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The earliest inventions for harnessing nature were tools powered by human muscles. They revolutionized our ancestors situation, but they suffered from the limitation that they required continuous human attention and effort during every moment of their use. Subsequent technology overcame that limitation: human beings managed to domesticate certain animals and plants, turning the biological adaptations of those organisms to human ends. Thus the crops could grow, and the guard dogs could watch, even while the owners slept. Another new type of technology began when human beings went beyond merely exploiting existing adaptations (and existing non-biological phenomenon like fire), and created completely new adaptations in the form of pottery, bricks, wheels, metal artifacts, and machines. To do this they had to think about, and understand, the natural laws governing the world - including...not only its superficial aspects, but the underlying fabric of reality. There followed thousands of years of progress in this type of technology - harnessing some of the materials, forces, and energies of physics. In the twentieth century, information was added to this list when the invention of computers allowed complex information processing to be performed outside human brains. Quantum computation...is a distinct further step in this progression. It will be the first technology that allows useful tasks to be performed in collaboration between parallel universes.
[excerpt from 'The Fabric of Reality' by David Deutsch]
3 Comments:
Who's David Deutsch?
Even though it is a total sci-fi cliche, reading this makes me contemplate the growing power of our machines. Compare the rate of human biological evolution to the rate of increase in computing power. If we ever pass the critical barrier stopping sentient AI, I think that it could easily surpass us. It could become ruler of the earth. Especially since in the future more and more stuff will be plugged into the internet, more devices will be computer controlled. But perhaps we can successfully build in a kill-switch or a set of rules or whatnot.
On a side note I felt as though Mr. Deutsch should have mentioned the coming technologies of genetic engineering and cybernetics, both large milestones. They will represent the merging of man and his tools, and man's use of machines to alter his very essence.
Perhaps the true destiny of mankind, our path to a higher existence, and our way out social problems is to merge with our machines. We will become massively engineered, cyberfied, modules in a huge interconnected network of global consciousness. It's frightening, but I could actually see us as Borg, think of the power we would have... the efficiency. Or perhaps this is fundamentally against our nature. Maybe we can find a happy medium.
to see what all the hoopla is about
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