Pathos is the part of an argument that appeals to the reader's emotions. All arguments attempt to excite some type of emotion in the reader, thus making the reader react to whatever they are reading. Pathos is an attempt to cause the reader to feel as the writer feels. In the Bill Joy article, "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us", Bill Joy appeals to one of the most powerful human emotions: fear. Fear of the future caused Joy to write his article. Through "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us", Joy causes the reader to feel that same fear. Joy arouses fear in the reader through outside sources, analogies, a word choice that causes him to sound completely confident in his theory. The result of his efforts to arouse fear in the reader can be seen through the responses to the Bill Joy article.
Joy uses several outside sources in order to appeal to the emotion of fear.
The first and most potent source is the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. Bill
Joy quotes a part of Kaczynski's The Age of Spiritual Machines in "Why the Future
Doesn't Need Us". The quote is presented to the reader without the reader
knowing the author. Kaczynski makes a valid argument in the excerpt that
Joy uses in his article. He states that in the future, either machines
will make decisions for the people, or an elite group capable of controlling
the machines will make the decisions for people. If this elite lets the
mass of humanity live, they will be "reduced to the status of domestic animals"
(pg 239). Either way, Kaczynski feels that the development of technology
will cause the human race to become obsolete.
Kaczynski's
argument is coldly logical, which is a frightening prospect. What he is
saying does make sense. The real fear comes from the fact that it is not
until after the reader has read the passage that he or she discovers that the
author is Kaczynski. The Unabomber is an individual whose actions and
mere image strike fear in people. He appeals to the reader's emotions,
especially the emotion of fear. Most readers will find Kaczynski's argument
convincing, which is frightening to the reader since he or she probably views
the Unabomber as a madman.
Joy also quotes Hans Moravec in his article "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us".
Moravec's book is called Robot, Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind. In
his book, Moravec states that human beings clearly face extinction as a result
of being replaced by intelligent machines. The idea of an extinct human
race is designed to incite fear in the reader. No human being is comfortable
with the idea of the destruction of the human race. Moravec's ideas contribute
to the Pathos present in the Joy article.
Joy's article is full of analogies. One of the most important analogies,
and the one that appeals strongly to the emotions of the reader, is the bomb
analogy. Joy compares genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics to the atom
bomb. People fear bombs, and the atom bomb in particular arouses powerful
emotions in most people. Joy argues that GNR is worse than the bomb, since
a "bomb is blown up only once - but one bot can become many, and quickly get
out of control" (pg 240). People fear the thought of the atom bomb, so
Joy's theory that GNR is worse than the bomb is likely to arouse fear in the
reader.
Joy uses diction in order to express to the reader his confidence in his theory
that GNR will threaten the survival of the human race. We cannot see into
the future, but the way Joy writes convinces the reader that he is sure of the
future, and that what he sees is terrifying. According to Joy, "it is
no exaggeration to say we are on the cusp of the further perfection of extreme
evil" (pg 242). Words like "no exaggeration", "perfection", and "extreme",
lead the reader to believe that Joy is certain about his argument, and that
he too is frightened by the rapid progress of technology.
The responses to the Bill Joy article reveal the extent to which Joy aroused
fear in the reader. James G. Callaway, the CEO of Capital Unity Network,
responded that after reading the article he "went up and kissed [his] kids while
they were sleeping" (pg 68). Children are a symbol of the future, and
the fact that the article made Callaway worry about his children reveals that
he was frightened by Joy's picture of the future.