Singularity
Basically what Ray Kurzweil means by singularity is a point in the near future where technology and humans will become so advanced that it will be completely different to generations and would not make sense to these previous generations. This point would be one that would not be reversible. Things would be so different that everything around us would be drastically changed from the way we learn, to how our bodies behave, to how crucial parts of society exist around us would be nothing like we see now. I read an article that explained this by using the example of the internet. If a person in 2015 were to explain to a person who lived 200 years ago the concept o the internet, it would be impossible because the ideas and language would be drastically different to the point of not understanding the concept. I think the merging of biology and machine is happening but not to the point that is implied by Kurzweil.
I think there are existing technologies such as incubators for babies that are a technology that merges with the biology of the living baby to help it reach a level of self survival when the baby is born prematurely. Another example of the merging of biology and machine intelligence is a chip on a dog, the chips helps the owner locate the dog if it were ever to be lost. The difference between this and the singularity concept is that both of these technologies only serve that single purpose, their reach is pretty limited to those uses and therefore doing very little to affect other things around it that do not directly relate to the purpose.
I am not sure if I can break singularity down to say it is either good or bad. I think it is simply a mystery whether good will prevail or the bad will take over. In a perfect world it would be ideal, the technology could make us advance in fields that are still not reachable. It would allow for further understanding of concepts that we know little about today. For instance, this concept could potentially enable humans, with the help and merger of machines to find out if there is life in other planets. The possibilities are endless, the questions we do not know the answers to yet would be easier to figure out with the merging of two great species that are computers and humans.
However, there is no perfect world, with such a drastic change there will be potential for disaster. For example, wars would could potentially enter a whole new detention of destruction. This reminds me of the movie Transformers, the level of destruction will be even superior to what we already have. Governments could use such a merge to hurt other countries or manipulate people of the environment to a destructive point. This idea is basically just imagining the worst possible thing that could happen but I hope won’t.
Most people fear the unknown, I am one of those people. Life right now to me is good, we are doing fine, however it is inevitable that we will progress and that rate will be very quick so I am prepared to have an open mind and hope for the best but it is pretty difficult to be optimist when all the fictional versions of such ideas always end in disaster.
Winner is Right
Langdon Winner believed that we as humans are not fully conscious on the implications technology and the dependency we have on it. We see technology as a tool that we can decide when to use and when to put it down. However, he believed that humans don’t fully consider the consequences that using technology produces. I agree with his point of view, I think we use technology because it is very convenient and helpful to live our day to day lives. Sometimes we don’t even realize we need a certain technology but when it is introduced we find out it is so much easier to do whatever task with it so all of a sudden we have no idea what to do without it. For example, touch screen phones were not always around, we had to push buttons and communicated just fine. However, now if you take my touch screen away I would not be a happy camper.
The thing we don’t take into consideration is that all of these uses for technology are creating patterns in our lives that we don't notice immediately. For example, Google is such a fundamental part of everyone's life now from college student to a mom looking up recipes to bake a cake. It is great to have answers to any questions at the click of a button however, this technology has only been around and as we know it for a little over a decade. We as humans have grown so attached to it and don’t realize how crucial it is until we don’t have it. If google were ever to disappear we would definitely not know what to do with ourselves. Everything would take longer to do, from finding directions to someplace, researching a topic for a school paper, or even finding out what ingredient you needed for that cake.
Paper maps are no longer normal, some people would be lost if they didn’t have google. That research paper would take a lot longer to do in order to have everything you need because books and people would be your only resource. That cake would have to be a trial and error process because you couldn’t double check how much of this or that you would need to put in it.
We have an addiction to technology and it is increasing and becoming more attached the issue is that we have no idea. We think that we can stop using a phone any time we want, because of course it is just a phone, a tool to do whatever task we have. What Winner aimed to explain and what I agree with is that technology is no longer a tool it is an extension to our being that if taken away will have the same or even worse negative effects as if something we were naturally born with would be taken away.
Ava vs Ash
I think that Ava was more of an intelligent being than Ash, she adapted and her behavior progressed over time. She learned from the people around her and applied that knowledge to many things she did. Ash however, was more like a collection of digital information that the real Ash posted while still alive. There were instances in the short film where he learned figures of speech that he and his wife shared but in other situations he didn’t learn he was just obedient. The scene where he is arguing with his wife shows the deficiencies that he had while interacting and have an argument with her. In my option he real, he had creepy ways of interacting, he was an ideal form of Ash’s actual shared thoughts. He wasn’t really Ash, he only merged everything Ash said and made it into an ideal version of him.
My idea of moral obligations to anyone is treat him/her/it how you want to be treated. This includes people and other living beings such as animals. I think it is not going out of our way to treat people the way that each one of us would want to be treated. In my eyes respect and helping someone when they can’t help themselves is a duty I have to fulfill. This doesn’t mean I go around in daily life looking for people to help or respect to give but in daily interactions I display all of these traits. I think we all should have this idea of respect and a humanistic approach of aid.
I don’t think I have those same moral responsibilities apply to inorganic beings. However, this does not mean that I will go around mistreating every robot I run into. This to me just means that living things are a priority and more important than non living things. If i were ever put in a situation where I had to choose between a robot or a person I would 110% choose the person because my moral obligations are focused towards that being. I think this is simply the case because I know what it is like to be a living organic form so sympathizing with one is more straightforward than having that same feeling towards a bunch of mechanical parts arranged together.
I am not preaching that this way of thinking will never change. I think that when Singularity takes off, we will be forced to reconsider and evaluate our place in society and the relationships we hold with those like us and the inorganic forms that will also be as if not more crucial than we are currently.
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