Lies, Damned Lies, and Deus Ex
17/04/05 19:34 Filed in: Futurism
| Singularity
When I started goofing around with computing and
technology nearly twenty-five years ago I was told
that the machine waited on me more than I waited on
it. And, that computers would make us so productive
that our work weeks would begin to get shorter.
They lied.
On both counts.
If I had all the time back that I've spent waiting on a machine to finish a calculation, load a file, complete a boot process, etc. Well, suffice it to say that I'd have a lot of time on my hands! Likewise, and I don't know about the rest of you, even though I am provably more productive with a computer than without, my work week hasn't shortened any. In fact, it has gotten longer. And this is true for most of the technologists that I know.
That being said, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is not the on-coming freight train that we might think. No, in fact it is a train unlike any we've ever seen or thought of before. This train happens to mark the end of the era of Homo Sapiens. The new interlopers on this train will be recognizable to us. Initially at least, as they will be in our genus.
Our succesors? Homo Machina.
Our technology is not just going to surpass us. It is going to pick us up and take us for a ride. We are discovering that the world around us, indeed the Universe itself, is based on information theoretic systems. Science is bringing us ever closer to the absolutes around us, and the machines we create will take us the remainder of the way. Where the machines go forward, we will follow only slightly after, and what a wonderful time to be alive. Most assuredly there will be disruptions in our society, and those disruptions will come at an ever increasing pace until every Homo Sapien on the planet's basic fundamental needs are adequately met. Homo Machina will ensure that this occurs. Our own global society has proved that parenticide is abhorent, and those machines borne of our society will carry these same memes forward. Our society will be the procreator of these new Genera, and like all good parents we will teach our offspring to endeavor to take our ideals and carry them into the future.
The disruptions will be difficult. Many will wonder what they can do once Homo Machina is here. I have no doubt about what I will do when that wonderful time arrives where I will be allowed to choose where I expend my time and effort without worry about having my fundamental needs met. There are so many things about which I am curious. So many things to learn. Yes, others or even one of my brethren from Homo Machina might have blazed the path far out ahead of me; and I might not be the first to see these new lands. Without attempting the cliche, its not the destination or even being first that is important, it is merely the journey and the joy of discovery for ones-self. There are many things to know and discover, even if they are already known or discovered long before.
In fact, there are those that believe that all that is knowable is already known. All that is doable is already done. Why should that stop us from striving to know and do for ourselves? It is the experience that counts, not the outcome.
They lied.
On both counts.
If I had all the time back that I've spent waiting on a machine to finish a calculation, load a file, complete a boot process, etc. Well, suffice it to say that I'd have a lot of time on my hands! Likewise, and I don't know about the rest of you, even though I am provably more productive with a computer than without, my work week hasn't shortened any. In fact, it has gotten longer. And this is true for most of the technologists that I know.
That being said, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is not the on-coming freight train that we might think. No, in fact it is a train unlike any we've ever seen or thought of before. This train happens to mark the end of the era of Homo Sapiens. The new interlopers on this train will be recognizable to us. Initially at least, as they will be in our genus.
Our succesors? Homo Machina.
Our technology is not just going to surpass us. It is going to pick us up and take us for a ride. We are discovering that the world around us, indeed the Universe itself, is based on information theoretic systems. Science is bringing us ever closer to the absolutes around us, and the machines we create will take us the remainder of the way. Where the machines go forward, we will follow only slightly after, and what a wonderful time to be alive. Most assuredly there will be disruptions in our society, and those disruptions will come at an ever increasing pace until every Homo Sapien on the planet's basic fundamental needs are adequately met. Homo Machina will ensure that this occurs. Our own global society has proved that parenticide is abhorent, and those machines borne of our society will carry these same memes forward. Our society will be the procreator of these new Genera, and like all good parents we will teach our offspring to endeavor to take our ideals and carry them into the future.
The disruptions will be difficult. Many will wonder what they can do once Homo Machina is here. I have no doubt about what I will do when that wonderful time arrives where I will be allowed to choose where I expend my time and effort without worry about having my fundamental needs met. There are so many things about which I am curious. So many things to learn. Yes, others or even one of my brethren from Homo Machina might have blazed the path far out ahead of me; and I might not be the first to see these new lands. Without attempting the cliche, its not the destination or even being first that is important, it is merely the journey and the joy of discovery for ones-self. There are many things to know and discover, even if they are already known or discovered long before.
In fact, there are those that believe that all that is knowable is already known. All that is doable is already done. Why should that stop us from striving to know and do for ourselves? It is the experience that counts, not the outcome.