VAdept
05-18-04, 01:44 AM
Between my programming class and my recent viewing of Tron I have been thinking about this quite a bit recently. To begin this discussion I believe this acrually works both ways, we personify computers while we also 'computerize' non-computer related things.
On one end you will hear people say things like "my computer isn't working because its angry with me". Of course we know this isn't the case but it happens often enough. Your average joe or jane will do this when they use computers a lot but rather not try and figure out exact problems or learn the intracacies of how it all works. On the other end of the spectrum you have the hardcore geeks like myself that talk to computers like they are good friends. This can go even further though, how you ask? Our computers are becoming a part of us. Its not even fair to say becoming, they already are.
As we have humanized computers they have computerized us. If your reading this the idea shouldn't be to hard to swallow. As computers are used in ever increasing amounts more people will 'bond' with them. Of course there will be those that reject this, not everyone is so apt to change but I believe the majority will. While user interfaces have seen little in actual development the hardware has and it will just be a matter of time for input technology to catch up. They began clinical trials on BCI's (Braint to Computer Interfaces) this year and its looking promising. Im not hear to preach my beliefs on the subject I would just like to discuss the implications of this shift. Is it good? Bad? Or will it even happen?
I personally think it will, it just seems the logical progression of the path we (humanity) are on. I do think we are losing some of our humanity though, and that could be a major issue. We may be going to far but I think not, we have always adapted to the technology around us. Of course actualy physical links is what will really blur the lines.
If you are interested in this sort of thing I couldn't reccomend anything better to watch that deals with the subject than Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Project. The series based on the Manga/Movie of the same name. I would also have to highly reccomend the book True Names by Vernor Vinge.
I wrote the text below some time ago as I sat around and considered the future. Comment on it if you like but I really wanted to focus on the topics above.
Manifesto
It’s a new world, one of silicon and hopes for the future. Our knowledge and creativity is our strength, its all that’s left to empower this generation. We don’t fear change we embrace it, we encourage it, we are change. The future is before us and people fear it, we hold it in our hands. The limitations are all gone, the world can move within the space of a few keyboard strokes. This isn’t a revolution, its evolution in action. Barring doomsday the technocracy will rise and a socio-technological singularity is on the horizon. We have not chosen this fate, it has chosen us. We are the inclined, the knowledgeable, the so-called technical elite of a society which can no longer be separated from its own technology. We are the cyborgs, if not physically then mentally. Technology is as part of us as our hands, to remove it is to cripple ourselves and to deny it would only lead us to live lies. We will move forward, we have to, it’s our nature. Apathy is the bane of our existence and we constantly wage war with it. We are growing, we are your children and we see the world in a new light. We have no need for war, for government, for violence, we survive on the fringe with or without the aging institutions. Our days are coming, there are those who will choose to be slaves to machines they do not understand but we will not share their fate. We can see the edge, we can feel the current of the net, it calls to us while we study the depths, and its arrival inevitable.
-VAdept
On one end you will hear people say things like "my computer isn't working because its angry with me". Of course we know this isn't the case but it happens often enough. Your average joe or jane will do this when they use computers a lot but rather not try and figure out exact problems or learn the intracacies of how it all works. On the other end of the spectrum you have the hardcore geeks like myself that talk to computers like they are good friends. This can go even further though, how you ask? Our computers are becoming a part of us. Its not even fair to say becoming, they already are.
As we have humanized computers they have computerized us. If your reading this the idea shouldn't be to hard to swallow. As computers are used in ever increasing amounts more people will 'bond' with them. Of course there will be those that reject this, not everyone is so apt to change but I believe the majority will. While user interfaces have seen little in actual development the hardware has and it will just be a matter of time for input technology to catch up. They began clinical trials on BCI's (Braint to Computer Interfaces) this year and its looking promising. Im not hear to preach my beliefs on the subject I would just like to discuss the implications of this shift. Is it good? Bad? Or will it even happen?
I personally think it will, it just seems the logical progression of the path we (humanity) are on. I do think we are losing some of our humanity though, and that could be a major issue. We may be going to far but I think not, we have always adapted to the technology around us. Of course actualy physical links is what will really blur the lines.
If you are interested in this sort of thing I couldn't reccomend anything better to watch that deals with the subject than Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Project. The series based on the Manga/Movie of the same name. I would also have to highly reccomend the book True Names by Vernor Vinge.
I wrote the text below some time ago as I sat around and considered the future. Comment on it if you like but I really wanted to focus on the topics above.
Manifesto
It’s a new world, one of silicon and hopes for the future. Our knowledge and creativity is our strength, its all that’s left to empower this generation. We don’t fear change we embrace it, we encourage it, we are change. The future is before us and people fear it, we hold it in our hands. The limitations are all gone, the world can move within the space of a few keyboard strokes. This isn’t a revolution, its evolution in action. Barring doomsday the technocracy will rise and a socio-technological singularity is on the horizon. We have not chosen this fate, it has chosen us. We are the inclined, the knowledgeable, the so-called technical elite of a society which can no longer be separated from its own technology. We are the cyborgs, if not physically then mentally. Technology is as part of us as our hands, to remove it is to cripple ourselves and to deny it would only lead us to live lies. We will move forward, we have to, it’s our nature. Apathy is the bane of our existence and we constantly wage war with it. We are growing, we are your children and we see the world in a new light. We have no need for war, for government, for violence, we survive on the fringe with or without the aging institutions. Our days are coming, there are those who will choose to be slaves to machines they do not understand but we will not share their fate. We can see the edge, we can feel the current of the net, it calls to us while we study the depths, and its arrival inevitable.
-VAdept