Communication Once Removed

There are many fears that remain deep in the back of of ones mind when it comes to technology and it's place in the future. Some are more extreme but they remain, for the most part, nothing more than vague hypothetical situations.

One fear of technology I have is it's incredible potential to destroy direct human communication and interaction as we know it. I see this happening more and more every day; and it really is something that makes me nervous. One commercial in particular comes to my mind. A bunch of kids standing together at a school bus stop, all with their eyes glued to their phones as they text away. The commercial is supposed to scare parents about their cell phone bills; but my question is how does no one see something wrong with a group of school kids standing together at the bus stop, all completely ignoring each other?! The bus stop!!!! The one place a child is free in the world, from their parents and their teachers. The one place they can actually be a kid and they're wasting all of that precious time with their faces down at the ground.

Texting can be expensive - T-Mobile

Every day people grow farther apart from each other and use technology to bridge that gap. A text message is now worth a call, and the call now worth a what? An actual face-to-face conversation? In my opinion people are NOTICEABLY becoming less and less able to communicate directly with others, always wanting to "send an email instead" or my favorite, "No, I can just facebook you!"

Technological communication is a valuable tool that can be used to spread messages and information quickly and in a super-efficient manner, but we have to realize what consequences can arise from relying too much on it.

Texting Can Be Expensive - T-Mobile Commercia;. Youtube.com. T-Mobile, 23 July 2010. Web. 5 Sept. 2010. .

Hopes, Fears, and Limitations

During class, we developed a list of our; hopes, fears, possibilities and limitations of science. I will list the majority of them here in my post but will only explore the ones I feel strongly toward. First of all we explored our Hopes for future science and technology. Our list contained: solving the water crisis, medicinal leaps foreword, creation of new jobs, making things easier, recycling more, less death (which goes along with medicine), and a longer life span (again somewhat similar.)

Hopes.

I will explore one of the hopes for future science and technology that my group came up with. The lowering of death and/or increase in life span. To explore the lowering of the death rate and the increase in human life span i will first start out by taking a look at the movie, "Gattaca". Gattaca is a movie that considers the future of "healthcare/technology" to allow for genetic perfection. A females egg and a males sperm is grown perfectly in a lab, allowing for no imperfection, less of a chance of disease, less of a chance of baldness, etc. No longer do the traits of the child's parents factor into the child itself, the traits are genetically programmed and enhanced by the "scientists/doctors" themselves. Although this increases the life expectancy has made for a stronger more genetically perfect human, it also creates problems. For every new development in technology that is good, something bad always comes from it. The design of perfect genetic humans creates a new level of discrimination. "I belonged to a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science." (Gattaca). This hope of genetic perfection and longer life creates a fear of genetic discrimination. Every hope can be turned into a fear.

Fears.

Some fears our group explored included: Artificial Intelligence, apocalypse, less face to face interaction, laziness, technology getting in the wrong hands, accumulation of waste, and lesser intelligence. I will explore two of these topics; Artificial Intelligence, and the lessening of face to face interaction.

To begin, I will be taking the textbook example from the movie, "2001 a space odyssey" to further explore the fear of Artificial Intelligence becoming 'too smart.' In the movie, "2001 a space odyssey" an artificially created computer intelligence is created names HAL to aid in a space mission. HAL 'malfunctions' and ends up killing all of the crew. The crew thinks HAL is malfunctioning irrationally, but really HAL is thinking very rationally. As a computer HAL thinks simply with a one track mind. He factors in the human inability to be perfect and possibly ruin the mission due to human imperfection. There are many movies that explore this topic of AI becoming too smart and/or taking over because of how stupid and destructive humans are. A few examples are, Terminator, AI, iRobot, The Matrix, etc. but "2001 a space oddysey" is the prime and most classic example of this.

