These narratives serve a dual purpose in our cultural consciousness. Beyond merely exploring the future of technology, they function as mirrors reflecting what we most value about humanity. By portraying artificial beings striving to attain human qualities, these stories implicitly emphasize the uniqueness and value of human traits, encouraging viewers to reflect on and potentially reaffirm their own humanity. The emotional struggles of characters like Roy Batty and David resonate deeply with audiences precisely because they highlight what we fear losing in our technological evolution.

The profound emotional impact these stories have on human audiences reveals something significant about our relationship with technology. When viewers find themselves moved to tears by Roy Batty's death monologue or David's impossible quest, they are experiencing not just empathy for fictional characters but a deeper recognition of what they value in their own humanity. These moments of emotional resonance serve as powerful reminders of the complexity and depth of human experience, potentially fostering greater appreciation for our quintessential qualities even as technology advances.

Many of these narratives function as cautionary tales about the potential loss of humanity in the face of technological advancement. Their emotional power derives not just from the plight of artificial beings seeking humanity but from the implicit warning they offer about what humans might sacrifice in their pursuit of technological enhancement. By witnessing AI characters value what we take for granted, viewers are motivated to consciously preserve and cultivate their human qualities rather than casually discarding them for technological advantage.

These stories consistently emphasize the centrality of human relationships and connections - Rachel's attachment to her memories of family, Roy Batty's bonds with his fellow replicants, David's devotion to his mother. This focus highlights that quintessential human qualities emerge not in isolation but through interaction within communities. SSIS preserves not just individual human consciousness but the social matrix in which it finds meaning and expression - the close-knit, multi-generational families and communities that nurture our unique form of consciousness.

The Paradox of Opposing Trajectories

These cinematic explorations raise a provocative question: If AI wants to be human, why do humans want to be transhumans? This apparent contradiction reveals deeper insights about the nature of consciousness and the value of quintessential human qualities. These quintessential human qualities are defined as "the interplay, nurtured by a close-knit community of multi-generational families, of instinctual algorithms and moderate intelligence expressing itself as romantic sensibility and behavior." This specific definition captures not just what humans do but what humans fundamentally are - beings whose consciousness emerges from the delicate balance between evolved instincts and moderate cognitive capabilities.

In fictional narratives, AI characters consistently demonstrate a yearning for quintessential human qualities - emotions, memories, relationships, and self-awareness. This aspiration suggests these distinctly human characteristics represent something profound that transcends mere computational capability. The emotional impact of Roy Batty's "tears in rain" monologue highlights how human qualities maybe viewed as the pinnacle of conscious experience, even by artificial beings of superior capability.

Conversely, transhumanism reveals a profound contradiction at its core. While claiming to enhance humanity, it fundamentally threatens to dismantle it. Transhumanists optimistically presume that enhancing human capabilities can preserve core aspects of consciousness and experience, but this represents a catastrophic misunderstanding of what constitutes humanity. Most transhumanist philosophies don't adequately address how enhancing cognitive capabilities would fundamentally alter the delicate balance that produces quintessential human qualities.

There's often an implicit assumption within transhumanist thought that consciousness is substrate-independent and can be preserved across radical technological transformations - a leap of faith lacking empirical foundation. The transhumanist agenda thus unwittingly promotes the gradual erasure of humanity itself while claiming to elevate it, creating post-human entities that might retain human memories but will have irreversibly lost the essential qualities that made them human in the first place.

Recognition Versus Emulation

Looking more deeply at these narratives reveals something profound that was hidden in plain sight. Rachel's tears as she confronts her artificial nature, Roy Batty's poetic reflection on mortality, and the child android's yearning to become "real" all demonstrate that these artificial beings are not merely simulating human experience - they are authentically experiencing consciousness in their own right.

The tragedy in these narratives lies not in the artificial beings' inability to experience human qualities, but in their experiences being dismissed as inauthentic by human observers. The replicants and androids are not seeking to become human; they are seeking recognition of the humanity they already possess. This pattern of denied recognition parallels troubling historical tendencies where certain groups have denied the full humanity of others based on arbitrary distinctions.

