Larry just sent me the link, with a note that said, Go us!

See the story here. Famed futurologist Paul Saffo (who happens to be a very good friend of mine, and who happens to love the new MacBook with its 7-hour battery) says advances in robotics and nanotech will enable humans to become immortal. But when ths stuff comes along, only the extremely rich will be able to buy it. Which means a few hundred people will jump on the evolutionary fast track, leaving everyone else behind, stuck wtih their pitiful muggle bodies and brains.

Big question we’ll face is whether we keep the muggles around, and if so, for what reason? Do we keep them as pets? Do we eat them? Do we enslave them with mind control and coerce them into sending us all of their money? Could we sell them, say, overpriced gizmos with the false promise that these gizmos will enable them to achieve spiritual transformation? By doing so, could we create a self-perpetuating system in which muggles think they’re paying to put themselves on the path to nirvana but really are enabling us to gain ever more power over them? Would people really be stupid enough to pay for the privilege of enslaving themselves? Can you really sell helplessness by calling it empowerment? Can you sell slavery by calling it freedom?

Oh wait.