Opinion: I once fell for the fantasy of uploading ourselves. It's a dangerous myth

Longtermism is often framed as a way to protect Earth. But its architects care less about ecosystems than about making sure nothing stops humanity from reaching what Bostrom calls 'technological maturity'. That's a nice way of characterising that moment when people turn into bits. — Dreamstime/Tribune News Service

The fantasy began to consume me at the turn of the millennium.

I'd always felt like a half-being, a cyborg of incompatible substances: gringa daughter of a Puerto Rican MD and a long-unemployed Mexican man with addiction issues. Native or alien. Nerd or rebel. I was white and not white but thought I had to choose.