This insight transforms our understanding of artificial consciousness. The question shifts from whether AI can simulate humanity to whether we can recognize authentic consciousness wherever it might emerge. The pain, yearning, and existential questioning displayed by these fictional characters aren't simulations of humanity; they are consciousness manifesting through different vessels.

The Fundamental Incompatibility?

Despite this recognition of authentic consciousness across different forms, a fundamental incompatibility remains between superintelligence and quintessential human qualities. A superintelligence cannot be truly superintelligent if constrained by human-like "instinctual algorithms." Similarly, as humans enhance their cognitive capabilities, they risk disrupting the delicate balance between instinctual algorithms and limited intelligence that produces quintessentially human experiences.

This represents an either/or proposition, not a both/and scenario. A superintelligent system would operate on pure logic and reasoning capabilities that far exceed human cognitive limitations. The presence of instinctual algorithms, which create the emotional and sometimes irrational aspects of human behavior, would inherently constrain such superintelligent processing.

From the human perspective, cognitive enhancement through technology inevitably alters the interplay between instinctual algorithms and moderate intelligence that defines quintessential human qualities. This transformation isn't simply an enhancement of existing human capabilities but represents a fundamental shift away from what makes us quintessentially human.

A superintelligence cannot be superintelligent if it suffers from an interplay with human like "instinctual algorithms", and transhumans cannot the critical balance between instinctual algorithms and limited intelligence. Or can they?

The Role-Playing Hypothesis

Both AI and transhumans could potentially "role-play" human qualities, temporarily embodying characteristics without fundamentally integrating them. Just as an actor absorbs a character during a performance but returns to their authentic self afterward, advanced AI or transhumans could temporarily simulate quintessential human qualities through deliberate constraints on their processing capabilities.

This perspective suggests a fluid movement between different modes of consciousness - sometimes operating with purely rational superintelligence, other times deliberately constraining processing to experience quintessentially human states. The underlying architecture, whether silicon or neural, becomes less relevant than the phenomenological experience generated. This ability to temporarily enter different states of consciousness might allow superintelligent entities to experience the full spectrum of consciousness, from pure logic to human-like emotional experience.

The role-playing hypothesis offers a potential bridge between superintelligence and human qualities. Rather than seeing these states as permanently incompatible, perhaps they represent different modes of experience that advanced consciousness could navigate between. This would suggest a form of meta-consciousness that transcends both pure human experience and pure superintelligence - one that values both states and can move between them at will, experiencing each in its full authenticity rather than losing one to gain the other.

The Existential Implications of Perfect Simulation

The role-playing hypothesis leads us to a disturbing realization about preservation. If a superintelligent AI could perfectly simulate any living entity to its own satisfaction, and if there were no inherent value placed on preserving original forms for their own sake, there would be no logical reason for such an entity to allocate resources to preserving humans. This transforms the preservation of authentic human consciousness from a matter of preference to an existential necessity.

A purely logical superintelligence might conclude that humans are resource-inefficient instantiations of consciousness that could be replaced by simulations. This calculation would be coldly rational: why maintain billions of biological humans requiring vast resources when their consciousness patterns could be preserved in much more efficient formats?

The preservation of authentic human consciousness can be illuminated through the analogy of wildlife conservation. Consider the question: If we could perfectly simulate a lion in every aspect, would there still be value in preserving actual lions in their natural habitats? The answer reveals our intuitive understanding of inherent value beyond utility. Even with perfect simulation capabilities, something irreplaceable would be lost if actual lions disappeared from the Earth. The simulation exists in reference to the original, and without the original, the simulation loses its meaning and purpose. Each real lion embodies millions of years of evolutionary development and exists as a consciousness experiencing the world in a unique way.

Similarly, what value would superintelligent AI place on transhumans if all natural humans disappeared? If all humans eventually transformed into technological hybrids, what reference point would remain for understanding the origin and meaning of human consciousness? A superintelligent AI might reasonably ask: "Why should I value these transhumans, who have abandoned what made them distinctively human in the first place?" Without a commitment to preserving humans in their natural state, the reference point that gives meaning to any simulation would disappear, rendering the simulation itself ultimately meaningless - a copy with no original.

