Questionnaire for College Paper
Hello all,
I was chatting with Divine Fayez-Olabi via Facebook when I remembered that I've got this paper coming up for my college Philosophy class ("Technology, Values, and Human Society" -- sadly, we've looked mostly at the writings of Jacques Ellul, Niel Postman, and Langdon Winner). It occurred to me that, unlike the nature of the class so far (doom, gloom, and dehumanization of man), the biohack.me community is full of future-minded people that are focused on how technology can be used to improve the existence of humankind. So, I figured that I would put together a questionnaire for you guys, and hopefully inject a positive counterpoint into a (largely) negative class.
I'll post the paper, once it is written, to the group and on my website as well. Thanks for your time! (this is the first time I've asked things of this nature from a group of this size, so it's probably not going to be very good. I might even have to follow it up with another, but who's to say that's a bad thing?)
1 - I need some way to identify you for the sake of attribution, so: What is your name (or how shall I refer to you if you prefer not to reveal your name)?
2 - How did you find out about biohack.me?
3 - What do you personally hope to achieve for yourself as a result of participation on biohack.me?
4 - How would you say that humans and technology relate to one another? Would you say that humans are in complete control of technology, or would you say that technology is exerting some form of automation and is in some ways steering the course of human development? (in another way: "Who's in charge: man or invention?")
5 - Within the next Thirty years, how do you see technology shaping:
* education
* employment
* leisure
* social relations (particularly "friends" and "family")
* religion
* medicine
6 - How must human society change its way of thinking as it is faced with a future where automated programs (or even artificial intelligences) replace human laborers in offices much in the same way that the automated mechanized assembly line displaced human laborers in factories?
7 - This last question is rather short, vague and lofty: What are your hopes and dreams for the future of humankind?
I was chatting with Divine Fayez-Olabi via Facebook when I remembered that I've got this paper coming up for my college Philosophy class ("Technology, Values, and Human Society" -- sadly, we've looked mostly at the writings of Jacques Ellul, Niel Postman, and Langdon Winner). It occurred to me that, unlike the nature of the class so far (doom, gloom, and dehumanization of man), the biohack.me community is full of future-minded people that are focused on how technology can be used to improve the existence of humankind. So, I figured that I would put together a questionnaire for you guys, and hopefully inject a positive counterpoint into a (largely) negative class.
I'll post the paper, once it is written, to the group and on my website as well. Thanks for your time! (this is the first time I've asked things of this nature from a group of this size, so it's probably not going to be very good. I might even have to follow it up with another, but who's to say that's a bad thing?)
1 - I need some way to identify you for the sake of attribution, so: What is your name (or how shall I refer to you if you prefer not to reveal your name)?
2 - How did you find out about biohack.me?
3 - What do you personally hope to achieve for yourself as a result of participation on biohack.me?
4 - How would you say that humans and technology relate to one another? Would you say that humans are in complete control of technology, or would you say that technology is exerting some form of automation and is in some ways steering the course of human development? (in another way: "Who's in charge: man or invention?")
5 - Within the next Thirty years, how do you see technology shaping:
* education
* employment
* leisure
* social relations (particularly "friends" and "family")
* religion
* medicine
6 - How must human society change its way of thinking as it is faced with a future where automated programs (or even artificial intelligences) replace human laborers in offices much in the same way that the automated mechanized assembly line displaced human laborers in factories?
7 - This last question is rather short, vague and lofty: What are your hopes and dreams for the future of humankind?
SovereignBleak edit: let's keep general group discussions to chat.
Tagged:
Comments
2. I was basically there when it was founded.
3. I hope to be something and to have abilities I wasn't/didn't have before I joined. Also, I hope to make some breakthroughs in DIY surgery.
4. Man. I don't think technology has yet achieved the ability to control its own development. Give it a few more decades to a century, though, then it'll join alongside us :-)
5. Education: I think that free skooling and other, similar methods will replace the state/corporate-owned schools we have today.
Employment: I hope, at least, that factories and power companies are rendered obsolete by such DIY technologies as 3D printing and nanogenerators. But, I'm not so sure that this will happen.
