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Right now, we are inventing all these different technologies

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with which we could actually make ourselves superhumans

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with superintelligence.

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The potentials are quite extreme.

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You could eventually have printable noses,

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ears, lungs, kidneys.

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The big question is immortality.

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Dying, is it something we have to do?

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I'm convinced that the engineers at MIT

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are looking back into the ancient examples of the gods.

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You've got to wonder, are extraterrestrials somehow guiding us

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and manipulating us into this new future

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and this new human that we are destined to be?

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Since the dawn of civilization,

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mankind has credited its origins to gods

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and other visitors from the stars.

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What if it were true?

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Did extraterrestrial beings really help to shape our history?

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And if so, might their ultimate plan be revealed

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with the rise of the next humans?

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MUSIC

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Mountain View, California, August 1962

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At NASA's Ames Research Center,

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the newly formed Division of Biotechnology and Human Research

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begins a study on the possibility of exploring space

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with technologically enhanced humans,

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otherwise known as cyborgs.

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Ten months later, they release a report

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called the Cyborg Study, Engineering Man for Space.

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In it, they propose that astronauts

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will require artificial organs and pharmaceuticals

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to survive in the harshest environments of deep space

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as we explore beyond our solar system.

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While the program was quickly abandoned

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due to the lack of available technology,

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it helped usher in a new era of scientific research

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focused on augmenting the human species

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into a new stage of evolution.

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The Transhuman

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Transhumanism is the use of technology by humans

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to enhance their physical, psychological,

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and most of all, intellectual capabilities.

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We transhumanists want to use science and technology

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to self-direct our evolution.

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There are lots of transhumanists now

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that don't even consider themselves transhuman.

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For example, people who have pacemakers

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or cochlear implants or hip replacements.

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These are technologies that we're using,

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and that is beyond human.

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The idea of there being a transhuman

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is actually a very old notion.

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It stems from our longing for immortality,

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so there were attempts to extend human life.

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Transhumanism has been thought of for a very long time

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throughout mythology.

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From Gilgamesh's search for immortality

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to alchemy

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to the search for the fengen of life.

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Really, the quest to overcome what it means to be human,

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to see if we can live forever,

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that has been the quest for a very long time.

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Although the notion of modifying the body with technology

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has been around for thousands of years,

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transhumanists say the 21st century

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will radically change what it means to be a human.

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When we begin to genetically engineer

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an entirely new generation of humans.

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April 22, 2015.

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Guangzhou, China.

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Geneticists at the Sun Yat-sen University

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make history as the first team in the world

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to genetically modify a human embryo.

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Using a gene editing technique known as CRISPR-Cas9,

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the scientists were able to correct the gene defect

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that causes beta thalassemia, a blood disease,

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by snipping out and replacing portions of the DNA

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in the fertilized egg.

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By using a new technology called CRISPR,

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scientists are able to actually cut into the DNA

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and replace parts of the DNA with genetically modified proteins.

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This allows us to literally transform who we are.

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When we look at DNA changing,

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it can be used not just to overcome problems,

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but to improve your looks,

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maybe change the color of your hair or your eyes,

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or perhaps even more importantly,

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change your intellectual or physical abilities.

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Will the modification of human embryos

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soon lead to a wave of what futurists call designer babies?

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Children whose physical features and mental capabilities

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were selected by their parents.

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Many believe that not only is this a possibility,

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but that the very definition of a parent

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may soon change as well.

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UK is on its way to becoming the first country

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to legalize the creation of babies from three different people.

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In a large majority, the House of Commons voted in favor

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of the controversial Three Parent in Vitro Fertilization,

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or TPI VF.

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The British government officially declared it legal,

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so actual children that have been born

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that have DNA from three different parents.

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I think it is quite possible in the future

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that it won't be just two or three parents that a child has,

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but could be any number.

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That sounds like science fiction,

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but it's actually something that Japanese scientists

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are working on right now.

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And what that would entail is using an artificial womb,

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actually gestating the child within that artificial womb.

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You can imagine if we can get to this stage,

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it doesn't matter who the parents are.

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You could have a community of people with the best genes

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contributing to making that child,

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and that is really the future that is in front of us.