Next, I will explore the topic of lessening of face-to-face interaction. Does dependence on technology affect the community in a negative way or a positive way? As this both increases our ability to communicate with the world and the community around us; share, trade, etc. it also decreases our ability to communicate with each other, meaningfully, in a natural manner, face to face. The internet and technology that surrounds us impacts us in a negative way, but presents us with an ability to know more things, to learn more and become smarter through the technology. It is inevitable that we will continue to surround ourselves by technology and that it cannot make a reversal (that we must accept it) even though it may have negatory effects on the nearby community.

We rely too heavily on computers and we keep our eyes glued to an lcd screen the majority of the day we are awake. This may lead to more communication with friends, employees, family members, but in a digital way, not face to face, and therefore we begin to lose our ability to socialize with others in physical form.

Limitations:

We discussed the limitations on future science and technology and came up with a list including: resources, physical laws, cooperation (with other countries), time, and ethics.

First of all, our planet has a limited amount of resources and eventually will be depleted if we keep using them up the way we are. Ironically, we are using our resources on this planet to create/design/develop machines that can transport us to other places to be able to use their resources. A perfect example of this is the new movie, "Avatar". The human race has depleted its resources and is trying to obtain the rare and powerful element 'unobtanium' from the planet Pandora. This is a common theme in many science-fiction movies/novels/stories/etc. A current example is the recent rocket sent to the moon to search for water on the moons poles. The recent satellites/rockets to mars are very similar, and there are also plans on terraforming the planet to enable humans to live there as well.

Not only is there the limitation of resources, but ethics. The ethical limitation on technology/science is very present in todays debate over stem cell research. Whether it be ethical to continue the research on stem cells because one side argues that using of stem cells in these scientific experiments is unethical because they consider it murder of a human life.

Sources

http://stemcells.nih.gov/

Lenhart, Amanda. Social Networking Websites and Teens: An Overview. Pew Internet & American Life Project. 3 Jan. 2007. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. .

Gattaca. Dir. Andrew Niccol. By Andrew Niccol. Perf. Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law. Columbia Pictures, 1997. DVD.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Dir. Stanley Kubrick. By Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), 1968. DVD.

Avatar (2009). Dir. James Cameron. By James Cameron. Perf. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 2009. DVD.

In The Year 3030

Science-fiction provides a dream for our societies to reach for, many of these stories allow a gateway into the world of tomorrow. One of my favorite examples of works like that is a concept album by Del tha Funky Homosapien. Entitled 3030, Del jumps 1,020 years into the future and explores the struggles of an intergalactic MC trying to bring balance to the universe with his rhyming abilities.

Each track on the album has its own different addition to this futuristic saga; Del takes you through the universe and tells of the future as he rap-battles through it. By far the most relevant technological advancement is from the track 'Upgrade'. The song forewarns the listener to upgrade their brain-matter to enhance their intelligence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzE7S3na3J0

The possibility to upgrade your brain power is a hope and a fear of mine. Such an advancement would abolish the limitations that have been placed on ourselves.

Science and Art, Yin and Yang

My largest fears for the future of technology are our over-reliance on it and the possibility that it will evolve independently of the arts.

I think these two potential problems travel hand in hand. As technology progresses exponentially more and more, people becoming increasingly trusting and reliant on it. As this relationship between technology and culture progresses, it may get to the point where the majority have complete trust in science.

This is the point where the importance of art is highlighted because art reflects the values and perspectives on a culture while scientific innovations help define it. This is not to say that they both can't fulfill either role, with science reflecting the culture and art defining it.

The main idea is that art and science are two halves of a whole that need to be maintained and balanced in order for each half to properly and functionally exist. With no art, science would go untamed and ethical boundaries would be ignored rather than debated. With no science, art would chase its own tail as the culture which it draws its inspiration from would largely be stagnant.

A great example of art and science coexisting is Isaac Asimov's short story "The Last Question". Through a science fiction short story, the question of humanity's limitations and theology are questioned and explored.

