Bill Joy’s article “Why the future doesn’t need us,” describes the potential disaster of the human race due to nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare; and genetic, nanotechnology, and robotics (GNR). As technologies increase, caution must be given so that the technology that humans create, do not supersede the creators of that technology.
Joy fears GNR because with the increased advances of these three components, man will be able to create something that just might destroy the human race. As the size of manufacturing of circuits and electronics decrease to a molecular size, more ideas come together to create a safe place and to defend against attacks from the outside. Joy fears the technology that can save us can also attack the biosphere, leaving us with an inhospitable earth. He also believes that the molecular electronic devices could be able to reproduce or divide; thus, reversing this action would be absolutely impossible, because no one can see tiny molecular objects with the naked eye.
We have seen in many movies that technology is wiping out the human race. Take for example “Terminator” and “Terminator II”, futuristic robots travel through time to try to change the outcome of the human race, because the robots have attacked the humans and are rendering the human race extinct. Although this is a movie and I have always thought that technology could never get that advanced, while I have read this article, I have realized that technology is forever growing and will never stop.
All of these technologies, genetic, nanotechnology, and robotics, are a powerful tool meant to assist the human race in making tasks easier and more efficient, but they can come to a cost. After reading the article, I do agree with Joy in that we should proceed with caution in what technology is developed. Moore’s Law is still in action, which means that transistors are being manufactured smaller and smaller. I find the reading a little scary, because Joy has a very thorough background that is built around technology. Being in a computer science field, he has a responsibility to peer into the future and to play ahead of the game so that he does not fall behind of the game.
Being in the position and state Joy is in, I think that Joy’s fears are legitimate and that we, as a society, must proceed with caution so that we do not end up like the dinosaurs. The difference would only be that the elimination would be from our own demise and not from natural consequence.
In order to combat some disastrous situation due to genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics, the individuals that are developing such technologies must be educated. I think that classes must be taught either in college or an education system implementing a way to get the information to all the physicists and scientists. Education is the key for us to not go too far with technology.
One negative aspect is that not all scientists and countries are regulated. Especially not all scientist have the same ethics, this is why I think this issue is important. Scientists in different countries may have different motives just like we have learned that those in Al-Quaeda have different motives and some of their ethical issues are not the same as ours. This being said, the future is unpredictable with the advent of nanotechnologies, genetics, and robotics.
I think that this issue of future technologies possibly destroying the human race will not be taken very seriously by many, especially by those that feel that development and technology have no boundaries. Although some might feel these technologies will not have a repercussion, with every choice and decision comes a consequence. We have control of our choices and decisions; however, the consequence is something do not have control over.
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