Fun topic to bring up.
I just read a very interesting article by a man named Demos Helsinki.
If I understand the article correctly – the internet will be baked into everything, but will simultaneously cease to exist. I agree with the first point but don’t really understand the second. To be certain, the internet will be built into more and more things, we’re starting to see that happen now, and it is awesome. These are exciting times.
We look at our smart phones every 6 minutes but as tech gets cheaper and smaller and faster and cheaper and smaller we may see a time where we don’t have a cell phone “as we know it” any longer.
Any guesses as to what the next iteration of the smartphone will be? I really can’t imagine there not being some kind of personal phone-like device without some major leap in technology. Like ocular implants or contact lenses which allow us to read and manipulate information. We are at least a few technical hurdles away from that, but ten years is a long time. Smartphones didn’t really exist in their current iteration (iPhone-inspired) until summer of 2007. A lot has changed in 8 years, and the trend is for the rate of change to accelerate.
I was speaking with a friend about how the terminator would have never needed to look in the phonebook for Sarah Connor, he would have just known. The information would have been in his database when he arrived. But James Cameron couldn’t have imagined that future in 1984 and neither could the audience.
It is hilarious to think about things like that which couldn’t have possibly been predicted at the time. Liquid-metal time-traveling android from the future flipping through a phone book is pretty hilarious now. The idea of standing on a random street corner and hoping that a vacant taxi happens to pass you by will seem like a ridiculous practice pretty soon, as well.
Nice topic. I don’t think technology will ever make a dent in the serious problems of humanity.
I am struggling to understand how you could reach this conclusion. Can you explain what you mean?
Technology is what enables 7 billion people to live on earth. It’s what enables you to sleep in a soft bed, consume food at any time you want, remain in contact with friends and family despite geographic separation, meet and interact with people that you otherwise never would, etc. It’s made a dent in every serious problem that humanity has faced, from defending ourselves from predators with crude weapons as cavemen to making knowledge available to the masses with the printing press.
Maybe it makes life more comfortable, buy hey, is a lizard on a rock in the hot sun not comfortable? I’m as dependent on tech as anyone else. Into this house we’re born. But it has never surprised me. I think the hoverboard from Back to the Future was the last time I ever got seriously excited about technology. ;D
It’s not just your comfort which relies on technology, but your existence and that of the society and global civilization that we live in. In one sentence you say technology is meaningless and in another you say you are dependent on it – I’m not sure how it’s meaningless, but it’s easy to see how we are all dependent on it.
I’m as dependent on tech as anyone else. Into this house we’re born. But it has never surprised me. I think the hoverboard from Back to the Future was the last time I ever got seriously excited about technology. ;D
This strikes me as a bleak and joyless outlook to adopt. Do you not look into the night sky and feel a sense of awe when you see the milky way? Does the world being transformed in our lifetime not exhilarate you, even a little bit? Even the potential destruction of the world is awe-inspiring, whether it’s nuclear war, the singularity, or global climate change.
I love being blown away by how technology is changing the world, whether it’s things little or big. It makes life exciting and gives it purpose – this time isn’t like countless previous generations.
To demonstrate that point, and to address the point above that you made about human greed, hate and indulgence, I offer you this article:
Can a Transhumanist Be Elected President?
Why would anyone want that? “Because human beings are naturally selfish. Human beings are naturally after their own interests. We are geared towards pursuing our own desires, but oftentimes, those desires have contrasts to the benefit of society, at large, or against the benefit of the greater good. Whereas, if you have a machine, you will be able to program that machine to, hopefully, benefit the greatest good, and really go after that. Regardless of any personal interest that the machine might have. I think it’s based on having a more altruistic living entity that would be able to make decisions, rather than a human.”