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Is it possible we could synthetically create human beings,

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picking and choosing genetic traits from any number of donors?

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Could the characteristics of a person

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soon be limited only by our imaginations?

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Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

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and suggest an even more incredible possibility

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that we are not the first to do this.

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Luxor, Egypt.

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Here, in the Deir el-Bahari Mortuary Temple,

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lies the burial chamber of Hatshepsut,

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one of the only queens to ever become a pharaoh.

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And on the frescoed walls of this tomb

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is a scene portraying Hatshepsut's conception

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at the hands of divine beings.

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On the walls of Queen Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple,

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it says that long time ago,

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God Eamon came to Hatshepsut's mother, Ahmose,

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in her sleep, and with the power of God Khanoum,

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and with the key of Ankh in his hand,

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he created baby Hatshepsut.

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He uses the Ankh,

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that key-shaped tool to give life to create a human.

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Any device that can give life

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upon something would have to appear as magical.

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So you have to wonder,

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who are these gods that they were talking about?

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What we have in this story is actually

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the immaculate conception of Hatshepsut.

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And it is clear that this is the story

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of an extraterrestrial intervention

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in the creation of a star child, Hatshepsut.

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So we appear to be dealing with some sort of a technology,

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a DNA-based technology,

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that can manifest human bodies or alter human DNA.

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Kodhatshepsut have been genetically engineered

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by other worldly beings.

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And is it possible that humans are just now starting to unlock

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the incredible potential hidden within us

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by our extraterrestrial creators,

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as ancient astronaut theorists propose?

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Perhaps further clues can be found

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in our own attempts,

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not in creating life,

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but in reversing death.

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Song Chen and a team of biologists

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from the Life Sciences Department at Penn State University

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reveal research on a cocktail of specialized drugs

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designed to convert non-neuronal cells in the brain,

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called glial cells, into neurons.

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90% of our brain is made up of what's called glial cells.

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These cells are just a support mechanism

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for the neurons themselves.

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What we can do at the moment

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is to take glial cells from the brain

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and to use different chemicals, essentially,

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to alter the functioning of the glial cells.

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Chemicals will cause them to become fresh neurons.

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Gong Chen's belief for this research

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is that things like severe brain trauma,

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Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's

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could actually be effectively transformed and healed.

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Could degenerative brain disorders

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like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's

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be cured by a simple chemical injection?

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And if so, could we eventually rid the brain

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of neurological diseases entirely?

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Transhumanists believe the therapeutic use

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for this incredible discovery

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are only a small part of the bigger picture.

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In the future, we could see using that technology

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to increase our intelligence to a superhuman state.

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Now, imagine, because the brain is only 10% neurons,

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imagine if we could increase the brain's capacity to 35%.

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That could change everything.

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I mean, we could become a superintelligent species.

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Could you, in fact, advance the human IQ,

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perhaps to such a degree

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that you might have people walking around now

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with a 1,000 IQ?

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Could Dr. Chen's research

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lead us to an exponential increase of the human intellect?

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And if so, will we seem like primates

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to the people of tomorrow?

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Transhumanists suggest that if we can create new brain cells,

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we could potentially reproduce all of the body cells,

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which would have profound implications.

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The big question is immortality.

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Dying, is it something we have to do?

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Cells die away, but if we can start replacing the cells

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and if we can replace brain cells

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and keep the functioning of the brain going,

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then it does potentially really extend life,

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in theory, forever.

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Some people, like Ray Kurzweil, have suggested by 2045

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we'll be able to do that.

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Ray Kurzweil is Google's director of engineering,

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a transhumanist, prolific author, and inventor.

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He believes in the near future,

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humans will be able to extend their lives indefinitely.

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To reach that point, he maintains a daily diet

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of over 100 different body and mind enhancing pills

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called Neutropics.

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Neutropics are essentially drugs of one kind

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or another, chemicals, if you like,

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that can change the way both the body functions

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but particularly how the brain functions.

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Colline, for example, helps with memory,

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and so people are using these Neutropics

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to enhance their memory, to have better recall,

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to have better focus.

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You're starting to see Neutropics pop up everywhere,

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especially in Silicon Valley.

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In the future, the idea of enhancing the cognitive ability

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in the human being is going to be sort of commonplace.

