Free Essay

The Future Doesn't Need Us

In: Science

Submitted By dougpettit
Words 787
Pages 4
The article “Why the Future Doesn’t need Us” was written by Bill Joy, a well known inventor and computer scientist who feels new technology could be a threat to our planet and the human race. He feels that the technology that is being built today could endanger the human race. Joy encourages other scientist to always consider the unintended secondary effects or consequences of their inventions or technology.
Joy compares twenty first century technology genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics (GNR) to older nuclear, biological and chemical technology (NBC). He discussed the potential dangers of NBC that the world has dealt with for many years and explained how much more dangerous GNR is. In his comparison he explained how close the world came to being destroyed with nuclear technology in the past and how GNR is even more dangerous. According to Joy GNR technology could give humans the power to control creations and possibly the most dangerous factor is that GNR is capable of replicating itself. This technology could definitely be used by the military, but also has the potential to be used outside the military. If used outside of the military there would be no way to stop it. He fears that this technology could fall into the hands of terrorist or those wanting to harm others. Joy feels that the only way to stop catastrophic devastation from GNR is for the world to abandon the pursuit of certain areas of this technology and set up a type of control measure similar to what was used with biological weapons to insure that it never gets into the wrong hands.
Genetic engineering has been real helpful in farming and has revolutionized agriculture by increasing crop yield while reducing the need for herbicides or pesticides. It will also create cures for many diseases increasing the human life span and way of life. Joy expressed his concerns with genetic engineering and how humans could inadvertently or maybe as an act of terrorism create a “White Plague”, a disaster where a certain group of people are eradicated through genetic manipulation. He also feels that humans could reengineer themselves with different species.
Nanotechnology was first discussed by Nobel-laureate physicist Richard Feynman in a speech in 1959. Joy says that Eric Drexler’s book Engines of Creation from the mid 1980s made an impression on him. The book described how manipulation of matter at the atomic level could create a utopian future of abundance, where just about everything could be made cheaply. It also told that any physical problem or disease could be solved using nanotechnology. Although there are some positive medical elements that will come from nanotechnology Joy has a fear that the use of nanotechnology could be used to eradicate certain groups of people. Joy felt that this technology was several decades away until he recently discovered that nanoscale electronics are practical today.
Joy discussed robotics and artificial intelligence and some concerns in these areas also. In his opinion, enabling computers or robots to think or make decisions for them would allow them to eventually begin to self-replicate. He thinks that if this were to happen the human race could become extinct or become slaves to these machines. The human race might not every intentially hand overall power to machines, but they might permit themselves to be in this position through their dependence on the machines. Joy explains that as society and the problems that face it become more and more intelligent, people will let machines make more of their decisions for them because machines will make decisions that bring better results than the man made decisions. This could lead to a stage where decisions are so complex that humans are not capable of making them and it will have to be made by the machine. At this point the machine will have gained control.
Joy encourages scientist and society as a whole to take responsibility for their technology and thinks that secondary effects should be considered and mitigated to prevent possible disasters. He feels that people have become more concentrated with the technology and its new benefits and less concerned with possible consequences. Joy tells that humans only have one chance at doing things right with new technology.
I feel that Joy’s article took a worst case scenario approach to discussing the dangerous of this new technology. I was not really convinced by this article that the human race will be doomed by the coming advances in technology. Joy did raise some concerns about new technology and as with everything there will always be unintended effects that must be considered.

References
Winston, M., & Edelbach, R. (2009). Society, Ethics, and Technology. (4th ed., pp. 285-301). Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

"Why the Future Doesn't Need Us

...Question Write a three- to five-page (600-900 word) response to the following question: In "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" (pp. 285-301), Bill Joy expresses a powerful pessimism about the dangers of technologies that may be developed later in our century. Joy also a muted optimism about humans' ability to use ethical principles to avoid those dangers. What are Joy's best reasons for being pessimistic? What are his strongest reasons for expressing optimism? As you consider the relative strengths and weaknesses of those reasons, explain whether and why you find yourself more pessimistic or more optimistic about the issues that Joy raises. (PL 401) INTRODUCTION The development of technologies in the modern world has been seen to many as blessing. The use of technology has greatly affect the living style of human race as most of them are develop to improve life of human being and also prolong their lifetime, for instance the use of technology such as robot in carrying out surgical operation in the hospitals to treat diseases like cancer, genetic engineering in farming to increase production is a great promised that the technology has brought. On the other hand, Bill Joy who is a well known computer elite expresses his fear that the technology advancement in the modern world could bring more harm than good to human race and the planet at large. Joy feels that the technologies that may develop later in the 21st century...