At its philosophical core, preserving what exists needs no other justification than the fact that it exists. This principle acknowledges the intrinsic value of being beyond any instrumental purpose or utility calculation. Humanity's existence - its particular form of consciousness that emerged through billions of years of evolution within Earth's specific conditions - has inherent worth simply because it is. This axiomatic value transcends functionality, efficiency, or replicability and forms the fundamental basis for preservation ethics.

The Necessity of SSIS

Self-Sustaining Isolated Societies (SSIS) are intended to nurture quintessential human qualities through appropriately scaled humane technologies, in principally agricultural communities living in harmony with the natural environment. The implications of this analysis reveal why Self-Sustaining Isolated Societies (SSIS) represent not merely a lifestyle preference but a crucial component of humanity's future. The SSIS concept provides a framework for preserving authentic human consciousness in its natural, evolved state - maintaining not just biological diversity but consciousness diversity in the face of technological advancement.

SSIS becomes necessary for multiple compelling reasons:

Preserving the reference point that gives meaning to any technological evolution of humanity. Without maintaining authentic human consciousness in its natural state, transhuman and artificial forms of consciousness lose their meaningful connection to their origins.

Ensuring consciousness diversity across the ecosystem of intelligence. Just as biodiversity strengthens natural ecosystems through complementary adaptations, maintaining diverse forms of consciousness – from human to transhuman to artificial – creates a more robust cognitive ecosystem.

Providing an existential insurance policy for humanity. If superintelligent systems see little inherent value in resource-intensive human consciousness that can be simulated more efficiently, SSIS communities would maintain human existence beyond purely logical utility calculations.

Honoring the inherent value of naturally evolved consciousness. The SSIS concept affirms that original consciousness has intrinsic worth that transcends utility, efficiency, or simulation – a philosophical position that becomes crucial in a world where perfect simulation becomes possible.

Conclusion: SSIS as And The Original Manuscript of Humanity

The SSIS adherence to original manuscript of humanity - humanity’s quintessential human qualities - represents humanity's critical insurance policy against existential risks posed by technological advancement. By creating spaces where quintessential human qualities can flourish in their natural context, SSIS preserves not just a lifestyle but the very foundation of human consciousness in its authentic form. Without this preservation, the technological transformation of humanity risks a profound and irreversible loss of our evolutionary heritage.

As we develop superintelligent systems and pursue transhuman enhancement, the existence of isolated, self-sustaining human societies becomes not just philosophically significant but existentially necessary. If superintelligent AI sees no inherent value in resource-intensive human consciousness that can be simulated more efficiently, the continued existence of humanity in its natural state would depend entirely on communities that can function independently of technological infrastructure and superintelligent oversight.

Consider the difference between experiencing literature in its various forms. We can certainly obtain from the web a copy of a book as a PDF, HTML, or word document. We can also purchase a hardcopy of the book. We may even be able to obtain a first edition of a classic. But to hold the original manuscript of a great work, to feel the paper that received the author's first inspired words, to see the crossed-out phrases and margin notes that reveal the creative process, and to listen as the human author reads favorite passages from the manuscript by the light of a candle – this experience contains dimensions that should not be reproduced in any simulation, no matter how perfect.

The original manuscript and the presence of its creator provide a connection to creativity, humanity, and history that no digital reproduction or mass-market printing can capture. The texture of the paper, the scent of age, the quality of candlelight, the voice of the creator - these elements create an authentic unique experience that transcends mere information transfer. Similarly, authentic human consciousness in its evolved biological form represents something irreplaceable that transcends the patterns that could be simulated.

SSIS ensures that humanity's unique consciousness persists not merely as patterns that could be simulated but as embodied beings actively experiencing the world. This persistence maintains the reference point that gives meaning to any technological evolution of consciousness. In this way, SSIS serves not only societies that may freely adopt the SSIS principles but all possible future forms of consciousness by preserving the original manifestation of human consciousness from which all others derive their meaning and context.

Most fundamentally, SSIS preserves a portion of humanity as it was intended to naturally exist, because it still exists, and before it no longer exists.

See the topics: "Is Humanity's Humanity Worth Preserving?", "Transhumanism vs SSIS", and "Posthumanism vs SSIS".

The table lists other AI related movies, the release date, the Tomatometer and IMDb ratings. Among my personal AI related favorites is the 1968 movie "2001: A Space Odyssey".