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The Future Revisited yet again: by Robert Yates Throughout time there have been questions, which because they are virtually impossible to answer, have boggled mankind for generations. Does G*d exist, is there extraterrestrial life, and now, the most mind boggling of them all, does the future need us? Though I do not believe that any of theses questions can be completely answered, I am going to give my opinion of the last question. Throughout the semester we have learned and heard about alternative and constructed realities, the politics of machines, the dangers of depending on machines, and overall the destructive and beneficial potential of technology. From all this, we are supposed to develop our opinion on the subject. Does the future? No, it would be ridiculous to think that for the world to continue that humanity would need to be there. The world existed before there were humans and it would be arrogant to believe that the world would for some reason or another end because we are not here. The future will occur whether we are here our not. Furthermore, history occurs whether there is someone there to record it or not. You could think of it in terms like this, millions of species of animals have died out and become extinct; however, we, humans have managed to survive. And think of this, over a long enough time interval, the survival rate of any species is zero. Something, whether it be self-caused, or not, would happen to bring an end to their existence. However, do I think that A, we will create weapons of mass destruction so powerful that we will blow ourselves up, no. With the super weapons of now, it would be possible to blow up the world more than 10 times over. So it’s not a matter of the weaponry not being powerful enough, because they are already powerful enough to do so. Do I think that B, we will be replaced by the machines that we create in some creator versus creation revolution, no. As it stands now, machines have replaced many tasks that were once done by humans. The assembly line allows mass production versus hand made, while the computer has replaced the typewriter in word processing. We have alarm clocks that tell us when to wake up, planners to tell us when to do what, and online help manuals to tell us how to do it; however, I do not see society becoming so dependent on the technology that it stops thinking and lets the machines do the thinking for them. Moreover, in regards to robots and things of that nature, they still need to made and programmed by humans. If it ever does get to the point where the robots have their own conscience, why wouldn’t it be possible to have defaults in their thinking where they would not do certain things, sorta like the Three Laws of Robotics found in the I, Robot series. And lastly, do I think possibility C, that we will incorporate technology into our lives so much that, in essence, we stop being human and become cyborg-like creatures, no. I believe that humans want to use technology to make their selves better or healthier, but not at the expense of becoming something that is not human. Also, when exactly is the line drawn between humans and non-humans? Is a person with a pacemaker making their heart beat still human, or is the person with a man made leg, or a robotic arm? Who decides? Like many things, the future is uncertain. For this reason, none of these questions can be answered fully beyond a shadow of a doubt. What I do think is that like all things, there is a potential for good, and a potential for bad. There are no free lunches, if something has the potential for good, if more than likely has the same potential to be used in a negative way or produce foreseen or unforeseen negative side effects. The question should that should be asked, instead of does the future need us, should be what will the quality of our lives be in the future, or how will we use technology to progress into the future. I do believe that since we have already survived ice ages, plagues, and world wars, the chance of the new technology that is being developed and used destroying us is slim to none. That is not to say that there are no dangers from the technology, its just saying to look at things in perspective. With the world population increasing at an alarming rate, such things as genetically engineering foods to produce more is a very valuable field of research. Another reason that field is very valuable is that it makes it possible to clone organs for people, because there are normally never enough donors. Of course, skeptics will always try to overshadow the good with bads, but overall, I think the future will be a better place, and that’s just not the optimist in me speaking. And though I don’t see us flying place to place in flying cars like the Jetson’s, I don’t see us fighting a robot army in an apocalyptic future like in the terminator.
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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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© Copyright 2000 Christine Boese and the students listed above. |