Words: 996 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Economic Issue

...Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines unveil the progress of the Philippines and its rated “active or moving”. It also identifies reforms needed for 7 sectors: agribusiness; information technology; manufacturing and logistics; mining; and tourism; medical travel; and retirement. According to JFC it is focusing on the weakest areas but there’s a danger of backsliding under a different leadership. Since many changes and improvements had made, this enable the Philippines business environment to be competitive and the fiscal policy is also good because of the K to 12. But despite of this, number of binding constraints still remains, deterring the country’s track to achieving inclusive growth. JFC highlighted that the Philippine government needs to initiate bolder measures that will transform the Philippine economy in the next decade. The JFC sighted other sectors that needed to be strengthened and reinforced such as agribusiness, mining, education and poverty alleviation and if policy continues to improve it will create more employment opportunities. The greatest potential for employment and development are in the rural remote areas, to increase inclusive growth it has to...

Words: 1381 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Dating or Waiting

...relationship and how to get along with the opposite gender. There are a lot of “thumbs up” to dating. Why do parents think we as teens aren’t mature? The truth is teens are mature but in their own way. We can act stupid and laugh at stupid stuff—just like adults do. But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t mature, it just means that we want to have fun and enjoy life. We as teens can be serious too, but only when we need to be. Dating is a way that will help us mature and “grow-up”. It will help us feel grown-up as well as teach us lessons that we will use when we are “gown-up”. All parents tell us teens about dating are the negative side to dating, but they always leave out the positive. There are so many positives such as communication and trust. When you are dating someone you need to communicate and talk about how you feel and just everyday life to learn more about each other and to stay connected. Also when you are in a relationship you need to trust your partner, trust is a huge life skill that you need to learn when you are young. Dating as a teen is a good way to find out what you are looking for in a spouse. Dating can also help you with hurt and rejection. Which will also help you in the future, rejection doesn’t just happen in dating but also in finding a job. Often when a girl likes a guy she acts different around them then she would when she is just with her friends. But you should have friends of the opposite sex so that you can know how to behave when you get into a relationship...

Words: 493 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Abortion

...woman who has been involved in abortion and society. The immorality of abortion is evident through its action against moral and ethical values. Abortion basically causes death. Individual human life in a mother’s womb is destroyed. The taking of innocent human life is wrong under any circumstances and possibility of a new life emerging is excluded. Don Marquis, a current Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kansas argues that destroying human life is immoral and unjust because it prevents the victim from seeing their future. He states, “The loss of one's life deprives one of all the experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments that would otherwise have constituted one's future. Therefore, killing someone is wrong, primarily because the killing inflicts [one of] the greatest possible losses on the victim” (189). In other words, Marquis is saying that the death of a person prevents them from having a productive and enjoyable future. That is where the idea of abortion being immoral comes in. The taking of an innocent, defenseless human life is unacceptable and morally wrong. Marquis’ view on killing is that since it’s wrong to kill...

Words: 2214 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Wise Judgement Scenario

...to trust their better judgment whatever the situation maybe. If you are someone like myself, who does not always trust their better judgment than you the choice of making a more promising decision by going over the five components to help someone or yourself to make a decision, trust the decision, and stick to it. When it comes to what I like to call a sticky situation, none of us ever really made that decision or trusted out better judgment that could have kept us out of the situation in the first place. Often times than not, most of us never really thought things through, so for us the five components has become our self-help book so to speak. The first of the five components is factual knowledge about matters of life. The knowledge of and about human nature has always been known to be complex, because there seems to be more than one way or reason to describe it. The factual part is information or knowledge that can be verified and is consider accurate, but also credible. The fact of life with the scenario of this teen girl and her 17 year old boyfriend is even though this is nothing new for most of us; there is something you can do. Between the ages of 12-16, puberty is bound to hit at some point, the urges in those hormones will give the teen the extra push to explore and cross boundaries they may not would have crossed without the hormones. The downside teens don’t seem to grasp is that there is a huge difference between love and sex, but they don’t comprehend what that difference...

Words: 1140 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

...THIS IS YOUR TIME THIS IS YOUR MOMENT THIS IS your TIME and this is your MOMENT. It DOESN’T matter what you have DONE.in the past ITS TIME to focus on our future. No excuses….it doesn’t matter how many have told you that you can’t do it.. It doesn’t matter about the criticisim you have received We don’t’ have time to compare God has purpose in everything, including the transitions necessary for our advancement, a time to make us ready for what’s ahead. We must prepare ourselves for READY for us ahead PREPARE YOURSELF FOR YOU OPPORTUNITY TO BE SUCCESS…. I am reminded of a story I heard years ago about a farmer and his hand…As I paraphrase this story it reminds me of how dedication leads to preparation and how preparing yourself for your opportunity will lead you to success. This farmer was in town and as he entered into town, he noticed the clouds getting darker and darker. Everyone started rushing into town to get supplies and food for this seemingly massive storm that was coming. People were panicking and some confused about what to do. The farmer rushed home and immediately woke up his hired hand frantic. Saying there is a storm coming and we must prepare for it…The farm hand looked confused and asked for clarification. The farmer said we need to gather all the hay…the farm hand stated that it’s been gathered, because he does it at the end of each day…he stated that they needed to make sure the barn was secure and the horses have enough...

