Elon Musk recently spoke at the World Government Summit in Dubai about the inevitable future of the combination of people and future technologies.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/13/elon-musk-humans-merge-machines-cyborg-artificial-intelligence-robots.html
These will be technologies that'll be sold as an improvement of the human existence, sold as an enhancement of our individual traits and abilities. But will these future technologies truly achieve this? Or will it make us an extension of a market where we're sold even more products? We'll be marketed to with new, empty slogans and infomercial-style ad content about how to 'upgrade'. At what cost though? At what cost will these things come to us? Sure, there's the monetary cost but what about the cost of our spirit? The chipping away of our individuality, our spirit, our soul?
Technology, and being "connected", has had many negative effects as it is. Especially in terms of people disconnecting from one another and being attached to smart devices. Now imagine if the smart device is connected directly to us? Where the escapism is always there and the distraction doesn't even require the push of a button to dull everything out. What then? What place is left for us? What place is left for our humanity? Where will we begin and the cold electronic part of us end?
The "merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence" will surely be a good money-maker for business, yes, but what about people? We'll practically be turned into objects, if we chose to, that believe in "upgrading" ourselves every few years. People who take a part in this will find themselves feeling no better than a smart device and the novelty will wear people down to feeling like nothing. The new feeling will wane and things'll begin to feel like a task, a hit, a fix, just to try and reach what once was felt. That is the nature of, a flaw of humans, that seek out escapism through a dulling out of humanity. The aftermath of such a thing may as well be the devastation of humanity itself.
I mean, we're already seeing the clear and present cracks in the digital world when we're indirectly connected to it. Imagine if we had an 'always on' connection and interacting with it has no requirement of actual typing out what you post, or chat, or write? There'd be little escape from this digital world and the endless stream would always be one, if you don't choose to disconnect. And what about those who refuse to become a part of this new 'connected' world? What new intolerances in societies will development due to these facts?
Future technologies like these, which are much closer than we think, are double-edged swords. When people finally become full engrossed in the digital world, what will be the effects on actual, face-to-face communication over time? What will become of compassion, physical contact, the feeling of present energy as people begin to interact less outside of digital realms? What will become our true, beyond the digital, connections as we pull apart? Perhaps even in our own homes. If anything, these things could become the decline of humanity's 'lifeforce', the lessening of our reasons to keep evolving spiritually, and a whole new type of doomsday.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/13/elon-musk-humans-merge-machines-cyborg-artificial-intelligence-robots.html
These will be technologies that'll be sold as an improvement of the human existence, sold as an enhancement of our individual traits and abilities. But will these future technologies truly achieve this? Or will it make us an extension of a market where we're sold even more products? We'll be marketed to with new, empty slogans and infomercial-style ad content about how to 'upgrade'. At what cost though? At what cost will these things come to us? Sure, there's the monetary cost but what about the cost of our spirit? The chipping away of our individuality, our spirit, our soul?
Technology, and being "connected", has had many negative effects as it is. Especially in terms of people disconnecting from one another and being attached to smart devices. Now imagine if the smart device is connected directly to us? Where the escapism is always there and the distraction doesn't even require the push of a button to dull everything out. What then? What place is left for us? What place is left for our humanity? Where will we begin and the cold electronic part of us end?
The "merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence" will surely be a good money-maker for business, yes, but what about people? We'll practically be turned into objects, if we chose to, that believe in "upgrading" ourselves every few years. People who take a part in this will find themselves feeling no better than a smart device and the novelty will wear people down to feeling like nothing. The new feeling will wane and things'll begin to feel like a task, a hit, a fix, just to try and reach what once was felt. That is the nature of, a flaw of humans, that seek out escapism through a dulling out of humanity. The aftermath of such a thing may as well be the devastation of humanity itself.
I mean, we're already seeing the clear and present cracks in the digital world when we're indirectly connected to it. Imagine if we had an 'always on' connection and interacting with it has no requirement of actual typing out what you post, or chat, or write? There'd be little escape from this digital world and the endless stream would always be one, if you don't choose to disconnect. And what about those who refuse to become a part of this new 'connected' world? What new intolerances in societies will development due to these facts?
Future technologies like these, which are much closer than we think, are double-edged swords. When people finally become full engrossed in the digital world, what will be the effects on actual, face-to-face communication over time? What will become of compassion, physical contact, the feeling of present energy as people begin to interact less outside of digital realms? What will become our true, beyond the digital, connections as we pull apart? Perhaps even in our own homes. If anything, these things could become the decline of humanity's 'lifeforce', the lessening of our reasons to keep evolving spiritually, and a whole new type of doomsday.
