Technology and Our Future: Help or Hindrance?
Picture this: 2010: Computers become invisible. 2020: $1000 buys a computer working at 10 quadrillion, or 1016 calculations per second. 2025: Computers are able to simulate the entire human brain. 2030: Non-biological intelligence matches human intelligence in range and subtlety; $1000 buys a computer 1000 times more powerful than the human brain. 2045: The point of “singularity” is reached, when technology progress is so fast that human intelligence can’t follow it. One can no longer distinguish between our biology and our technology. 22nd Century: Our intelligence, biological and non-biological combined, saturates the matter and energy around us and begins to spread throughout the universe (Anthes, Gary H. 2006 p28)
This is what Ray Kurzweil – inventor / writer / futurist, predicts for our future. He also predicts that by 2045, human intelligence and computer intelligence will fuse and become indistinguishable (Anthes, Gary H. 2006 p28). These issues ar raised time and again by many authors, some journal articles , some books. Some of the key issues one such book presents is: This Virtual Life: Escapism and Simulation in Our Media World. Some of the key questions raised are:
Will the future be utopia or dystopia – a dream leisure society or a technological madhouse?
Can humans cope with so much artificiality in their lives, or will they become maladjusted, aggressive, simulation sick and unable to communicate with one and other in the real world.
Will we be able to dominate our new technology or will it dominate us?
Will our lives continue to be flooded by a ritualised escapist entertainment activities sold to us by huge multinationals to assuage our supposed dissatisfaction with life, or will we increasingly return to nature for a more real view of our world.
(A. Evans, 2001, p3)
A dream leisure society may be difficult to define. However, certain medical breakthroughs and other huge advances in the medical field may make living in society a lot dreamier… especially for those that are sick! If Kurzweil’s prediction of putting nanobots into the bloodstream by the late 2020’s is correct, then perhaps a dreamier tomorrow is not to far off. Kurzweil mused that these nanobots may be able to repair tissue, or carry out lifesaving operations - all from inside you!. World Health (
http://www.worldhealth.net/p/413,1211.html), a website devoted to bringing medical news to the world, has some very interesting articles, stating that prototyping and development in these area’s are already beginning. Perhaps even as early as next year prototypes may be ready for testing. Similar research in the medical field is also being carried out on Virtual Reality.
A Utah University is developing Virtual reality prototypes right now. (
http://www.vrac.iastate.edu/) And not just for the aid of medicine. Virtual reality is helpful for predicting outcomes of things such as natural disasters without them actually occurring. Computer Aided Design (CAD) architectural software and earthquake simulations are all helping the development of building structure to prevent building collapses in the future. VR has reached the point where an operator can have real-time interaction with a virtual world simulation of a real scene (N. M. & D. Thalmann, 1993 p1) This is of course only a small facet of how virtual reality may help society. To see some of the worlds leading designers of Virtual Reality, visit the Sweedish VR site. (
http://vrlab.epfl.ch/) They’re continually preparing experiments and dealing with VR related issues. There is however, a dark side to our technological future. An interesting insight into what the future may hold is on the ABC website, check it out.
http://www.abc.net.au/catapult/indepth/s1349333.htmThis technological madhouse theory of Andrew Evans is very possible. Humanity may slowly fade out of existence. With nanobots flowing through the bloodstream, it may be possible for them to lodge into our brains and start controlling us. Already we are using robots for medical aid… and once again, if Kurzweil’s predictions that computer’s will be able to improve themselves, there’s no telling how smart they might become. Smarter than humans… this is the premise the movie I, Robot formulates on. OK, fantasy… but how far off is this fantasy from becoming reality? It starts the mind thinking about this dystopia.
Discussing the plot of science fiction movies, Arthur C. Clarke said, “We do this not to predict the future, but to prevent it” (A. Evans, 2001, p148). Movies aren’t all fun and games. They deal with real issues, and perhaps to scare people into believing that these things are very possible. Movies help us to formulate (usually) the worst-case scenario, especially when discussing Artificial intelligence and Virtual Reality. The movie Exsitenz is based on the premise that one can play virtual reality games, indeed have whole lives made up in a virtual world, by plugging into a bio-port. The end of the movie is brilliant, where the audience isn’t sure if it is real or not…
Movies such as Existenz and the matrix, using biological technology to transport the body to other dimensions, whether they be gaming or a complete new world. The future of technology may not be far off from that. The same premise is used in both of these movies… will it come to the point where it is impossible to distinguish between the real and the virtual. Are you actually reading this yourself or did you fall accidentally through a virtual wormhole, without realizing it, and are now having an out of body experience… Is this real?
If you’re still confused, visit wikepedia, and the have the “idiots guide” to VR. Quite an interesting read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_realityReferences:
1. Germann, C., Broida, J. K., & Broida J. M. (2003). Using Computer-Based Virtual Tours to Assist Persons With Disabilities. Educational Technology & Society, 6(3), 53-60,
2. Gary H. Anthes. Computerworld 40.2 (Jan 9, 2006): p28(2).
3. Thalmann, Nadia M. & Daniel (ed) (1993) Virtual Worlds and Multimedia Wiley New York
4. Morse, Margaret (1998) Virtualities Indiana University Press Indiana
5. Evans, Andrew (2001) This Virtual Life Fusion Press London