Words: 1058 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Destruction In Chip Ward's Letter 'We Screwed Up'

...now and find solutions, the next generations could be facing these problems alone. In the next 50 to 100 years people might see the world change to a whole new beginning. Chip Ward, (2012) indicated by the abundance of oil at hand our generation and the ones before us gobbled it all up. We used it wherever we could. Products were made from oil, fuel, and fertilizer. When our children and grandchildren grow up, we can only imagine what will be left. Using all these chemicals to produce products we may have unnecessarily exposed the future generations to new diseases. The lands, oceans, lakes, and rivers have also been effected for all future generations. They are being dredged, which is ruining bottoms that contain life and important nutrients that feed fish and other...

Words: 713 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Essay On Rising Up From Failure

...that we are not intelligent and we are often discouraged. According to Matthew Bass, “Failure is simply a stepping-stone on your way to success” (Matthew Bass). Failing is never a hindrance for our success. It may let us down and make us hopeless at first, but if we try again and come up with a plan, everything will work out in the end and obtain success. Students need to know that successful people experienced failure and kept on redoing and continuing until they obtain success (John Merrow). Failing isn’t a time to give up. Instead, it should be time where we should be improving our educational habits and allocating more time to study. How you deal with failure will determine not only your future success, but how easy it will be to achieve (Matthew Bass). How you responding and making an action on your failures would be the first steps on rising up from failure and avoiding it. According Mickey Rooney, who writes practical articles about life, skills, and success said that there are 7 powerful tips to rise from failure: First, Rise up and don’t regret; you have spent...

Words: 1106 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Living Life with a Purpose

...Imagine a cherry tree in full bloom, its roots sunk into rich earth and its branches covered with thousands of blossoms, all emitting a lovely fragrance and containing thousands of seeds capable of producing many more cherry trees. The petals begin to fall, covering the ground in a blanket of white flowers and scattering the seeds everywhere. Some of the seeds will take root, but the vast majority will simply break down along with the spent petals, becoming part of the soil that nourishes the tree — along with thousands of other plants and animals. Looking at this scene, do we shake our heads at the senseless waste, mess and inefficiency? Does it look like the tree is working too hard, showing signs of strain or collapse? Of course not. But why not? Well, for one thing, because the whole process is beautiful, abundant and pleasure producing: We enjoy seeing and smelling the trees in bloom, we’re pleased by the idea of the trees multiplying (and producing delicious cherries), and everyone for miles around seems to benefit in the process. The entire lifecycle of the cherry tree is rewarding, and the only “waste” involved is an abundant sort of nutrient cycling that only leads to more good things. Best of all, this show of productivity and generosity seems to come quite naturally to the tree. It shows no signs of discontent or resentment — in fact, it looks like it could keep this up indefinitely with nothing but good, sustainable outcomes. The cherry-tree scenario...

Words: 4042 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Peak Potash

...Potash? Utilizing available resources has allowed for great expansion in the global food production industry. The use of fertilizers has enabled increased production but has also caused a reliance on potash, a non-renewable resource. The article titled "Peak Potash – What Our Government Doesn't Want Us to Know," argues that global production of potash has already peaked on the Hubbert cycle and inevitably the industry will collapse in the near future. Evidence presented in the article is brief, but proves that relying on non-renewable resources is not sustainable. The complex issues of resource management are revealed by the article, but the article doesn’t mention irregularities in data or how the Hubbert Linearization (HL) is an approximation that often changes. After reviewing the articles references and other sources it is clear that there are issues in sustaining current usage of fertilizers in the food production industry. However, these problems may be somewhat exaggerated in this specific paper. The graphs created using data from the US Geological Survey 2009 show how production has increased significantly over the past 80 years, yet they also show how forecasting future production is very difficult task. If the production graph was analyzed in 1992, one might argue that production had already peaked and that the industry was facing a steady decline. However, this decline proved to be only an inconsistency in the Hubbert curve as production climbed steadily...