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Kurzweil and others predict Neutropics

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will become a new multi-billion-dollar industry

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as people turn to supplements to enhance their bodies

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and prolong their lives.

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But ancient astronaut theorists believe

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that like genetic manipulation,

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evidence of Neutropic use can be found thousands of years ago.

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Dating back to the 5th century BC,

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the Hindu Sanskrit epic known as the Mahabharata,

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tells the story of Samudra Manthana,

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a celestial battle between the gods

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for a rare substance that grants immortality.

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The Samudra Manthana means the churning of the ocean,

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and in this case, the ocean is visualized as a cosmic sea of milk.

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It is, in essence, the Milky Way itself.

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There were two primary forces and odds in the universe.

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There were the Asuras,

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and they were at odds with a new order of gods, the Davas.

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The gods went to Lord Vishnu and Vishnu said,

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why don't you try to cooperate with them?

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At the very depths of the ocean,

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there is a substance called Amrita,

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a divine nectar of immortality.

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It will churn the cosmic ocean of milk,

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and it will yield forth the nectar of immortality,

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and you can share it.

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The gods and the demons start churning in the heavens,

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the Milky Way,

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and what is produced by this is an elixir,

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an elixir that can grant immortality.

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Well, it was a terrible war now because everyone wanted this.

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In order to win the battle for the gods,

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they decided they need this Amrita, this elixir of life.

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So you have to wonder if this story isn't about some kind of

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extraterrestrial war in heaven,

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where aliens are fighting over new tropics.

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Could the story of the Samudra Manthana

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be an ancient account of a celestial battle

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over a highly advanced new tropic?

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Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

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and point to legends of immortality elixirs throughout antiquity.

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The ancients had many stories of immortality,

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that it was touchable or reachable.

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The Chinese had the peaches of immortality.

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The Greeks had ambrosia.

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The Mesopotamians had the idea of soul mind.

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In the biblical tradition, there is the tree of life.

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There is something that you can ingest and gain immortality.

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This quest has been going on for thousands of years

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around the world by many different cultures.

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This quest for these smart drugs that will enhance

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our lifestyle and our mental clarity.

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So you have to wonder, was this new tropic drug

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some kind of extraterrestrial elixir

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that was well known in ancient times?

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Could ancient accounts of elixirs of immortality

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really be descriptions of extraterrestrial new tropics?

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And might it soon be possible to unlock our full human potential

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simply with the right potion or pill?

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Perhaps fulfilling a destiny to become like our alien ancestors.

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Ancient astronaut theorists say yes

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and suggest molecular chemistry is only the beginning of the human upgrade.

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Coming up...

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Nanomachines could actually heal the wounds in our bodies.

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The possibility of reversing human aging is not a very big stretch.

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The nanomachines are the most driven submersible nanomachines ever created.

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Molecular nanotechnology is the idea of building devices, machines,

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at a molecular scale.

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Nano refers to a billion of a meter, so very, very small.

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We're getting down to atomic scale.

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Measuring only 244 atoms across,

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these miniature robots are designed to deliver specialized medicines

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throughout the body using the bloodstream.

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Scientists have created bio-bots that are the first of its kind.

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These tiny little bio-hybrid semi-bots are capable of driving to viscous material through our bodies.

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They take submersible nanomachines that can be controlled with UV light,

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and using the UV light they can control where these nanomachines take nutrients

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and take medicines into the body.

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As long as we have a way of controlling them from the outside,

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they can move around very, very quickly, perform a function.

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If we're looking at operating on a cancer,

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then potentially they could do that operation for you from within.

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This could lead to huge advances in medicine, in healing,

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leading to nanomachines that could actually heal the wounds in our bodies,

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close things up much faster, repair damaged tissue,

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extend our lifespan, and literally bring us into a new level of human evolution.

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Transhumanist believe our bodies will soon be home to swarms of nanomachines

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that will both heal and also warn of disease.

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And some propose this technology is advancing so rapidly

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that it will not just be future generations that will live tens or even hundreds of years longer,

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but people who are alive today.

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The possibility of reversing human aging as opposed to just slowing it down

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is not a very big stretch.

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So if you understand aging and the fundamentals of the processes that are leading to it,

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it would be quite possible both to slow it and it would also be possible to reverse it.