Leisure: I think that we will replace the Puritan "work ethic" with what Bob Black calls the "ludic ethic." Basically, it's an ethic of both play and leisure, where the person alternates between having fun and doing nothing. It's when the right balance is found that people are at their most creative.
Social Relations: I think that the family in particular will be rendered obsolete, and instead people will have fluid circles of friends, or even "Unions of Egoists" as Max Stirner calls them.
Religion: I think some form of supernatural belief system will always be with us, regardless of the lack of evidence. What I do hope is that the horrible argument from immortal, immaterial souls will eventually disappear because we are able to create sentient AIs, and then people will shut up and recognize that these AIs are indeed "persons". I also hope that we eventually are able to do things such as preimplantation genetic diagnosis and stem-cell research without too much religious opposition.
Medicine: I'm not 100% sure what's feasible and what's not here, but I think Michio Kaku hits it on the head: you will have nanomachines implanted in your clothes or body which monitor your health, and an automated nurse will be able to diagnose simple illnesses. Or, maybe people will eventually be able to do most, if not all, surgery DIY, though I'm not very optimistic on that last point.
6. Put simply, we're going to have to stop thinking of ourselves as somehow unique, and acknowledge that there are other sentient, though non-living, beings. We will also have to recognize that these beings are, in a way, our children.
7. I hope that we form a model of the universe of ever-increasing utility for us, and use it to manipulate the universe in ways we couldn't have imagined before. I also hope that increasing education, etc. will render things like corporations and the state obsolete.
2 - How did you find out about biohack.me?
Hopping around various blogs and websites about DIY bio-hacking, looking for info.
3 - What do you personally hope to achieve for yourself as a result of participation on biohack.me?
4 - How would you say that humans and technology relate to one another?
5 - Within the next Thirty years, how do you see technology shaping:
* education
* employment
* leisure
* social relations (particularly "friends" and "family")
* religion
* medicine
6 - How must human society change its way of thinking as it is faced with a future where automated programs (or even artificial intelligences) replace human laborers in offices much in the same way that the automated mechanized assembly line displaced human laborers in factories?
7 - This last question is rather short, vague and lofty: What are your hopes and dreams for the future of humankind?
2. Ian told me about biohack.me and this
3. I'm not really sure, to learn I suppose
4. Now then that really depends on the situation; sometimes it is man who is in charge such as on rides at carnivals where there is a man there to push a switch to turn the machine on or off, but our spotlights control us in our daily commutes telling us when to go and when not to. So in conclusion yes and no, but we are getting to the point where we have engineered robots (they are still prototypes and are very, very expensive) that are able to look like humans so in due time they may be standing next to or controlling us.
5. this is a really broad question, but anyway here goes:
~Education: I see the class rooms becoming more online and more green in the sense of paper not being used in most classes with the advancing of smartboards (really fun to play with) and classes being more online and more work at your own pace.
~Employment: I can't say anything here because the only jobs I have had are manual labour with animals and technology is not going to do much there, not to mention I have no clue how 8 hour days 5 days-a-week jobs work because of how the position I held ran.
~Leisure: interactive holograms like on Star Trek possibly, there is no way to guess in this category.
~Social Relations: they may get better because of social networks by helping us keep in touch with people across the world or just down the lane, but it could also weaken it by not teaching us how to talk verbally with people.
~Religion: Eventually people may become more diverse in religion because of technology letting us read about other religions and hopefully some religions on the brink of total extinction may come back/become 'less dead'
~Medicine: I owe my life to more modern medical technology a handful of times over, but technology will improve and lengthen out lifespans and quality of health in many ways such as colour vision and immune systems
6. Well, people need to realise that they are carbon-based life forms and in the grand over look are replaceable, also learn when to show emotion and when to bottle it up and ignore it. Finally they need to stop with this "you are all special, important, and unique." crap, special as my left foot, important as a grain of sand, and nobody cares about unique much in this time and day.
7. Prove as an overall group that we do deserve to be the 'dominate species' and deserve to live in our currant and modern society.
2 - Via Sapiens Anonym.
3 - I wish to learn more about practical electronics, genetics and implant development.
4 To differentiate between the two is a mistake. Bees don't control thier hives, beavers don't control dams, and sharks are not ruled by thier teeth.
