...because someone's head is going to swell.
But here goes.
Last night Mike and I argued - not an uncommon occurrence, seeing as how we're both always right. But last night we argued about technology.
Specifically technology incorporated into the human body.
Mike thinks that we should use technology to allow the human body to do things that it wasn't meant to do - eyes that could see for miles, and in the dark; superhuman strength in our limbs; computer like minds that can retrieve and organize data in a split second. You get the point.
Why? Why do we need those things?
Call me old fashioned, but I like my memories repressed, and I like my comfort in the fact that there are things in the dark which I don't care to see.
Will geniuses be replaced by virtual walking libraries? Will those with photographic memories be replaced with someone with a SIM card inserted behind their ear? Will hand painted oils on canvas be done by someone with a mechanically precise robotic arm, specifically designed to render art? One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men, but no machine can do the work of just one extraordinary man - are we really ready to give this up?
One day, will it come down to a reality that we as humans will no longer have to actively think about anything? Someday, will a machine automatically give us a response to the world around us? If we're having trouble falling asleep at night, will we literally be able to flick the switch to turn our minds off?
No thank you. I'd rather just live my life so that I don't have anything laying on my conscience to keep me up at night.
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Mike thinks that we should use technology to allow the human body to do things that it wasn't meant to do - eyes that could see for miles, and in the dark; superhuman strength in our limbs; computer like minds that can retrieve and organize data in a split second. You get the point
But isn't this evolution? The human race is progressing, just with technology now because we have evolved to the point where we are able to use technology to better ourselves.
Will geniuses be replaced by virtual walking libraries? Will those with photographic memories be replaced with someone with a SIM card inserted behind their ear? Will hand painted oils on canvas be done by someone with a mechanically precise robotic arm, specifically designed to render art? One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men, but no machine can do the work of just one extraordinary man - are we really ready to give this up?
I don't think that are really giving up anything. Great art will be created by great men and women. So what if that arm holding the brush is mechanical or if it's real. It's still a HUMAN creation. It's still human creativity that is the driving force. Even if we are completely transplanted into a wholly artificial body, we would still be human. Why? Because there is something thats more than just cells. A ghost in the shell, as it were.
Is computer generated art any less art because it was made with a computer rather than a pen and paper, or brush and canvas? Is it any less creative, does it have any less feeling.
One day, will it come down to a reality that we as humans will no longer have to actively think about anything? Someday, will a machine automatically give us a response to the world around us? If we're having trouble falling asleep at night, will we literally be able to flick the switch to turn our minds off?
The way society is going, we're already ont he way towards not having to think about anything at all. Society is getting dumbed down.
No thank you. I'd rather just live my life so that I don't have anything laying on my conscience to keep me up at night.
What does conscience have to do with anything? :-p
Oh Mike. The only thing larger than your ego is that comment. :P
I don't know, my ego is pretty big.
no no no NO -
we will never get to this point because, at the rate of which we are consuming the earth and its resources (in combination with population expansion), the world will self-destruct or we'll all die/kill each other off. i dont buy this continuing evolution crap. we dont have enough time to evolve the way were going.
i also think that we know so little about the human body and its capabilities and WHY we are the way we are that the more we lean on technology to solve our problems the further we get away from that 'ultimate' understanding...we dont have to push ourselves for anything anymore.
im with casey on this one. sorry, mike.
Two against one. We win. And yes, Mike, your ego is VERY large ;)
HA HA! (does her 'i win' dance)
I'm not saying that we won't devote any of our time towards finding out why we work the way we do or enhancing ourselves through realizing our potential. I think that economics will cause us to pursue this branch of evolution. People will want to replace parts of their bodies, and these people will have money. On top of that, we've plenty of time to get to that point. We're not going to be stuck on this planet forever. We HAVE to expand. And we have to from an evolutionary point of view. In order for our species to survive, we have to spread out to neighboring planets, so if something happens to our dear old Earth, we're shit out of luck as it stands right now. If we do that, we'll increase our resources, and if Earth faces some type of calamity, such as a planet killer type asteroid that killed the dinosaurs off so long ago, it will hurt, but the species will survive.
And so, because these people have money, we should drop everything and devote teams of scientists to develop super human body parts.
Forget about the people with AIDS, the people with Cancer, the people with Parkinsons, the people who DON'T have money for fancy new designer parts, who DON'T have money for medications, or health care, or proper nutrition. No. Let's not give them anything. As long as the elite as happy with their self-liposuctioning thighs are happy.
You're still wrong, Mike. Any way you dice it. Lauren and I won
Mike just wants to cyborg body to make up for certain asian um.. . "short comings".
Mike while I'm sure he has a conscience he tore it's voice box out years ago. Makes it easier to ignore that way.
*While I'm sure Mike has a conscience, he tore it's voice box out years ago. Makes it easier to ignore that way.
Grammar and punctuation are spiffy.
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