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An example of this is a study that has gone on at Harvard

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by reversing the muscle tissue and mice.

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We have actually reversed the age in these mice.

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And so if we can do that in the laboratory setting,

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it's only a matter of time before we're able to reverse our own aging process.

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Could millions of microscopic robots soon be swimming in our bloodstreams,

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augmenting our immune system,

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and even reversing the aging process entirely, as transhumanists believe?

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Ancient astronaut theorists suggest that if such a transformation does occur,

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it may be a sign that we are evolving to become more like our alien race.

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As evidence, they point to the Sumerian King List,

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a series of stone tablets that are believed to be over 4,000 years old,

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and record the reigns of ancient Mesopotamian kings that ruled for upwards of 43,000 years.

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The Sumerian King List was handed down to humanity by the gods.

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What's extraordinary is that the reigns of these kings last into the thousands of years.

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These people weren't making allegorical or metaphorical statements,

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these were accurate historical records.

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Ancient texts,

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and ancient texts,

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and ancient texts,

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and ancient texts,

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and ancient texts,

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Ancient texts, including the Bible and the Sumerian texts,

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talk about ancient kings and other people living incredibly long lifespans.

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Methuselah, who was supposedly the father of Noah,

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was said to have lived for 969 years.

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When we look into the past,

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there's a clear record of people who have lived a much longer lifespan than we have today.

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We have to wonder if these beings weren't given or had access to some type of nanotechnology,

355
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that fuels the idea and understanding in our drive today to be like the gods.

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And this important nanotechnology is something that extra-terrestrials and other advanced civilizations would already have.

357
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And it would only make sense that if extra-terrestrials are coming to our planet,

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they would have brought this nanotechnology with them.

359
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Might our research into nanotechnology,

360
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new tropics, and genetic engineering

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00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:56,000
ascend us to the level of extra-terrestrials that came to earth thousands of years ago,

362
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as ancient astronaut theorists suggest.

363
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:07,000
Perhaps further clues can be found by examining the technology

364
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:11,000
that is being developed to upgrade not just our blood,

365
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:14,000
but even our flesh.

366
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Coming up...

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We can use the power of our thoughts to control avatar robots.

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00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:28,000
The engineers at MIT are looking back into the ancient examples of the gods.

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New York City, May 4th, 2015

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At TechCrunch Disrupt New York, an annual new technologies conference,

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U.S. biotech startup BioBots launches a desktop 3D printer for biomaterials,

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which they use to print a replica of Van Gogh's ear.

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Instead of plastic, special ink is combined with biomaterials,

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like collagen and cultured cells, to build living tissue and human organs.

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00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:19,000
So right now, we're just at the beginning of understanding how to 3D print organs.

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It's a process called biofabrication.

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So BioBots has created a biofabrication 3D printer that can print artificial tissue and small organs.

378
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:40,000
In the future, what we're going to see are 3D printers that are biofabricating our bodies and our organs.

379
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You could eventually have printable noses, lungs, ears, kidneys,

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00:26:51,000 --> 00:27:00,000
and in certain ways, this technology is so extreme that it could make it democratic, it could make it inexpensive.

381
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:07,000
So in the hands of skilled trained medical professionals, it could be possible in the future

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00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:12,000
to 3D print organs for people out of their own genetic material.

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00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:24,000
Transhumanists believe we may soon transcend our biological limitations

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00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:28,000
as we embed machines directly into our own bodies.

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00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:34,000
DARPA, the agency of the U.S. Department of Defense,

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00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:39,000
responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military,

387
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:47,000
is currently designing neural implants that will improve cognitive speed and memory retention in soldiers.

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And in 2014, scientists at Seoul National University in South Korea unveiled research on synthetic smart-skin,

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life-like ultra-thin crystalline silicon designed to cover prosthetic limbs,

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00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:09,000
giving the user all of the sensations of a natural limb.

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00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:21,000
They've now developed a skin which has touch sensors embedded in it with a very fine matrix,

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which can be put around a prosthetic.

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So you can actually feel what that arm is feeling,

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or you can touch the floor, feel whether it's hot or cold or applying pressure.

395
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Future artificial limbs will look just like our skin, look just like our hands and our legs.

