But MRI's don't take power away from the elite, they just allow the serfs to continue to slave away. A brain upgrade won't be something for the serfs unless there is a control function included that answers only to the elite.

http://www.cnet.com/news/robot-helicopte...

One example - from 2008!

It's only the elite in the beginning. Poor people get MRI's all the time.

Brain surgeries, too.

Technologies get cheaper all the time - it's their natural progression.

"Is a thousand years a "long" time.
Not really. "
That's true. 1k years is not much compared to how long behaviorally modern humans have been here.

If we can tranfer a 'person' into a new improved 'brain/body' then 1000 years isn't long at all ... for the elite who get the treatment.
OTOH, I don't yet trust long term effects of LASIK.
If the alternative is Alzheimer's, then it might be worth the risk.

I suppose it depends on what you consider "far" into the future.

Is a thousand years a "long" time.
Not really.

I tend to think very long term.

But really, I think we'll face this threat within a century at most.

Look at the improvements made, orders-of-magnitude improvements, instantly achieved, when we teach computers to learn on their own.

Whoa. Careful.

I don't think it will be the end of the world - I think it will be the end of us.

Probably sooner rather than later - but I think in very broad timelines.

What is 2000 years in evolutionary time - an eyeblink.

I don't think Homo Sapiens has 2000 years.

"OUR" only real hope is to BECOME Homo Electric ourselves - transferring our consciousness into a manufactured (i.e. upgradable) brain (silicon or otherwise).

Anything less and we will be quickly outclassed - and left behind.

Evolution will not cease to reward the more capable.

Yeah, as for the Bible stuff, well, I try not to delve too deep into that. Seems you can find passages to support most any argument.

As an OBJ I don't look to scripture for my morality anyway, nor for any form of justification.
It's just a collection of stories. Literature - not law.

At least that's the way I see it.

There is no real threat.
For one, no one would birth a real AI with full access to anything other than itself. Next, most of the folks who think it would be the end of the world are taking a rather sad approach to the idea. They are sticking to the modern Christian idea that the godless are incapable of morality.
Meanwhile the Bible itself defeats their own argument:

Romans 1:20
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Romans 2:14
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law

He's investing in it , but you should beware. And now that he 's invested in it lets promote international regulations favorable to my investment and not favorable to yours. Musk at his crony best....

I think the threat is far in the future. If we extrapolate computer technology over the past few decades, the threat is near.

Going from breaking the sound barrier to a successful manned moon mission, I would have expected we'd have bases in orbit, the moon, mars, and missions to the satellites of the gas giants.

So my wild guess is technology's going in some other unexpected direction.