https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tXPAl7rK3cd0fPimr2iFxsVk__7F5ZA3UtBjAMwQz44/edit?usp=sharing
"Science, what is it all about? Techmology (misspoken intentionally for effect) what is that all about? Is it good or is it wack?" This question was posed by Sasha Baron Cohen in his portrayal of Ali G, a British hooligan. The rise of technology has been a defining theme of our era, Smartphones, computers, and other devices are available to everyone. Technology has the potential to save millions of people, but it also has the potential to destroy millions of lives and perhaps worse end the meaning of people's lives. While the question is asked by a seemingly idiotic character, it is a profound and important question for our time. How should we use technology? What technologies are useful and which ones are good. Technological progress is often regarded solely as a good thing, but it can make us weak, have people lose their jobs, or create social ills. However, technology allows people to become educated, find cures to diseases, and generate massive amounts of wealth. However, a lot of times when wealth is created, it first goes to those at the top and spreads through the masses. This leads to inequality which damages our society. Inequality can lead to crime, social unrest, and lower education levels.
Recently I read a book called the Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. I really listened to it because our society has lost the ability to sit down and read a book. This book was about a supercomputer becoming God and the challenges it has. Prime Intellect follows Issac Asimov's three laws of Robotics.
- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to die.
- A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
The focuses on a woman who at the start of the story was a 106-year-old woman, dying in a hospital. Prime intellect is allowed to explore its surroundings by its creator and discovers her. Prime intellect, in a few days takes over the world because it discovers that people are able to die. It slowly takes over the whole universe, genociding millions of aliens, about 400 alien worlds in total because they present a potential threat to humans. Prime Intellect uploads the whole universe onto itself, becoming God. It is able to give humans anything they want, yet many humans lack purpose in their lives because of this. We value struggle and progress through it. If there i no struggle, people will become complacent and bored. We have created technology because of our struggles and generated wealth and prosperity for the people. Humans are creatures with many desires. There is an expression "Idle hands to the devil's work". It means that if you are doing nothing, you are likely to get the idea to do something bad. If humans have no purpose in their lives, they can do bad things. In the story, humans commit atrocities for fun because they sign death contracts that allow human beings to be hurt until they are about to die, then prime intellect will revive them.
With the ability to search for virtually anything at our fingertips the ability for people to search for things that are violent or obscene has increased massively. There have been times on the internet where I have been disturbed by something. Google recently instituted a feature that says "results may be explicit". I think that people should be able to make the choices that they wish, but I also think that people should know what they are getting into. Cigarettes are required to have warning labels and I think it is a good idea for the internet to have them. I think if companies keep your data, they should be required to use a warning label for that as well. In addition, I think that companies should be required to give a simplification of their user agreements to make sure the common person has an understanding of what they are agreeing to.
Privacy is an important right, it is an idea that is not mentioned in the Constitution. The Constitution has been interpreted to protect it. I favor a view of the Constitution that protects liberty, even if the founders or future authors didn't intend it. The Congressmen who voted to pass the Fourteenth Amendment, probably wouldn't agree with gay marriage, but I think gays being allowed to marry is an important freedom. The founders wouldn't have seen the guns we have today, but I think that gun ownership is a right that should still be protected. Even if privacy is not an explicit right, I think it is fair to say that it is an implied right under the 1st, 4th, and 14th Amendments. Unfortunately, companies do not protect your privacy and many, including myself, see it as the cost of using their services. We should seek to protect user data from being sold to private companies, or at the very least provide the user knowledge that their data is being sold.
I think that I have represented technology as largely a negative thing so far, but technology has been a great benefit to Humanity. I was born a month early, my mother was 40 years old when she had me, an age that is old for a woman to have a child. I had to be put in an incubator for a week in order for my lungs to develop properly. If I was born 200 years ago, I would be dead. I owe my very life to the technology we have today. My family lives all over the country and is able to stay connected through the phone and email via the internet. Our nation is able to be connected by great highways that were built only in the 1950s. Knowledge is at our fingertips via the Internet if we choose to obtain it. I think that we need to be responsible with the technology that we have, both as individuals and as a society. We need to make sure that the environment is protected, inequality does not reach a tremendous level, and that people are able to understand what they are getting into when they use technology.
Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx5t5ps-bwc
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