There is No Salvation
1. First and foremost, all-controlling computer networks such as those shown in movies like Terminator and iRobot are becoming more of a reality everyday with the progress made by companies like Google, who recently acquired Boston Dynamics. Already with bipedal robots capable of using human tools, Google's latest venture is primarily funded by, you guessed it, the U.S. Military via its Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Imagine a company who knows everything about your interests, financial information, and buying habits through your internet usage, knows your location and primary contacts through your phone, can physically SEE YOU at any given moment with its satellites, and now is teaming up with the organization that can send a remote-controlled plane to take out a small town and spends more on weapons than the GDP of most countries. It's not a stretch to make the connection here, and there's nothing you can do about it, even moving to a desert island....
It was Less Intimidating in Terminator...
Truth
2. The second imagined scenario is inspired by the likes of A.I. Artificial Intelligence in which humanoids become so advanced that they are self-aware and potentially self-serving. Living side-by-side in harmony may be a great theory for those touting new technology for sale but we believe it would only be a matter of time before one population or the other outgrows to the point of conflicted space. As we've discovered, humanoids are already replacing us in the sex industry, being integrated in medicine and dentistry, and are even driving by themselves. Who's to say there won't come a day when they decide to eliminate inefficient, carbon-based homosapien counterparts?
Sure, it Looks Cute Now...
3. This is where it gets scary. I know what you're thinking, now is when it gets big? Well, in our imaginations, now is when it gets small with the future potential threat of nano and microtechnology. While this is most likely in the way way future, this particular genre of engineering provides some of the greatest potential for future usage, including warfare, as it could be virtually impossible to defend against a swarm of machinery so minute it can permeate human brain tissue. After being printed to custom specifications by anybody who wants to threaten others with a 3-D Molecular Printer like this one, the bots could be directed to administer lethal toxins to millions if not billions of people at the same time. When combined with the likes of an omnipotent super-computer being like Google is predicating who could control their actions, these microscopic robots seem virtually unstoppable. If you're a reader, check out Michael Crichton's book Prey for an extended explanation of this possibility.
Don't Look Too Close
4. Finally, and perhaps most realistically, as humans increasingly introduce automation into the manufacturing process, there could reach a point in which consumer goods, industrial goods, and even weaponry are produced entirely by a computer program and various robotic equipment. This runs the risk of isolating human intervention and control and at some point, such as after a large war, mass disease, or other such large event. At this point, computers and robots, now self-replicating, may not have the discretion to control their production habits and could exhaust natural resources or destroy the natural environment to the point that it is uninhabitable by us more fragile life forms. Check out the short story Autofac by Philip K. Dick, author inspiring such movies as Minority Report, Paycheck, and Total Recall for his interpretation of this scenario. If given the mandate of self-preservation, robots will be competing with humans over a finite amount of resources available. Who knows who would win that battle...
Disney's Revenge: There Will Be No Survivors
After the intensive research conducted in the writing of this research, we have concluded that there is only one possible salvation from this madness:
It's Turbotime!!
No comments:
Post a Comment