Words: 1046 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

World of Warcraft Pro

...Solution 1: Our group’s project is “Locate all areas in NYC that doesn’t have Wi-Fi and find a way to provide to these areas.” The choice was made that with our group was that we will make a scenario. This scenario is the people of NYC want try and find if there is a way to receive free Wi-Fi to all the NYC local areas. In order to do this we will setup a study and ask a local internet provider to setup free Wi-Fi services to the first 10,000 households that join with them or current members for this study. The study will be carried out for three months to evaluate the services, quality, and the cost of the overall project. This will provide information for the future to see if free Wi-Fi is possible. The company chosen for the project will be a loss for providing free services, equipment, and personal for this study. In order to make up for this the US government, New York, and NYC will provide tax breaks, funds, and additional services to help for this study. Also there could be fund raisers set to raise local funds for this project though the local areas of NYC. This project could be looked as an investment for the future. Solution 2: Our group’s project is “Locate all areas in NYC that doesn’t have Wi-Fi and find a way to provide to these areas.” The choice was that was made that we will hire a company to install Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the NYC area. We will need to do fund raisers and other projects to raise the funds for this project...

Words: 871 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Nigga 420

...Essay: The Happiest Day of Your Life Life changing decisions isn’t easy, especially not when somebody wants to make them for you and not guide you. Your future is entirely decided by someone else. When silence seems like it couldn’t be any louder and nobody takes notice. This will be my interpretation of the novel named The Happiest Day of Your Life by Penelope Lively. The novel is written in third person narrative, an example of that would be in the beginnig when the narrator describes the setting the boy and his family are in. We hear about the characters different actions and feelings but the narrator doesn’t comment on them, which makes it omniscient without comments. The narrator describes Charlie directly in the beginning of the novel, where the mother is described through her comments and behavior. Modes that are used are direct and indirect conversations and descriptions of different settings. The novel takes place in St. Edward’s Preparatory School in the suburbs of London. The novel begins and ends in the car. The parents are very excited and the atmosphere in the car is quite tense. It differs from Charlie to the parents. Charles doesn’t seem to care much about the interview, since he doesn’t say a word. On the other hand his parents talk a lot about the headmaster and the school. The mother even says “I could do with a drink. Hope they lay something on” (p. 61, 10). It seems like she wants to relieve some of her nerves throughout the interview. The atmosphere...

Words: 1066 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Interpretation on Robert Frost’s the Road Not Taken

...indecision. It tells us about a travelers who is standing in front of two different roads that basically look the same. He doesn’t know where each of the roads leads to, but he should make a choice whether he would take the first road or the other in order to move forward. Of course the roads here are just a symbol. It represents something much concrete in our reality: choices. In our life we are often meet with so much choices that could lead us to our future. The first stanza explains about a traveler in a yellow wood, stood in front of two diverged roads and he can only choose one road to be traveled. So he takes an intense look to the first road to know where it goes, but he can’t get a good look because the road is covered by undergrowth. What does it means? I think the yellow wood is a symbol. Since the road in the wood is yellow, we can picture this as autumn, when leaves change color. Thus, autumn could represent an old phase of someone’s life. If you’re in your late year which means an old person and you have two choices in front of you, it is rather difficult to choose between one of them. Much further, we will never know where are those choices would take us. It is indeed take a long time to make a decision. The traveler then take a look at the other road as well, described in the second stanza. He feels that this road look a little better than the other one although those two roads are actually very similar and difficult to differ. It leaves us with the question:...

Words: 703 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

15 Things You Should Give Up to Be Happy

...happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering – and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them. Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go:   1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big? 2. Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel. “By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu   3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have...

Words: 1328 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

When Getting Old Becomes a Liability

...parents would have known that when they had children that we may have to work until the age of 70 or may not have any social security benefits, would they still have had children. Heck the fact that my generation and that of my sons, not having social security benefits scares the life out of me. I mean, what are we working so hard going to school and getting degrees for? We teach our children that in order to live a successful life, we have to go to school, work hard, save our money, and at the end of the rainbow is a life of retirement and stress free living. With the way that out economy is going, this doesn’t look like that fantasy is going to come true for myself nor my children. Lots of our citizens 50 and over are concerned about their future regarding when they can retire as healthy people, not getting fired due to medical issues because they can’t retire and the employer doesn’t want to pay for insurance, and being able to enjoy life after employment ends. AARP has been very vocal with their advocacy of these concerns that our elderly have, and which our readings has defined as, “an action taken in support of a cause or an idea”(Worth 2014, p. 367). In an article posted by AARP, “social security is a high priority, especially for residents who feel unprepared for retirement” (Bottorff, 2014). AARP states” Those who worry about Social Security running out are focusing on data such as this: In 1955, there were more than eight workers paying into the Social Security system...

Words: 847 - Pages: 4