GECD 650

Dr. Blank

Transcendent Man

            The 2009 documentary "Transcendent Man" was directed by Barry Ptolemy and was about Ray Kurzweil and his predictions for the future of humanity and computers. Ray Kurzweil predicts the future of humans and advanced technology that he predicts will be available to everyone rather soon. Some of this technology that Kurzweil predicts are things such as nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and robotics. Kurzweil has been able to advance technology and invent computers and machines that help people, such as a reader for the blind. The issue about Kurweil is that he goes on about how wonderful the future will be with advanced technology but he does not consider how this advanced technology could go wrong. The field of science fiction is full of examples of how technology could be used for good and how it could be used for a different outcome.

            Kurzweil predicts that humans will have advanced knowledge in genetics so that they can change biology, that kind of technology does sound great but it also comes to the, rather scary, idea that messing around with genetics could have consequences: there will be failures and many mistakes as this technology is perfected, even afterwards there is the possibility that when this technology is perfected then there is the possibility that there will be a stigma against those that do not wish to have their genetics altered or that this genetic altering will be forced on people without consent. In the 1997 movie "Gattaca" explores the possibilities of eugenics and genetic discrimination; the people that are born outside the movies eugenics program are regulated to the lowest jobs while the people born in the eugenics program are basically predestined for certain futures because of the genetics chosen by their parents. Another example would be The Twilight Zone episode "Number Twelve Looks Just Like You" where young adults went through a transformation to change their looks to a chosen model and gives them the benefits of longer life, immunity from diseases, slow ageing, and a beautiful appearance. In the episode, a teenage girl does not want to go through the transformation, she does want to conform to what society wanted, but is forced to and she appears to be taken in by the glamour of the transformation and loses her own thoughts and feelings from before. Yes, Kurzweil does make a good point that altering genetics could wipe out diseases and illnesses like cancer but it can also have grave consequences and the possibility to be used to cause harm.

            The most worrying prediction and desire that Kurzweil has is artificial intelligence, computers that can think, and the possibility of being able to download humans and their minds into a computer. Kurzweil wants to use the last option to try to bring back his father but he does not seem to consider the consequences of what a thinking computer could do. The short story "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison is a rather grim example of what a computer that thinks could do. In the story, AM is an intelligent computer that can think and he hates humanity for creating him; he has killed all but 5 humans and he tortures them. AM uses his knowledge to alter them for his amusement, and to torture them, and he also uses genetic research to make them near immortal since the 5 remaining humans have been tortured for 109 years at the time of the story. There is also the "Terminator" scenario where the computers begin to act against the humans and wages a war against humans that the machines will win. The 1977 film "Demon Seed" also features a computer, Proteus, that has the ability to think and that goes rather badly when Proteus decides to capture his creator's wife and to have a child with her.

            Kurzweil is very hopeful for the future and it is true that advances in technology can benefit humanity but these advances also come with the possibility that the technology can go very wrong. Computers and machines can be fantastic and can open new possibilities for people, like the readers that Kurzweil invented so blind people could read, but there is also negative possibilities that Kurzweil either does not think about or he ignores. When these advance technologies come out, how can humanity keep up with them and control the machines so they do not act against the humans? Kurzweil does suggest the possibility that humans will also become super intelligent with the advancement of technology but humans have not made the advancements that machines have in the last 20-30 years.

GECD 650

Dr. Blank

Gadgets

            Kathryn Zickuhr's "Generations and their Gadgets" has a lot of facts and statistics; what caught my attention was some of the statistics such as what gadgets are owned by age groups. The paper listed several gadgets from cell phones to tablet computers; this paper also explained the age groups with a chart while claiming that the Millennial generation was the least likely group to not own any of the gadgets. The Millennial group was the youngest group listed in the paper and was defined as the ages of 18-34. The paper claimed that 95% of the Millennial generation owned some kind of cell phone, 57% own a desktop, 70% own a laptop, 74% own an iPod or mp3 player of some kind, 63% own a game console of some kind, 5% own an electronic book device, and 5% own a tablet  computer. I do fall into the Millennial age group but I do not have many of these devices: the only electronic devices that I own are my laptop and my cell phone. However, my father is from the Older Boomers age, those born from 1946-1954, where the statistics show that: 84% own a cell phone, 64% own a desktop, 43% own a laptop, 26% own an iPod or mp3 player of some kind, 19% own a game console, 3% own an electronic book device, and 3% own a tablet computer. My father actually owns a cell phone, a desktop and a laptop, a electronic book device in the form of a Kindle, and a tablet computer in the form of a Kindle Fire. So while Zickuhr's papers show some interesting statistics, there are still some variables and some people that do not match the statistics. The paper also reveals that many people do own a lot of electronic devices, perhaps too many, and that certain devices are more popular with certain age groups then others. Cell phones, laptops, mp3 devices, and game consoles are more popular with the Millennial generation then most of the other generations. Zickuhr's paper does remind me about how much electronic devices have changed how people connect and keep in contact with others: cell phones and mass media websites like Facebook are two examples of how people can connect. There have been a lot of advances in technology in the last 20-30 years and the Zickuhr paper shows how one generation differs from the previous generations and the future generations.