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Does the future need us? by Matthew Ciuca I think before anybody attempts to answer this question, he or she must be well educated in the topics that surround it. This is a question brought up by many forms of media. Many people have voiced their ideas on this issue. More and more people will start to discuss these issues as technology is forwarded. We find many vocal people on the issue, including Bill Joy, the Unabomber, and other media like movies, books, magazines, and television shows. We see more and more of these movies and TV shows sharing views of the future with us. Our class watched the movie Matrix to help with this point. With the new influx of computing technology and the further development of our technology, are we getting weeded out? After a semester of delving into these issues, I will share with you what I think about our future, as human beings. Our class read many books, stories, and articles by outspoken individuals, watched movies, and interviewed people to help us understand what is the actual danger of the future. I write this after the research and learning of the semester and have sound evidence to back up what I think. I believe that the human race will never be able to be exterminated. The fact is that we will never be able to give total control to machines. We are always in the process of upgrading our technology. That’s what most people are paid to do, redo and redo. All day long, we look for ways to make objects better. We would not be satisfied with giving all control to the first technology we build. We are never satisfied with anything. Innovations are never complete. There is always a better answer to a question, whether it happens to be how to make a certain innovation more useful or how to make it more productive. Technology has come a long ways over the past 2000 years, but we are still progressing. Humans will never be complete in our technology, we are not taught to level off. This is why we can never be exterminated. The movie, The Matrix, helps to show that humans will always be able to stay above the technology. The creator of the matrix, and the first person out of the matrix, was able to change it as he saw fit. This proved to be the ability to control the matrix. The main plot in the movie was the search for this person that could change the matrix. We found in the end that this was Neo, or the character played by Keanu Reeves. As I said earlier, I do not think the human race will ever be exterminated. This is because we control the planet. God gave us the secondary rule over the planet, second only to Him. If we create something, I do not think it could control us. Humans control humans, and humans control their innovations. Vice Versa is not applicable. The book of Genesis in the Bible can substantiate this theory. Genesis 1:26-28 reads: 26 And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. This test helps to prove the point that God gave us control over the Earth. So, I find it hard to believe that any technology we create would be able to overpower us and take over our planet. I also believe that we may fail and create war. This is human nature, to make mistakes. But, as always, we will prevail. We are smarter than any machine we would create. We created them, so we will always be able to find the loopholes. And this is what we are good at. Humans have always prevailed in the past, and I believe that we will also prevail in the future. If you have seen the movie Apollo, they were able to figure out how to fix the spacecraft in order to save the lives. This has been demonstrated in many other movies and real life situations of the same design. Humans will always prevail. We can also make sure that we have plans made in advance to stop the takeover of our technologies. We can make laws that would force the technology to be created with precautionary techniques. If we have a backup plan, then we will be one step ahead of anything that would or could happen. This theory is illustrated in the new movie, The 6th day, staring Arnold Schwarzenegger. When they were cloning humans, they put defects into the DNA. They would implant defects so that the new humans, or clones I should say, would have a life expectancy of 1 to 5 years. This practice of tainting the DNA was designed so they could retain control over the clones. An example would be, If a professional football player happened to be cloned, and the person tried to bargain for something, they would just let them "die" off. Pardon the expression. If we were to design our technology to have cut-out designs, we could control the ability for humans to maintain the edge. I am saying to use this technology not in clones, but in any technology, machines and anything else. If we create a technology with a short lifespan, it could prove to be expensive. On the other hand, if we find that the machine could somehow take over our lives, this could prove to be more expensive than redesigning them every so many years. These are my thoughts on whether or not the human beings will be able to supercede the intelligence of any technologies we are able to create. This subject needs to be broached in the immediate time frame. As we are flying forwards with our technology, we need to discuss the future. The future needs to be planned out so we will be able to live in the future. I truly believe that for humans to have a future, we must have a fail-proof plan of the future.
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Wired 8.04:
Why the future doesn't need us.
Wired 8.04: A Tale of Two Botanies
Wired 8.07: Rants & Raves
Executive Bios: Bill Joy
Valley to Bill Joy: 'Zzzzzzz'
Debating Humanity's Demise
Why the future needs Bill Joy
cluebot.com | Why Bill Joy is Elitist, Myopic, and Wrong
Special Focus on Bill Joy's Hi-Tech Warning - The Center for the
Study of Technology
Bill Joy Hopes Reason Prevails
In Search of Cyber Humanity
Oh Joy, Another Futurist Rant
Pop!Tech: Praises and Protests
The Rise of Dot-Communism
Sep/Oct 00: Not by Reason Alone
ZDNet: Printer Friendly - Rage Against The Machine
HotWired: Unabomber's Manifesto: Index
Hans Moravec home page
Peek at new book: ROBOT by Hans Moravec
Background 2: Accidents, Malice, Progress, and Other Topics
The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil The Kurzweil Companies http://www.kurzweiltech.com/companies_static.html
Social Life of Information Home Page
Foresight Institute
Can Robots Rule the World? Not Yet
BBC News | FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT | Robots rule OK?
ABCNEWS.com : WNT: What if Machines Get Too Smart?
Privacy's Yin and Yang
Promise and peril of technology:
The future is already written
Bill Joy, Killjoy? by Robert Wright The Future Needs Us: A Rejoinder to Bill Joy - Terry van der Werff - Global Future Global Future Reportô March 14th, 2000 Dr. Terry van der Werff, CMC Speaker Consultant http://www.globalfuture.com/wired-joy.htm |
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