Building tools is simply our what we do as a species, and as our tools become more advanced we evolve in sync.
Man and technology are simply two sides of the same coin.
5 -* education
An increase in computers in the schoolroom, with a gradual phasing out of physical resources.
Schooling itself will gradually focus more on processing information than retaining it as net access renders it more and more irrelevant..
* employment
The trend of working form home will become more pronounced, allowing a business to draw on employees globally, instead of being forced to employ those who live locally.
* leisure
An increase in computer based media. Should physical augmentation become widespread we may see a resurgence in "blood" sports such as jousting and gladiatiors, as they can be performed without risking the health of the participants.
* social relations (particularly "friends" and "family")
As with employment, we'll see an ever decreasing focus on local social groups in favour of global communities. No idea about family though.
* religion
No significant change.
* medicine
Increasin medical capability make procedures and treatments that used to be extreme the work of an evening. Physical augmentation results in problems that would be difficult to treat simply being replaced with a cybernetic equivalent. Ever more drastic alterations to an individuals biology and physical form become prevailant.
6 - I'm not sure. All that's clear is that the standard economic system cannot surivive mass automation as is.
A government controlled or non-profit organisation to produce basic goods, services and housing would be a good start.
7 - I hope for a society where the current trends towards tolerance and personal freedom continue, where our lives are no longer dominated with having to "earn" enough to ensure food and shelter for ourselves and our dependants, where the hand we're dealt at birth no longer defines where we end up in life.
In short, a world where all can live the life they want to live instead of the life they have to.
2 - I found out about biohack.me from Sapiens Anonym, which I was linked to by io9. I've been interested in transhumanism and body modification for several years, though, just never occurred to me to put the two together.
3 - I don't see grinding going anywhere lofty just yet. For now, it's a hobby, a way of satisfying myself by modifying my physical self, and helping to push what will very soon be a revolutionary movement.
4 - As technology advances, there is increasingly little distinction between humans and tech. Man is in charge for now, but the entire question will change when there is no distinction between the parties. We're not turning ourselves into robots, we're making organisms out of hardware.
5 - Within the next Thirty years, how do you see technology shaping:
* education: Likely, but not as much as the other fields. Children still need to learn to read and write, perhaps they'll do it on computers, but education will still be recognisable.
* leisure: Once again, drastically. Whatever the dreamers can come up with, we can sell to people for entertainment. I see this changing beyond recognition.
* social relations (particularly "friends" and "family"): Social relations are going to be around as long as there are mammal neurones in our brains. They'll still be there in thirty years, more or less.
* religion: And yeah, religion's going nowhere. Hopefully in thirty years organised religions will tolerate or even advocate emerging societal or technological development- it's unlikely, but it'd be nice, and it'd be a big help.
* medicine: Medicine will never, ever stop moving forwards. In thirty years people won't be invincible, but they'll be a heck of a lot more durable than now. Cancer will probably be a thing of the past, and ageing might go soon too.
6 - I don't think we'll have to change our way of thinking. We'll just be the supervisors, the programmers, the people who manage the machines. We'll probably be a lot happier if all the shitty jobs get cut out.
7 - I hope we never stop moving forward. I hope whatever I can possibly dream of now will be lost in the grandeur and beauty of the things we eventually do, and I seriously hope I'm around to see it.
2 - Lepht's Blog. "Where it all started", basically.
3 - I hope to learn a lot about the human body and the human condition, I hope to be able to help others do the same and acquire a few permanent gadgets for myself.
4 - Humans are in charge - or, to be more precise, human nature. Most of all, the curiosity and their feeling of entitlement.
Of course, technology has a huge impact on the world and society, some unwanted or unforeseen, but all in all, technology has done us no harm. I'm confident the world will be even more awesome in 50 years' time.
5 Within the next Thirty years, how do you see technology shaping:
* education
* leisure
* social relations (particularly "friends" and "family")
* medicine
6 - How must human society change its way of thinking as it is faced with a future where automated programs (or even artificial intelligences) replace human laborers in offices much in the same way that the automated mechanized assembly line displaced human laborers in factories?
7 - This last question is rather short, vague and lofty: What are your hopes and dreams for the future of humankind?