Lyft Talks: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Hafa adai and kumusta! This blog post is going to be different from the past few blog posts I’ve written. I figured I’d try and feed my creative side and meld it with my experiences from my travel nurse contract. If you haven’t read about my travel nurse adventure, check it out here!

Lyft Talks

This year, I wanted to try and practice being a better conversationalist. I’ve listened to podcasts and YouTube videos from people like Ali Abdaal and Oliur about self-improvement and productivity. The day that I wrote this blog, I listened to a portion of Ali Abdaal’s podcast, “Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal”. This episode titled, “How to Build a Million Dollar Marketing Agency in 1 Year - Carrie Rose (Rise at Seven)”, featured Carrie Rose, a 29-year-old co-founder, and CEO of a creative agency known as Rise at Seven.

Carrie briefly talks about her childhood and early life before getting to where she is now. The part that I left off at was one where she talks about how sociable she was and how she would always find herself starting conversations with people on trains. Honestly, I can’t remember what else about this she talked about, but this brought to mind so many of the conversations that I had with my Lyft drivers while I was working in Portland.

View of Mt. Rainier in Portland, OR

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

On one of my days off, my partner and I met a driver who I’ll call Bill B. Bill B. spoke with a deep, confident voice reminiscent of early 1920s radio show hosts and narrators. While driving to the northeast side of Portland, we asked about his voice and if he had ever done any radio hosting. Sure enough, he did. In his early college days, Bill B. was part of an AV (audiovisual) club. He took a particular interest in HAM radios and eventually found himself hosting a radio talk show.

Beyond college, he took a departure from radio show hosting and pursued a corporate job. On the side, he also performed stand-up comedy at small comedy clubs and pubs around Portland. During the pandemic, he picked up Lyft driving to earn extra income. Eventually, he left his corporate job and drove for Lyft full time, which is of course how we met him.

Over the course of our drive, we found ourselves discussing video games. Prior to leaving for my contract in Portland, I was engulfed in the world of “Cyberpunk 2077”. If you aren’t familiar with “Cyberpunk 2077” it is a role-playing game (RPG) set in a dystopian future where society has collapsed, and people are divided into various factions fighting for power and survival. You, the player, take on the role of a mercenary named V, who can be customized to fit different play styles and character backgrounds.

Neon Tokyo Cyberpunk Streets (Concept)

The game takes place in a sprawling open-world city called Night City, where players can explore and interact with a variety of characters and factions. The game features a branching narrative with multiple endings, as well as a deep customization system that allows players to upgrade and modify their character's abilities and equipment. "Cyberpunk 2077" explores themes of transhumanism, the dangers of unchecked corporate power, and the limits of individual agency in a society dominated by technology and violence.

Bill B. hadn’t had the chance to play the game, but he did watch YouTube videos of gameplay, and that eventually led to a discussion about dystopian futures and various media with similar themes. Bill B. mentioned one particular book, with a movie based on it, called “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick. The book is a science fiction novel set in a post-apocalyptic world where most of humanity has fled Earth to live on other planets, leaving behind a desolate and contaminated planet. The story follows the bounty hunter Rick Deckard, who is tasked with "retiring" rogue androids who have escaped from their assigned roles as servants on other planets and are illegally living on Earth. As Deckard hunts down the androids, he begins to question his own identity and what it means to be human. The book explores themes of empathy, reality, and the nature of consciousness, as well as the blurred lines between human and artificial intelligence.

To Be Human & What Comes After?

Our conversation eventually evolved into a discussion about transhumanism. Put simply, transhumanism is a philosophical and cultural movement that advocates for the use of science and technology to enhance human physical and mental capabilities, as well as to overcome the limitations of the human body and mind. Transhumanists believe that by using advanced technologies such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence (AI), humans can transcend their biological limitations and achieve a post-human state of existence.

This could include things like extending the human lifespan, increasing intelligence and memory, and even transferring human consciousness to non-biological substrates, such as computers or robots. Transhumanism is often associated with a utopian vision of the future, where technology is used to create a better, more evolved society. However, it is also controversial, with some critics raising concerns about the potential ethical and social implications of such technologies, including issues around inequality, identity, and the very meaning of what it means to be human.

We discussed current advancements in technology such as nanotechnology in medicine. According to an article by Forbes, Arizona State University researchers developed an “origami nanobot” made of a flat sheet of synthetic DNA coated in a blood-clotting enzyme. This nanobot can then be folded into various shapes and injected into the bloodstream. It is said to be programmed to seek and target tumor cells, binds to their surface, and inject them with the blood-clotting enzyme. This starves the tumor cell of the essential vascularization required to survive. Instead of using cancer treatments that can’t differentiate between healthy and cancerous tissue medical providers can opt to use this nanobot for precise and targeted treatment of cancer!

However, with all of these advancements where do we draw the line between what it means to be human? Do we identify the things that are natural to our bodies as being a part of the human experience? What about technology that can transcribe our consciousness into a computer or to a digital cloud? The Netflix series, “Altered Carbon” explores that concept wherein human consciousness can be digitally stored and transferred between bodies, or "sleeves," effectively allowing people to live forever as long as they have the means to do so. The story follows Takeshi Kovacs, a former soldier and convicted criminal who is given a second chance at life when his consciousness is transferred into a new body on Earth after being kept in storage for over 250 years.

Sushi Hada in Portland, OR

What happens if we achieve immortality through this concept of transferred consciousness and new bodies? Do we then transcend our own humanity or does that eventually change what it means to be human? Surprisingly, we had enough time to talk about these topics over a 20-minute car ride. My partner and I carried on the conversation well into dinner at the rotary sushi spot that we chose.

How do you define what it means to be human? What comes next in human evolution in the context of an ever-advancing world of technology? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Thanks for reading and until next time! Salamat and si yu’us ma’ase!