On Mechanical Life

So, I know that I said how organic life is awesome, but mechanical life is also totally awesome! I am not surprised that so many people dream of humanoid machines with the cognitive power of humans (or beyond). I am also not surprised that so many people have put in so much of their lives toward creating them.

For as remarkable as the human body is, it is far from perfect. We may be able to heal broken bones and rebuild blood vessels, but we can't regenerate lost limbs. And when we repair large cuts, it comes with scarring. Ultimately, the body gives out and we perish, and there is nothing we can do about it.

With machines, any damaged components can be repaired. If it gets bad enough, just replace the broken parts. Sure, a mechanical body would slowly decay, not unlike the human body's, but by being able to replace parts, it becomes a non-issue.

You could argue that eventually the mechanical brain would burn out, and this is true, but digital technology can be copied. If you can copy your brain and put it into a new hard drive (or whatever technology we're using), then you can do a transplant and keep living forever (or at least until you forget to back up.

Of course, there become ethical and existential issues with the ability to copy yourself while you're still alive, potentially creating unlimited clones of yourself. It would also be bad if you never updated your backup and reanimated yourself from 10 years ago. (Truly, this is the fodder of our science fiction.)

Ethical and existential issues aside, mechanical life is an exciting prospect, which can remarkably parallel organic life. If it's up your alley, explore the similarities and differences between them, maybe by having two such characters meet up and have a conversation. (Would it be over drinks?)