futurists unite!

[erasmus]

for all you sci-fi/cyberpunk nerds:

ray kurzweil speaks on the technological singularity

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view ... Qwod23vvdA

[SwiftSpear]

This is incredibly terrifying

Instead of the TA war happening in 2000 years it will acctually happen in 20 years :O

[Felix the Cat]

Kurzweil's a better writer than a speaker... read The Singularity Is Near, a fascinating book on the same subject that changed my perspective on the future.

[HeavyLancer]

That was great, although I think it will be a little longer than he is predicting before virtual reality and human brain mapping will catch on.
At least by his predictions the western world will have become post-human before the Chinese abandon communism

[SinbadEV]

They can impose visual stimuli and read purposeful brain signals already... they've been sticking things in blind peoples brains for like 20 years now and it's gotten pretty good at it so far, I figure we'll have brain implants available for public use for certain purposes withing the next 50 years (the US government is getting pretty far along on the bionic limbs thing too.)

[HeavyLancer]

Those nanite blood cells seem awesome too. I wanna run a marathon without breaking a sweat!

[PicassoCT]

Sorry, i don´t like futurism anymore the way i used to do...

In my Eyes they take everyones burden & responsibility to care and plan for the big problems of today of his/her shoulder. Comfortable. But not solving.

So after this Guy has delivered my Fusionplant, my imortality pills and the flying cars, and - just by the Way a working perpetoum impossible, that cleans the usual sideffectmess up great inventions carry witht them - i will recive a free pack of marathon nanites for late delivery ?

That will make the years to come easy... just 3 billions with serious waterproblems... having well enginereed runaways cells... that´s the spirit

[Comp1337]

I want scifi stuff .(

[PicassoCT]

I want to solve Problems with the Stuff we have. If SciFi-Stuff happens to appear handy and ready to use while on it.. the better.

And imagine sitting in classes playing brainspring, while a good chatbot archieves the marks for you :)

[REVENGE]

SHIT

EMMANUEL POWER NANITE FucK IMAGINE

[SwiftSpear]

I want to solve Problems with the Stuff we have. If SciFi-Stuff happens to appear handy and ready to use while on it.. the better.

And imagine sitting in classes playing brainspring, while a good chatbot archieves the marks for you :)

You'll be out of school by then...

[Day]

Doesn't stop you from imagining

[HeavyLancer]

And imagine sitting in classes playing brainspring, while a good chatbot archieves the marks for you :)

Nanites, learn me a book.

[Comp1337]

Im wonder if/when we will reach the critical point in prolonging human life.. Effective immortality yes plz

[Quanto042]

I myself don't trust the futurist viewpoint either. The rich will benefit from these things. The rest of us will be left in the cold.

And don't start thinking that all this stuff will solve our problems either. It will solve the ones we have now, but create whole new ones. The biggest issue with this technology this guy is talking about is that he isn't taking into consideration the Social implications of what this stuff will have on us. The gap between the "haves" and "have nots" will become wider, people who do not have strong sense of individuality or self awareness will be easily swayed by the ebb and flow of the masses (as they themselves make-up a majority of said masses.)

While technology and biological evolution have advanced by leaps and bounds over the years, society and sociological development has been stagnant since the classical empires. Democracy, Capitalism, Communism, Fascism, and all others, have been around for as long as human-kind has been around. The difference between then and now, is that it is out in the open and people can apply words to them.

What was a tribal chief back in the stone age? He was a monarch, or even a military generalissimo. He gained power through a hereditary line, or by force. The Greeks (Athens in particular) had created a standard form of democracy thousands of years ago. And I guarantee that it had existed even before that (only only on a very small and local scale).

My point is, we shouldn't be jumping onto the bandwagon so readily. The scientists only know the concrete facts of the technology they are working with. They lack the social human skills to properly understand the implications of what their inventions may lead to. This man promised a lot of good, and only made brief mention of the bad, in only one word if I am not mistaken. So don't start following this guy like a bunch of lemmings. Take a step back. Watch and wait.

[Felix the Cat]

stuff

So, essentially, we shouldn't develop technology unless we can guarantee that every person in the world will immediately have access to and benefit from it?

Cool! Go start the Global Campaign for Ending Access to Electricity, Clean Water, and Medicine.