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It's going to affect the entire world.

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We're going to see people using smart prosthetics that are added to the body,

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that can be controlled directly through the brain.

399
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,000
And that really is the future of prosthetics.

400
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,000
I can speak from experience because I've had one myself.

401
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:07,000
Our implants that link either into the brain or into the human nervous system,

402
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:16,000
and what I had was 100 small electrodes fired into my nervous system

403
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:19,000
to link my nervous system with a computer.

404
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:25,000
It was a bit like plugging a plug into an electric socket, but the socket was my nervous system.

405
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:31,000
So I went to Columbia University in New York, we plugged my nervous system into the internet,

406
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:35,000
and I controlled a robot hand from my brain signals.

407
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:40,000
You can extend your nervous system by simply plugging into it.

408
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:48,000
If we can use just the power of our thoughts to control artificial limbs,

409
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:55,000
we can eventually one day use the power of our thoughts to control avatar robots.

410
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:03,000
I think we're going to see that kind of technology used to control avatars on the moon.

411
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:08,000
We're going to see that kind of technology to control robotic humanoid avatars on Mars.

412
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:15,000
Could we one day venture into the cosmos?

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00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:21,000
Not with our bodies, but by wirelessly controlling robotic avatars.

414
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:28,000
And is it possible that extraterrestrials have utilized these same technologies

415
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:32,000
to explore Earth in the distant past?

416
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:41,000
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and point to technologies currently in development at MIT

417
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:48,000
that strongly resemble those in ancient accounts of gods who descended from the sky.

418
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:55,000
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technologies Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies,

419
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they are developing a new smart skin for our soldiers.

420
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:04,000
It would make them resistant to ballistic attack or chemical attack,

421
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,000
and also would instantly self-repair.

422
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:13,000
This is absolutely extraordinary because in the ancient texts we learn of the gods

423
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:18,000
who wore a similar skin that seemed to make them impervious to any kind of human weaponry.

424
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,000
They couldn't die.

425
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:28,000
Now when I hear stories of semi-divine beings such as Hercules

426
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:32,000
with his impenetrable lion skin,

427
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:39,000
or in the Sanskrit Mahabharata, the story of Karna and his impenetrable armor,

428
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:45,000
I have to ask the question whether or not these were all misunderstood technologies.

429
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:54,000
Could the self-repairing skin being developed at MIT be the same technology

430
00:31:54,000 --> 00:32:00,000
our ancestors wrote about when they described divine beings that were invincible?

431
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:08,000
And are we on the verge of this incredible biological and evolutionary leap ourselves?

432
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:14,000
Some believe that mankind's next step is not in augmenting our bodies with machines,

433
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,000
but in becoming the machines ourselves.

434
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:20,000
Coming up.

435
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:25,000
We can download every connection that we have in our brain onto a computer.

436
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:31,000
These are the kinds of powers that would have been viewed as godlike at one previous time.

437
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:56,000
A lot of people are really excited about the idea of if we could map out the structure of the human brain,

438
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,000
neuron for neuron, and every connection,

439
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:03,000
then we can download every connection that we have in our brain.

440
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:08,000
And we can also create a new system of human brain.

441
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,000
We can create a new system of human brain,

442
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:14,000
and we can create a new system of human brain,

443
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,000
and we can create a new system of human brain,

444
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:21,000
then we can download every connection that we have in our brain,

445
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,000
all that information onto a computer.

446
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:33,000
The Human Brain Project is only one of a number of brain mapping ventures.

447
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:38,000
The next great American project, and that's what we're calling the Brain Initiative.

448
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:47,000
In 2013, President Barack Obama unveiled a $4.5 billion project called the Brain Initiative.

449
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:58,000
And Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has invested over $500 million in the Allen Institute for Brain Science.

450
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:06,000
Futures speculate that if these initiatives are successful, the implications could be profound.

451
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:16,000
Imagine having every piece of knowledge that every human has ever collected.

452
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:26,000
And if you crunch that down into a digital consciousness, that's going to unlock everything.

453
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:39,000
We can't know things about the world and about life that no individuals have ever previously known.

454
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:47,000
Because they're all from the aggregation of all of human knowledge that's going together.

