shiT (IoT) is about to hit the fan... There might be a few positive effects that come from this, but overall I think this world is a big mess and it's not looking like it's going to get any better soon. Everything is just crazy and if you can accept crazy as normal, you'll feel better about living in this world. That's what I tell myself.

You clearly contradicted yourself. And devices not replaceable by "biological solutions" go farther than pacemakers: Bodies are opaque to our eyes, so there are devices to solve that biological limitation, as well.

I didn't understand what you meant by this. Maybe you are talking about x-rays. Well, tech is useful in healthcare. In the body living tissue is preferred because that's what we are made of.

X ray, CT, MRI, PET scanners, radionuclide/isotope scans, ultrasound and doppler... that's what I mean, along with EEG, EKG, electromyograms and nerve conduction studies... labs, etc.

I again have to agree with anotherside, the unknown aspects of this kind of technology is scary... and then there's the abuse and misuse that inevitably arises as the tech becomes firmly entrenched in our lives.  If the tech were used purely for medical purposes and the misuse/abuse could never ever happen, it could possibly be more acceptable.  However, mankind has a built-in propensity for misuse and abuse, so there could never ever be a guarantee it would never be used for evil deeds.

Sadly, the lesson learned will be the demise of the human race, as we know it, that is.  There would be no coming back from such a "phase". 

Yeah, I had a similar outlook and was optimistic about our future prospects, but not any more.  [and this next bit is not political, just an observation of world events] With irresponsible world leaders jostling for power and control, we could be looking at WW3 over North Korea's quest to master nuclear warfare technology.  The world's tolerance towards this is at an end, and we should fear a worldwide fallout because North Korea will not cease its nuclear programme.

Well, starkers, anotherside...the research and efforts won't stop...there're big bucks to be had...and if the programming is good enough maybe the conscience module will succeed...

The humorous side? What if the machines turn us into them, a la Borg?

All of the new tech out there came from a lot of R&D, mostly government funded. Uncle Sam's first thought to any new tech is 'can it be weaponized'. Sound waves have been. So has radiation, originally developed for 'da bomb'. Electromagnetic radiation, used by all of what the good Doc stated above, had been developed long before that in the 50's, Russia's earthquake machine, glommed by the US after the USSR fell, had been tested and the result was a minor earthquake, about 2.1 on the Richter scale. All the new tech, after Uncle Sam gets done fiddling with it, gets passed down to the private sector. AI is no different. Uncle Sam has his greedy little fingers firmly ensconced in that cookie jar. Remote surgery is another example......the tech developed for undersea rovers using manipulator arms. The list goes on ad infinitum.  

It's not just Uncle Sam!  Several countries do the same thing; hijacking various technologies to see if they can be weaponised or used to benefit government.  However, with the fall of the USSR, Uncle Sam is probably the worst culprit, with China a close second.

Thing is, with North Korea's illegal nuclear programme and its propensity to threaten countries and peace in the Pacific region, all international eyes are directed there for now.  Hopefully it can be resolved peacefully, without bloodshed.

Isn't really about that...it's to restore function like walking, using one's hands, etc. when those areas of the brain are destroyed by disease. 

To restore memory, there would have to be a backup of it at a prior time, and that would mean an additional way to do that...

Without memory one can't remember not to repeat the wrong doings of the past as they keep changing the books.