The idea of humans merging with technology is very interesting, and rather scary, in this article. The way that Raymond Kurzweil predicts that "the end of civilization as we know it is about 35 years away" sure is a bold statement, but you almost can't help but believe it. It seems incomprehensible that technology could pass up human intelligence in that short of time. The reason that you almost have to believe this is that you just have to look at how technology has come in the past few years. For example, the computer that Kurzweil built in 1965 that could compose music much faster than a human. With this being all the way back in 1965, that shows what computers are capable of doing with the technology to work with today. That could give them the capability of "...driving cars, writing books, making ethical decisions...", which would virtually give technology consciencness and life. That is incomprehensible within itself and would make us less human because of the idea of not even being able to make ethical decisions for ourselves. If we dont even have to use our own brain and our own conscience, that makes us lose our originality and our humanity. We are all the same and our choices will all be the same. If we lose our humanity and if we let technology become smarter than us, that could end up being our ultimate destruction. There will be no more use for our own conscience's and we will become less authentically human. Like in Brave New World, we will be used as assembly lines and for creating even smarter technology and there will be no need for authentic humans.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
living toys
Almost everybody in the world, including me, think that toys and inanimate objects could never come to life and are stuck in their "frozen" world. In the article "Fictional Creatures Becoming 'Real'", by Jeremy S. Page, it explains that in this "in between state" these toys can become real even though they dont have the options or agency to do so like the real things that they are imitating. Page claims that by combining their current state with their desired state that this is possible. Page also claims that it is "entirely possible to exist in a state that exists between the lines of life/death or living/not-alive."
Jeremy Page gives three examples of this with three articles called The Velveteen Rabbit, Sunshine, and The Steadfast Tin Soldier. All these stories have one thing in common which is having toys or inanimate objects that are in an "in-between state" but all desire to be real like the real things they are portraying. For example, the rabbit in The Velveteen Rabbit desires to hop and use its hind legs like all of the real rabbits, but he knows because of his toy form and lack of agency he has little or no chance of this happening. However, when he is played with, the Boy thinks of the toy rabbit as 'real' and therefore he gives the rabbit agency and he eventually is able to hop and be accepted by the rest of the rabbits that are real. The rabbit does this by being "physically manipulated" by the Boy and it was also done out of love which helped the rabbit to be able to hop.
In The Steadfast Tin Soldier, the title basically speaks for itself in that the soldier only knows how to show courage like a real soldier even though he is physically bound. However, he only seems to be showing courage because he cannot move, or run away, because thats all a tin soldier can do is stand still and stay strong.
In order for these stories and examples to be true there must be some kind of event that has to occur that causes them to break free from their liminal existance. They can redefine their existance into a new one by combining their current "in-between" state with their desired state. They can also be transforemed by love as proven by the rabbit when the Boy plays with it and he thinks that the rabbit is indeed real. Even though most of us are fixed on the idea that toys cannot change states, Page proves that with enough love and determination, it is entirely possible.
http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/355/1/fangbangers-tin-soldiers-and-living-toys-fictional-creatures-becoming-real
Jeremy Page gives three examples of this with three articles called The Velveteen Rabbit, Sunshine, and The Steadfast Tin Soldier. All these stories have one thing in common which is having toys or inanimate objects that are in an "in-between state" but all desire to be real like the real things they are portraying. For example, the rabbit in The Velveteen Rabbit desires to hop and use its hind legs like all of the real rabbits, but he knows because of his toy form and lack of agency he has little or no chance of this happening. However, when he is played with, the Boy thinks of the toy rabbit as 'real' and therefore he gives the rabbit agency and he eventually is able to hop and be accepted by the rest of the rabbits that are real. The rabbit does this by being "physically manipulated" by the Boy and it was also done out of love which helped the rabbit to be able to hop.
In The Steadfast Tin Soldier, the title basically speaks for itself in that the soldier only knows how to show courage like a real soldier even though he is physically bound. However, he only seems to be showing courage because he cannot move, or run away, because thats all a tin soldier can do is stand still and stay strong.
In order for these stories and examples to be true there must be some kind of event that has to occur that causes them to break free from their liminal existance. They can redefine their existance into a new one by combining their current "in-between" state with their desired state. They can also be transforemed by love as proven by the rabbit when the Boy plays with it and he thinks that the rabbit is indeed real. Even though most of us are fixed on the idea that toys cannot change states, Page proves that with enough love and determination, it is entirely possible.
http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/355/1/fangbangers-tin-soldiers-and-living-toys-fictional-creatures-becoming-real
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