Some of them are the most powerful figures in our industry, people who can call up Barack Obama about the dangers of nanotechnology, and Obama has to say “Michelle, I need to take this.”
“Barack, it is three o'clock in the morning."
“I know, but this guy is scared of sentient artificial intelligence and he's a huge contributor.”
And then Obama just has to sit there and listen to this shit.
Because we all know that 3000 years from now, everyone will be gagging to see Ray Kurzweil.
Because we all know that 3000 years from now, everyone will be gagging to see Ray Kurzweil.
Very refreshing in its own way. What the author and many, many other people (some of whom used to be my Facebook "friends") are ignoring is that even "the internet we already have" is completely unsustainable on ecological, economic and social levels. Coltan comes from somewhere, is mined by someone, and is of a certain quantity, and its availability cannot possibly keep up with present consumer demand indefinitely. Social media, while increasing the amount of human communication and cat videos (personally I prefer pugs, and is this guy seriously valuing such activity as good enough for a civilization with important ecological problems to face?), has utterly corrupted our already shaky skills of communication (see the most recent post on my blog pefkfl.blogspot.com for details on that). Most of us sound like a bunch of chest-thumping chimps on crystal meth when we talk online, because the tools we are using are talking through us as much as us through them (a OOO observation). Meanwhile, the idea that our energy-constrained ecological future will include everybody running around with these stupid screen-tech devices (even "good enough" ones) is as crazy as anything Kurzweil is saying. This guy wants tech to "connect the world"? The world already IS connected! And so far, that's been at least as much a BAD thing as it has been a good thing! It's like these folks who want to move to an "intentional community" or an eco village. You're already in an intentional community! The intention didn't pan out, is the problem! And "Eco" means dealing with a bunch of crap you didn't ask to be born into: you can do that right where you are. I feel like every time people say they want one thing, you can rest assured they really want the opposite.
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