Technology and the Buddha

I find myself perplexed by something….

With the exponential rate at which technology is advancing, we find ourselves facing the possibility that one day, computers will most certainly exceed human intelligence and there will be a technological-evolutionary jump called the Singularity, where humans transcend biology and become one with computers.  The line between humanity and technology will be blurred, and the soul and the silicon chip will unite.  Sounds like science fiction, right?  Well, if you think about the fact that we're already developing mechanical organs and limbs, as well as blood cell-size submarines called nanobots to be sent into the body on vital health missions, it doesn't seem so far-fetched.  We will be able to place ourselves in virtual reality environments and control the movements of these nanobots as if we were inside, seeing out of the eyes of these tiny robots.  Just like soldiers today remotely control intelligent weapons systems.

Anyway, these advancements in technology will make it so that we will never have to suffer from disease or ever die (provided we take well enough care of ourselves now, since it's easier to maintain perfect health than reverse disease and damage).

Now, here's the dilemma.  Buddhism teaches us that everything that is born is subsequently certain to die.   Death can be a teacher. Only when we face the mortality of ourselves and our loved ones can we be free from the fear of death and learn the lessons it has to teach us about life.

My question is this…

If we use science to our advantage and come to the point where death is no longer an issue, are we demeaning the Buddha?  Will we be missing one of life's greatest lessons?  What will happen to our consciousness if we keep living the same existence?

An excerpt, and one of my favorite lines, from Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance says…

"The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower.  To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha—which is to demean oneself."

So is science bringing us closer to the Buddha or further away?  If science IS the Buddha, and so are we… does conquering death bring us to a higher level of consciousness??  Or is it our own vanity that will lead us to destroying ourselves?  Will we devolve and become less conscious by never having to fear death?

This vanity—keeping ourselves alive while everything around us dies…seems to throw a wrench in our cyclic existence of birth, ageing and death.  Even if we choose to have our pets live forever, too… this is still selective and vain.  We are playing God.

Will some of us become Technological Age Hippies?