http://www.radioopensource.org/juan-enriquez-the-next-boom-by-zipcode/

Post corrected:

Not to worry. The rate of time at which new technology passes from expensive (for elites only) to cheap (available for all) is accelerating as technological advances accelerate over time. Kurzweil has made this point.

I had no idea there were still modern-day Luddites. Thanks for showing you’re still out there!

The robots are going to take our jobs!!
The robots are going to force us into slavery!!
The robots are going to kill us all!!

Things are worse than I imagined.
Gasp.

No, Rick Schettino.

[Quote from Rick Schettino 10 July 09]”
“Any technology can be used for evil and good. It’s human nature that’s the problem, not technology.””

Like Asimov’s Daneel Olivaw I hope!

[Quote from Expanded Consciousness 10 July 09]”
“Any technology can be used for evil and good. It’s human nature that’s the problem, not technology.”"

Exactly!

[Quote from Corinna Moebius 9 July 09]
“Robotic technology also seems to create yet another way we will disconnect ourselves from the land — and from each other. If we can just download calculus into our brain, why would we need teachers? Why would we need to talk to each other? If we are just communicating in transfers of “data” — why do we need to build human relationships? Everything becomes a transaction. Predictable. Programmable. Will robots become more like us or will we end up becoming more like robots?”

Humans could end up more like robots than robots, and robots could end up more like humans than humans…maybe. That’s if we could get to downloading perfect, or near-perfect, copies of human emotions into robots’ circuitry. Take Asimov’s humaniforms for example (though, yes, I know this is a 1000 plus years into the future!).

Not to worry. The rate of time at which new technology passes from expensive (for elites) to cheap (available for all) is decreasing as technology increases. Kurzweil has made this point.

Human nature is not changing. The human brain evolves very slowly and we have the same brain our ancestors did 10,000 years ago. Sorry, but, for example, playing video games and strengthening visual processing neuronal connections is the not the evolution of human nature (random mutation between generations granting a survival and reproductive advantage).

There are two problems.
1. Humans (irrational by nature) gaining more access to (destructive) power – bigger guns, as it were.

2. AI. Independent intelligence not under human control. AI=logic. AI will treat us not like we treat other human civilizations (we have an attachment-bond to other humans), but like we treat animals. If a pest eats up our resources or posses a threat, we have no qualms about exterminating them. And that is so although we posses a moral conscience. Something AI will not.

So, this is just a logical threat. Hope and fear play no part in the reality. It is just a future reality being born that we can face or deny, but no matter, nothing can be done about it. Genie is out of the bottle. Wheels set in motion. Just sit back and enjoy in the meantime.

Regarding the economic future, there is indeed reason to be hopeful. We suffer from limited resources. Someday, molecular replicators will fulfill all our basic needs and then some. It will be the equivalent of not having $10,000 for a huge music collection to downloading off Pirate Bay $10,000 worth of music for free.

The idea of advancing technology is to eliminate scarcity, poverty, and drudgery. Why should we be afraid of losing our manufacturing jobs when food, water, shelter, and clothing, and other necessities of life will be manufactured at a molecular level using essentially limitless clean power. Then instead of working our butts off all the time we can be caring for our own and enjoying life together and educating ourselves.

To the guy who posed the question about inventing a gun and never using it, and to anyone who says that we are doomed because of our techonological prowess… Let’s remember that guns were invented for protection AND assault – both. Any technology can be used for evil and good. It’s human nature that’s the problem, not technology. And human nature is changing exponentially along with communication and information. I think extremism will decline exponentially as more and more people get online and get access to alternative philosophies.

Now, the hard question is will super intelligent machines eliminate us or use us for fuel? The human race with our limited intelligence has wised up to the value of life and diversity. Most highly educated people (by a long shot) prefer peace and harmony to war and destruction. There’s no reason that an advanced artificial intelligence will automatically take the opposite view. It is possible, of course, but not in the least bit is it guaranteed.

Fear and hope lead in opposite directions. We can only go where we focus. Turn your back on fear and run towards hope with all your might.

And then he says… Iraq … “the enemy” … we kick down a door … so naturally, so smoothly, so fluently as if saying the Sun rising every morning.

Who is door are we kicking? How about not being there, in the first place? How about Mexican Military kicking your Mansion’s door?

He is so corrupt in his business ethics. He is nothing but a war-profiteer.

I don’t think he is a bad guy, but illegal and immoral wars/occupations makes us all “evil” if we are any party to the party.

Scientists create artificial sperm cells from human embryonic stem cells
Wed, Jul 8 11:05 AM
London, July 8 (ANI): “Scientists have achieved a major breakthrough in making sperm-like cells from human embryonic stem cells.

Karim Nayernia, of the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in the UK, has revealed that these cells can swim like sperm do.

He says that his team used the same technique to create sperm-like cells from human embryonic stem cells that he had used in 2006 to produced sperm from mouse embryonic stem cells.

The team labelled embryonic stem cells with a fluorescent marker attached to a particular gene that is expressed during reproductive-cell development, and cultured the cells in a medium that encourages differentiation into sperm cells.”

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090708/1662/ttc-scientists-create-artificial-sperm-c.html

Science marches on. Control over life, indeed.

Robotic technology also seems to create yet another way we will disconnect ourselves from the land — and from each other. If we can just download calculus into our brain, why would we need teachers? Why would we need to talk to each other? If we are just communicating in transfers of “data” — why do we need to build human relationships? Everything becomes a transaction. Predictable. Programmable. Will robots become more like us or will we end up becoming more like robots?

These are just some of my questions.

Thanks for a very interesting show. I listened on our local Vermont Public Radio station. Coincidentally, our local paper ran a story this morning about the 1500 Vermont National Guard members now deploying for Afghanistan – our largest deployment since WW2. I hope they can use some of Colin’s bomb detecting robots to help keep them safe.

Sci Fi Files: March Of The Machine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4rkroahrSY&annotation_id=annotation_851795&feature=iv