What naturally happens with technology is that first only the rich have access to shoddy versions of it, then the middle classes have access to pretty good versions of it, and finally the lower classes have access to the final, perfected product. Look at any movie from the early to mid '90s - if someone has a cell phone, it's probably the size of a brick and an indicator that that person is either very wealthy or very powerful. Fast forward less than 15 years to today, and cell phones are the most common way of communicating long-distance in the world, and cell phone coverage can be found in every country for rates that are affordable to all but the very poorest (i.e. homeless and unemployed) people. You can get a cell phone plan in Somalia, for goodness' sakes! (Interesting fact - Somalia has among the lowest cell phone rates in the world. Go figure - another victory for the free market.)

Technology will always follow this adoption pattern - there's really nothing you can do about it, short of giving it away for free. Demanding that technological progress halt won't help - it will only further prolong beneficial new technologies to do things like increase crop yields, cheaply clean water, provide a cure for AIDS, and other things which will help those in need immensely.

[Quanto042]

Its more than just "who gets the technology" or "when they are gonna get it".

Its about HOW the technology will be used. I could write a ten page essay giving references and footnotes about the subject, but you probably wouldn't read it. Now at face value, you may see my words and imagine me a narrow-minded, technology fearing simpleton, however, you need to keep in mind that while Somalia may have the lowest cell-phone rates in the world, you also have to take into consideration "Who" is using the cell-phones, not just the normal people who are trying to get by day to day, but also the warlords who see fit to carve the country into their own little areas of control, and use this technology to coordinate their violent skirmishes and raids against their rivals, thus leading to the reason that cellular technology IS so inexpensive there. The people are locked in a state of perpetual anarchy.

Ultimately, I don't agree with this whole idea that technology will be the sole element of human development to bring about the Utopia that so many futurists seem convinced is around the corner. Utopia will happen when people can achieve a harmony with both their emotional/social/political issues, and with their biological/technological issues.

At this point in time, there is no harmony!

And to be honest, I honestly don't think Utopia can ever be achieved. We may be able to achieve a loose balance, but Utopia will never happen.

[Felix the Cat]

I'm still trying to understand how you feel about technology. Should we not be researching and developing new, life-improving technologies? Should possibly misuse of certain technologies preclude developing them at all?

[Quanto042]

Hmm, if you really want to know how I feel. Its difficult to explain.

One side of me has hope that all of this fancy stuff will bring great things to society. But I can't help remember an important fact.

Of all the technologies that have brought the most harm to the human race, it has been the ones designed with the best of intentions. The man speaking in that video was very optimistic, spoke of all of the lives that can be saved with the technology that is being developed, how much easier our lives will be. But he failed to mention how much easier it will be to take our lives away.

Now lets go back to electricity. One of the most important peace-time developments. We have light where it was once dark, and we can power all assortments of important other things that make our lives better. (Reliable running water, heating, cooling, world-wide communication to name a few.)

But also, as a result of electricity we were able to discover things like using radio waves to detect and target enemy aircraft and naval vessals (radar), we have been able to use these new wireless communications to better coordinate troop movements to deadly effect. We have been able to power laser sights, rail-guns(in development), centrifuge weapons, nightvision, and ecm weapons. All of these and more just because of electricity. A peace-time development.

What will these nanites mean for future wars and new ways to kill? What if a corrupt authoritarian government decided to use these brain implants to placate the populous and motivate them to do things they would have normally resisted? Oh yes, this guy never mentioned mind control, but if we allow machines to interface with our brains, then that becomes a very real possibility.

No one predicted electricity would lead to all of the electronic weapons we use today, who can predict what nanites will do tomorrow?

Real life nanolathe? Replacing tanks, aircraft, ships, and people with no cost to the world's existing resources? War will be an even more likely event than ever just because the social issues that prevented possible wars yesterday will suddenly become non-issues.


We can't stop this exponential technological development, and I'm not going to pretend we can. Thats what old people do. But what we need to do is plan our actions and reactions according to the technology.

My emotions on the matter?
ambivalent...

[Felix the Cat]

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not a complete troll and I do occasionally engage in intelligent conversation.

I share your concerns about misuse of technology - I think any sane, intelligent person would. I feel that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, however.