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What I find really interesting is that despite the fact that nothing in this story indicates that things have gotten in any way worse for people - to the contra

What I find really interesting is that despite the fact that nothing in this story indicates that things have gotten in any way worse for people - to the contrary, it appears that at every step except the last, people are perfectly happy with what technology is doing for them - almost every one of the comments on that blog is about what a scary horrible vision of the future it is, and dear God! someone do something to make sure it doesn't happen. It makes perfect sense for people to be frightened when a story is about how we screwed up the future by arrogantly pushing the limits of technology, Skynet and all that. But there's no war here, no famine, there's not even a computer enslaving us or keeping us as pets. Just chips in people's heads helping them do what they want. Oh, the horror...?

amackera 16y ago
This is unrelated, but something that always struck me as odd about people who fear the singularity due to an impending machine attack: What's so bad about that? Maybe machines are a natural evolution of our culture. They are created by us, and therefore are imbued with some aspect of our nature, perhaps humanity's destiny is to cultivate a species of sentient machines, then die off?
- JeremyBanks 16y ago
  Although I am personally sympathetic with your position, I don't think the idea of us being replaced by machines is something most people are going to ever be comfortable with. They would probably disagree with the view that the machines would constitute any a tolerable continuation of our existence. Many people are already worried about how scientific advancements are "dehumanizing" us.
  - kiba 16y ago
    Why does it alway be about "replacing" us. What about a total upgrade?
    - JeremyBanks 16y ago
      With respect to my post: I was responding to his question "What's so bad about that?" which took replacement as a premise. Generally: I'd prefer an upgrade, but I worry that if we achieve strong AI it will be an extremely difficult problem [1] to ensure it behaves nicely -- so replacement may be more likely than upgrading. If we focus on augmenting human intelligence and not on developing independent intelligence this may be less of a problem, but I don't know which research paths will be more fruitful. [1] http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Friendly_artificial_intelligence
- mcantor 16y ago
  Watch the original "Ghost in the Shell" movie if you haven't; it touches on this line of thinking in some very cerebral but accessible and thought-provoking ways.
deleted 16y ago
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dools 16y ago
It's a message about how technology increasingly disconnects us from the natural world, and from our own nature as humans. The key message I take away from this is that the longer we allow ourselves to continue along a path this path of disconnection, the more jarring the (inevitable) reconnection will be when it arrives. Food for thought.
- DanI-S 16y ago
  Technology also has the power to connect us with the natural world in ways never thought possible. I can gaze into the innards of a cell from my desk, or explore the deepest reaches of the night sky with the augmented view provided by a mobile phone. Arguably, all of the developments in his post were allowed by a greater understanding of nature and our role in it. We're becoming capable of connecting with nature on far deeper terms; as participants rather than spectators. The desirability of that is a personal issue; many of our fears of it probably stem from the idea that 'playing God' is bad.
  - dools 16y ago
    NB: This is i reply to heed above as well. Firstly to address the point about human action being "part of nature": of course we are members of the natural world however I think the "disconnection" here that I'm picking up on the in the story is the archetypal story of disconnection told in Genesis. Getting kicked out of the garden of eden (a state of perfect and ineffible natural harmony) for eating from the tree of the "Knowledge of Good and Evil" (gaining sentience through our evolving brains and become Directors rather than Actors). Note I'm not actually a religious person but this is certainly an strong story in the collective psyche of a large part of the human population alive today so it's not to be ignored. Secondly to DanI-S I would say that the "connection" you're referring to here is the "cerebral" connection, or interconnection, illustrated by the burgeoning information economy in the story, and not a physical or emotional connection, illustrated by the "grass on the toes".
    - DanI-S 16y ago
      You're right, but at some level toes are just a high-bandwidth interface between your brain and the world ;)

amackera 16y ago

This is unrelated, but something that always struck me as odd about people who fear the singularity due to an impending machine attack: What's so bad about that? Maybe machines are a natural evolution of our culture. They are created by us, and therefore are imbued with some aspect of our nature, perhaps humanity's destiny is to cultivate a species of sentient machines, then die off?

JeremyBanks 16y ago
Although I am personally sympathetic with your position, I don't think the idea of us being replaced by machines is something most people are going to ever be comfortable with. They would probably disagree with the view that the machines would constitute any a tolerable continuation of our existence. Many people are already worried about how scientific advancements are "dehumanizing" us.
- kiba 16y ago
  Why does it alway be about "replacing" us. What about a total upgrade?
  - JeremyBanks 16y ago
    With respect to my post: I was responding to his question "What's so bad about that?" which took replacement as a premise. Generally: I'd prefer an upgrade, but I worry that if we achieve strong AI it will be an extremely difficult problem [1] to ensure it behaves nicely -- so replacement may be more likely than upgrading. If we focus on augmenting human intelligence and not on developing independent intelligence this may be less of a problem, but I don't know which research paths will be more fruitful. [1] http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Friendly_artificial_intelligence
mcantor 16y ago
Watch the original "Ghost in the Shell" movie if you haven't; it touches on this line of thinking in some very cerebral but accessible and thought-provoking ways.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

dools 16y ago

It's a message about how technology increasingly disconnects us from the natural world, and from our own nature as humans. The key message I take away from this is that the longer we allow ourselves to continue along a path this path of disconnection, the more jarring the (inevitable) reconnection will be when it arrives. Food for thought.

DanI-S 16y ago
Technology also has the power to connect us with the natural world in ways never thought possible. I can gaze into the innards of a cell from my desk, or explore the deepest reaches of the night sky with the augmented view provided by a mobile phone. Arguably, all of the developments in his post were allowed by a greater understanding of nature and our role in it. We're becoming capable of connecting with nature on far deeper terms; as participants rather than spectators. The desirability of that is a personal issue; many of our fears of it probably stem from the idea that 'playing God' is bad.
- dools 16y ago
  NB: This is i reply to heed above as well. Firstly to address the point about human action being "part of nature": of course we are members of the natural world however I think the "disconnection" here that I'm picking up on the in the story is the archetypal story of disconnection told in Genesis. Getting kicked out of the garden of eden (a state of perfect and ineffible natural harmony) for eating from the tree of the "Knowledge of Good and Evil" (gaining sentience through our evolving brains and become Directors rather than Actors). Note I'm not actually a religious person but this is certainly an strong story in the collective psyche of a large part of the human population alive today so it's not to be ignored. Secondly to DanI-S I would say that the "connection" you're referring to here is the "cerebral" connection, or interconnection, illustrated by the burgeoning information economy in the story, and not a physical or emotional connection, illustrated by the "grass on the toes".
  - DanI-S 16y ago
    You're right, but at some level toes are just a high-bandwidth interface between your brain and the world ;)