Asimov, Isaac Next. "The Last Question -- Isaac Asimov." Multivax - How Can Entropy Be Reversed? Web. 05 Sept. 2010. .

FEAR

My choice of the theme " Fear" doesn't mean that I am afraid to know what is unknown, but it's more based on the experience of what has been called an advancement of science. There is always good reason for one to fear. It is unlikely to fear what we have today, but rather what science can do in the near future.

There is no doubt that some countries in the world practice brain-washing in jails, which are old techniques used by many countries and still even used today. Philip K. Dick presents a new perspective based on the science of the future: an electronic machine to clean the mind of a human being. Human beings will use trinkets to make their lives easier. This innovation will help people to know what will happen to them in the future.

The depletion of the ozone layer is a race between industrialized nations, and statistics speak for each country but some nations are still resilient for endorsing their responsibilities vis à vis to the planet. We are living in a box and one day all of humanity will wake and find that there is no longer a roof on top of that box. How are we going to protect our roof? Look here to grasp what is going on with the ozone layer.

Biodiversity is under threat in many areas of the world. Concern about global biodiversity loss has emerged as a prominent and widespread public issue. The depletion of the ozone layer will have potential damage to our biodiversity. Reuters said: "Rising temperatures could wipe out more than half of the earth's species in the next few centuries, according to researchers who published a study on Wednesday linking climate change to past mass extinctions."

Researchers at the University of NewYork said their study was the first to examine the relationship between climate, extinction rates and biodiversity over a long period.

sources:

www.enn.com

Youtube. Protect Roof of the Earth

Philip K. Dick " Reader". New York 1997.Print.(MLA)

Science

The future of mankind is depends on further scientific breakthroughs. There are problems our civilization faces which can be solved or aided by science alone.
Currently we face a shortage of water, which will become more and more noticeable in years to come. In the 20th century the worlds population tripled putting an unprecedented amount of pressure on the potable water supply around the world. Crops are suffering as more water is used to feed a growing human population. Though this is a problem now, the next 50 years are expected to show a further population growth of 40 to 50%. 1.1 billion people do not have access to potable water, and twice as many lack adequate sanitation, in fact over 3900 children die a year due to water born illness.
Water which is necessary for life is becoming more and more scarce as our population reaches an unparalleled size. Without the help of science, there will be a humanitarian and environmental disaster in the not too distant future.

Attached is a video which further explains the situation.

http://vimeo.com/8624630

I used information from the following website.
www.worldwatercouncil.org

Science and Magic

The most direct factor which links science and magic is the air of mystery in both. The sciences are constantly developing fields which thrive off of off technology and discovery. Magic, in a sense, represents the idea of that which is "impossible" or unnatural. In the event of a new scientific discovery there is often an air of magic like wonder. For example, genetic cloning is now a very real concept but 100 years ago it would have seemed like something from a story book. Books like George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, both fictional novels which depicted how their respected authors imagined the future, are fantastic representations of magic blending with science. In reality, the true definition of magic is that which is not yet possible. I think that people often fear science because it explains things which at one point were unexplainable. It is often comfortable to accept things as they are to not to question "fact" or authority.

Knowledge is absolutely dangerous. Oftentimes the one is discovers is the one who brings the most harm to others. Since knowledge is power, that power like any is abused. To those who feel excluded from general scientific knowledge, I say- the knowledge is there, you just need to keep your eyes open and your mind as well. As we delve further and further into the 21st Century, our planet is lit like a stick of dynamite. New ideas and discoveries are daily, technology grows exponentially, and nobody is fast enough to keep up with it. It would seem inevitable that the World is nearing its end. If not the third World War or any number of other predictable events, something is soon to bring our destruction. While cynical, I feel that my theory is logical. As long as technology becomes better and more powerful, the risk will continue to increase as well. Yet, it is not productive to fear technology. In today's society one must embrace it for good and bad. Certainly its not hard to see that this is an interesting time to be alive.