455
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:53,000
So these are the kinds of powers that would have been viewed as godlike in previous eras.

456
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:06,000
Could we be on the verge of creating a superhuman intelligence, able to outperform a human at any task?

457
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:13,000
And if so, are we at risk of being replaced by machines entirely?

458
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:22,000
Transhumanists believe what lies ahead could actually be emerging of man and machine.

459
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:40,000
If we can map the human brain into technology, then I could take your brain or somebody else's brain and copy it into a computer.

460
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:45,000
A technological one that could potentially live forever.

461
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:58,000
What happens if we gain the ability to upload our consciousness into some sort of cloud virtual internet technology?

462
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:10,000
It's not that far from the spectrum of a realizable goal, because we're already seeing neurological implants that can be put into the brain,

463
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:15,000
that can be used to control the movement of an artificial arm.

464
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:23,000
What happens if those neural implants can actually take the true essence of what it means to be conscious?

465
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:30,000
And break that down into some sort of pure information that could live apart from a biological substrate?

466
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:39,000
It could make itself far more massive, far more intelligent than any human ever had been before.

467
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:52,000
Could extraterrestrials have steered our evolution towards technology so that we may merge men directly with machine?

468
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:57,000
Eliminating our biological restraints?

469
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:05,000
And if so, might our futures lie entirely in a digital realm of silicon and bits of code?

470
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:12,000
Many believe the answer lies not in what we are becoming, but where we are going.

471
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:26,000
It won't be long before mankind has reached a point where we have the technology and the artificial intelligence to leave our planet and go into space.

472
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:29,000
Just like extraterrestrials before us.

473
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:43,000
You've got to wonder, are extraterrestrials somehow guiding us and manipulating us into this new future and this new human that we are destined to be?

474
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:56,000
Is it possible that extraterrestrials have led us to a post-biological future so that we can rejoin them in the cosmos?

475
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:04,000
And if so, might they have used these same technologies to visit Earth in the distant past?

476
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:16,000
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes and look to NASA's own attempts at re-engineering man for space.

477
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:25,000
New York City, 1961.

478
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:41,000
Psychopharmacologist Nathan S. Klein and cybernetic mathematician Manfred Klein co-publish a paper about human space travel entitled Drugs, Space and Cybernetics.

479
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:53,000
The two coined the term cyborg, an enhanced human being specifically doctored to survive in extraterrestrial environments without a space suit.

480
00:38:55,000 --> 00:39:09,000
In their paper, they detailed various ways in which to modify the human body for survival beyond Earth and later served as the inspiration for NASA's study, Engineering Man for Space.

481
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:20,000
Our bodies are not suited for living in space. After only a few days, we experience muscle and bone loss.

482
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:27,000
One has to wonder if extraterrestrials experience the same type of problems.

483
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:40,000
I do think that any beings that are able to cross the cosmos and visit this planet will have learned how to self-direct their evolution.

484
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:55,000
To survive in deep space for extraordinarily long periods of time, those beings more than likely will be at least biodigital, meaning that they have merged with their technologies, or they will be pure digital beings.

485
00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,000
These may be robots or cyborgs.

486
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:13,000
Could extraterrestrials have used the same cyborg technologies we are just now developing?

487
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:26,000
If so, might our push towards transhumanism really be inspired by an innate desire to travel further into space and seek out our creators?

488
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:46,000
There has been a consistent path towards the fusion of human and machine. Throughout all of our history, this idea that we could somehow advance ourselves for the betterment of humankind through this merger of technology and biology.

489
00:40:47,000 --> 00:41:03,000
I think that what will happen is that our biological bodies will be able to be perfected. Any imperfections corrected, our mental abilities and lifespan will be enhanced considerably.

490
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:11,000
And we will be ready, ourselves, to go into space and ultimately join our creators in the start.

491
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:24,000
Is it possible extraterrestrials left us with the tools to mold ourselves into a truly transhuman species?

492
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:32,000
One, without any limits, capable of traveling the stars at will?

493
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:41,000
Or could nanomachines, artificial intelligence and the digital revolution render humans obsolete?

494
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:48,000
Our lives and the very nature of our existence may balance on this choice.

495
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:54,000
A choice that is coming much sooner than we think.