Stop being so scared!
Feb. 16th, 2011 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
devonmeyerThe main trouble with cyborgs, of course, is that they are the illegitimate offspring of militarism and patriarchal capitalism, not to mention state socialism.
This quote irked me. Do you know why I love science-fiction? I love science, and science fiction is basically science that hasn’t been invented yet. Yes, the writing of science fiction is speculative by nature, but it shares a common bond in that it is all about trying to figure out what is going to happen in the future. But there are so very many science-wrought apocalypse scenarios that I’m beginning to develop a sour taste of the genre.
But it’s so typical for people to get up-in-arms about technology. They all think that robots are going to take over the world, or cyborgs are going to be dominating our species (see Battlestar), or something of the like. The truth is that technology can be used for evil, and it always will be, but I look to a recent example of an amazing piece of technology to show that the benefits will always outweigh the potential for evil.
Watson, the computer that competed alongside established, successful human beings on Jeopardy this week, is nothing but elementary. He represents the future in super-smart computer processing. In an instant, he is able to reason the answer to any question posed to him in a digital fashion, come up with an answer, and send an electronic signal to buzz-in before even Ken Jennings can figure out what Trebeck is saying.
Imagine if this technology were used by emergency response systems all over the nation. You could send an emergency text-message to a computer that will, within moments, be able to use the kinds of processing power that humans could never hope to achieve to decide exactly what is going on, the level of danger in the problem, what squad-car is nearest, and etc. Basically, you could send a text message saying that you just heard a suspicious noise downstairs, and the officer on patrol a block away will be in your house before that robber even gets his second leg over the windowsill. That’s the future.
Cyborgs are pretty scary, I’ll admit. But imagine cyborg police officers (Robocop anyone?) or cyborg doctors or cyborg surgeons who can, with super-human precision and speed, complete the kinds of tasks that their biological counterparts take years to learn. And these things can be mass-produced.
So not all technology is the “illegitimate offspring of militarism and… capitalism.” Technology can be used for good, and that’s the kind of tech that is going to lead us into the future.
This quote irked me. Do you know why I love science-fiction? I love science, and science fiction is basically science that hasn’t been invented yet. Yes, the writing of science fiction is speculative by nature, but it shares a common bond in that it is all about trying to figure out what is going to happen in the future. But there are so very many science-wrought apocalypse scenarios that I’m beginning to develop a sour taste of the genre.
But it’s so typical for people to get up-in-arms about technology. They all think that robots are going to take over the world, or cyborgs are going to be dominating our species (see Battlestar), or something of the like. The truth is that technology can be used for evil, and it always will be, but I look to a recent example of an amazing piece of technology to show that the benefits will always outweigh the potential for evil.
Watson, the computer that competed alongside established, successful human beings on Jeopardy this week, is nothing but elementary. He represents the future in super-smart computer processing. In an instant, he is able to reason the answer to any question posed to him in a digital fashion, come up with an answer, and send an electronic signal to buzz-in before even Ken Jennings can figure out what Trebeck is saying.
Imagine if this technology were used by emergency response systems all over the nation. You could send an emergency text-message to a computer that will, within moments, be able to use the kinds of processing power that humans could never hope to achieve to decide exactly what is going on, the level of danger in the problem, what squad-car is nearest, and etc. Basically, you could send a text message saying that you just heard a suspicious noise downstairs, and the officer on patrol a block away will be in your house before that robber even gets his second leg over the windowsill. That’s the future.
Cyborgs are pretty scary, I’ll admit. But imagine cyborg police officers (Robocop anyone?) or cyborg doctors or cyborg surgeons who can, with super-human precision and speed, complete the kinds of tasks that their biological counterparts take years to learn. And these things can be mass-produced.
So not all technology is the “illegitimate offspring of militarism and… capitalism.” Technology can be used for good, and that’s the kind of tech that is going to lead us into the future.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 06:08 am (UTC)But I must ask... Can't technology be the illegitmate offspring of capitalism and militarism AND ALSO be used for good? Haraway does say as much: that "illegitimate offspring are often exceedingly unfaithful to their origins". Though capitalism and militarism are surely good for some people, too... the question, then, if we're going to talk about a "good" future, is "good for whom??"