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Posted By: Futuretalk Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 08:42 AM
Although driverless cars are certain to become reality in the future, many of us abhor the thought of turning control of our car over to a machine.

We see how vulnerable today?s computers are when they freeze, crash and become infected with viruses. It seems impossible that we could ever trust a computer with our safety.

However, with computer power doubling every two years, computers of the 2020s will possess overwhelming capabilities far more advanced than today?s PCs.

In fact, by 2030, forward-thinkers predict computers will outthink humans. Some believe we will eventually team up with computers for most of our daily living activities.

Tomorrow?s computers will help advance nearly every technology: transportation, space exploration, nanotechnology, and computers will give researchers a better understanding of our genes, which will result in all of us living healthier, longer lives.

Comments welcome.
Let's hope they never learn to combine their circuitry and reproduce.
Posted By: DA Morgan Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 05:10 PM
Technology is a tool just as a hammer is a tool.

The "living healthier, longer lives" hyperbole is marketing and a sales pitch.

The vast majority of people alive today, or in 2030, will not benefit from any of it. Will the wealty benefit? You betcha.

Anytime the average beer drinking reality show watching Joe six-pack decides to wake up and take ownership of his future we can, as a society, engage in a discussion of what we want our future to be. Right now the only rule is caveat emptor.
Posted By: trilobyte Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 07:52 PM
Futuretalk said:
In fact, by 2030, forward-thinkers predict computers will outthink humans.

Do you think these computers will be smart enough to realize they were created by an intelligent designer...or dumb enough to think they naturally evolved by random chance?
Posted By: Futuretalk Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 08:06 PM
Positive futurists believe we should not worry about robots taking control of our lives.

Before our silicon cousins develop the ability to out-think us, human-machine merge will become possible, enabling us to transfer their knowledge and superior calculating systems into our brains.

We will become them before they could ever become dangerous to us.
Posted By: Blacknad Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 11:07 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Futuretalk:
Positive futurists believe we should not worry about robots taking control of our lives.

Before our silicon cousins develop the ability to out-think us, human-machine merge will become possible, enabling us to transfer their knowledge and superior calculating systems into our brains.

We will become them before they could ever become dangerous to us.
The Internet will eventually end up running the planet and over time our ability to influence it will diminish. Probably our whole monetary system will be the first thing we hand over control of.


And in the case of a computer guided car crashing, who is responsible? Do I lose my no-claims bonus because someone else's software crashes?

But then again if my computer car crashes, I just reboot it and it's as good as new. smile


Blacknad.
Posted By: Futuretalk Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 11:19 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by DA Morgan:
Technology is a tool just as a hammer is a tool.

The "living healthier, longer lives" hyperbole is marketing and a sales pitch.

The vast majority of people alive today, or in 2030, will not benefit from any of it. Will the wealty benefit? You betcha.

Anytime the average beer drinking reality show watching Joe six-pack decides to wake up and take ownership of his future we can, as a society, engage in a discussion of what we want our future to be. Right now the only rule is caveat emptor.
Posted By: Futuretalk Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 11:19 PM
When health technologies first come on the scene they are pricey, as the firms that created them seek to recapture development costs. However, as other companies see the potential profits and become competitors, prices fall and the new treatment or service soon becomes available through insurance.
Posted By: Blacknad Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 11:28 PM
Dan,

I agree. It will be like Celebrities who can afford to walk round in designer gear and the rest of us 'plebs' who can't.

It will be the same for brain implants etc. The rich will further distinguish themselves from the new underclass who can't run a billion simulations before they act.

Trickle-down will be slow and resisted by the powerful.

Blacknad.
Posted By: Futuretalk Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 11:35 PM
Pessimists and naysayers will not slow down the exponential advance of today?s science and technologies.

Human desire for improvement parallels its survival instincts. Living in bodies fashioned from ?designer genes? that never age or gets sick is simply the next step in our evolution, and it will become reality during the lifetime of many alive today.

Commerce drives our will to live healthier and more comfortable. Today?s mature adults control more than $7 trillion in wealth, which represents 70 percent of the U.S. economy.

This huge financial force wielded by those who stand to gain immediate benefits from stem cell, gene therapy, and medical nanotech advances expected over the next ten-to-twenty years, will help push this forward-looking future into reality.

The choice of how we imagine the future is up to us. If we think and act positively, a ?magical future? has an excellent chance of happening. Negative thoughts will get us nowhere.
Posted By: Blacknad Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 11:47 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Futuretalk:
If we think and act positively, a ?magical future? has an excellent chance of happening. Negative thoughts will get us nowhere.
A good dose of reality never hurts. Live in your dream world if you choose, but people will continue to suffer and starve until humanity stops being essentially self-serving and starts to consider others needs at least comparable with their own.

Blacknad.
Posted By: Futuretalk Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 11:48 PM
Think positive ? think futuristic.

Today, because of limited thinking abilities, it is nearly impossible to envision with much accuracy how the future might unfold. However, if we follow the predictions of forward-thinkers like Kurzweil, Drexel, Moravec, de Gray and others, we see a very positive future within reach.

Kurzweil, in an on-line 60 Minutes interview (http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=/news/news_single.html?id%3D5170) tells Morley Safer that indefinite lifespan will be possible by 2030; and researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute believe they will soon discover how sensory information leads to thought, which might one day lead to transferring our minds into a storage device.

In 25 years or so, a few brave souls will begin to swap their cells and neurons for non-biological, maintenance-free materials that operate with far greater efficiency. By late 2030s, nearly everyone will convert to an enhanced ?housing unit? that allows trillions of times more thought power than today?s ?old-fashioned? biological bodies.

It is difficult for us to even dream of the technologies that will unfold with tomorrow?s vastly improved minds, the human desire for survival will surely provide everyone with protection from unwanted death.

Think positive, and an incredible future could be yours to enjoy.
Posted By: Blacknad Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 11:53 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Futuretalk:
By late 2030s, nearly everyone will convert to an enhanced ?housing unit? that allows trillions of times more thought power than today?s ?old-fashioned? biological bodies.
What, all 12 Billion of earth's inhabitants?

Or maybe just the rich? Or maybe just not places like Bangladesh?

I'm all for technological advance, I just have a problem with rose-tinted views of what it will bring to humanity.

Blacknad.
Posted By: Futuretalk Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/01/06 11:55 PM
I guess we can agree that we view things differently. Isn?t searching for alternate answers one of the traits that defines our human intelligence? If it isn?t, it certainly should be.
Posted By: Blacknad Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/02/06 12:00 AM
I guess we view the merits of intelligence very differently.

You may want to read some posts by our own Uncle Al. Exceptionally intelligent guy that would happily wipe out the majority of humanity.

Compassion for our fellow human is not entirely related to intelligence.

Blacknad.
Posted By: morgellons Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/12/06 01:29 PM
A fool and his or her technology is soon parted .
"Compassion for our fellow human is not entirely related to intelligence."

Is it too glib if I just say, "Ditto?"
Posted By: soilguy Re: Will we learn to trust technology? - 11/13/06 08:56 PM
Trilo, my man:

Instead of trying to shoehorn your unwelcome, off-topic comments here, I have a gift for you:

Go to the Yahoo website and find the message boards for "Religion and Beliefs." They have several boards dedicated to the argument you seek, and they are unmoderated. There are plenty of people there who will be more than happy to accommodate you.

I think both you and the rest of us will be happier if you take this argument elsewhere.
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