Comments on: How computers will take over the world

By: H1He2

H1He2 — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:30:10 +0000

Computers aren’t taking over the world. Humans are. Computers are tools, tools so versatile that humans have become very dependent on them. I’m interfacing with a computer right now. How else could all of you receive this message thousands of miles away from me? Computers allow us to communicate so much more efficiently. Computers can also preform some tasks MUCH faster than humans can, and more reliably (take mathematical operations for example). Yes, we are dependent on computers, that doesn’t mean they are taking over the world. They aren’t sentient and they have no control over what they do for us. As long as it stays that way, we are safe. They remain the tool, and we remain in control. On the other hand, what is the human race, really? As we infuse technology with the world around us, aren’t we, in fact, infusing it with ourselves? Is our technology already part of who we are? As computers become more reliable, faster, and more powerful, aren’t we ourselves also improving? I think we must embrace this technology, but can we honestly say that what ever comes out of this transformation would still be the human race? If an entity changes, is it really the same entity? Perhaps homo sapiens will completely die out leaving autonomous machines behind. Or perhaps the computers will become so integrated into our lives that we ourselves become indisngisable from the computers. Imagine for example, a homo sapiens brain which has been electromechanically altered so that it’s neurons would use direct electrical connections instead of electrochemical synapses. It would operate A HELL LOT faster than the run-of-the-mill biological brain. And it would have equivalent processing power. Oh my, what could we accomplish as a species with such brains. We should embrace this technology. Period.

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By: Civil

Civil — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:51:32 +0000

Zachary,

The fact that you cannot spell believe correctly makes me wonder if you are even educated. My first thoughts are that you are 13 years old and speaking without any knowledge of what is actually happening in society.

Computers are not literally “taking over the world” but instead they are padding our society and giving us the detonator button that causes so much chaos.

Great Blog Post. One of my favorite topics.

-Civil

Everyone here should read the book “Rapture For The Geeks” by Richard Dooling

The books hook reads as follows:
“If computers become twice as fast and twice as capable every two years, how long is it before they’re as intelligent as humans? More intelligent? And in two more years, twice as intelligent?”

Basically Dooling talks about computers “taking over the world”

By: MrBlog

MrBlog — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:20:48 +0000

Actually JayBaby, I’m saying exactly that. People relying on technology does cause us to lose those skills (perhaps not common sense, but common sense won’t help someone in 50 years take on a task that requires specific skills).

You say “there will always be people who know enough to get us back on track…” and I say not necessarily. Check your history. There are many, once common, skills that have been lost forever.

To the grocery store situation “You really don’t think someone could grab a sheet of paper and add up the prices?” This exact type of event helped inspire this original post. Computers were down and they could not operate the store – someone was probably technically able to (today), but management forbid it.

To some degree this whole post was a little tongue in cheek but what I’m really pointing out is that we are already in a bit of a tail wagging the dog situation and it continues to get worse, where common sense no longer runs the day.

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:09:34 +0000

You’re right, we are more dependent now on computers than ever before.
But how exactly does that mean they will take over the world? If you know what goes on inside a computer, like you suggest people should (hypocrite), you wouldn’t be scared of them turning hostile.
Computers aren’t sentient beings. They do what we tell them.
HOWEVER the day we give them the ability to learn, feel, and take action like we can, then we will start to worry.

By: chrisitan flores

chrisitan flores — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:55:56 +0000

i am the liberator. i will not allow this to happen.

By: Borg

Borg — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:37:03 +0000

One word: Borg… If you guys have ever seen Star Trek that is exactly what will happen to us… The computers we create will eventually become better then us and ofcourse we will want that perfection and so we will fuse ourselves… Computers will see our obvious efficiency of using food to process into energy and our simple ways of reproducing and will use that as their body but will use themselves as the brain.

We are the Borg, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile.

By: Singularity

Singularity — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:12:36 +0000

Yes, machines will take over, but more importantly we will become intimately attached to machines and constantly share information back and forth… until essentially we are them and they are us. It’s already begun to happen. To do our jobs or even daily tasks we rely on computer AI whether it be search engines, GPS systems, or other software at work. Gradually computer intelligence will be with us everywhere we go (already begun with the iphone), it will be an intrinsic part of who we are.

Over the next 40 years or so, the line will blur to the point where human society will become unrecognizable to what it is today. Computers, which will continue to follow Moore’s Law, will have many billions of times more intelligence capacity than all the natural human capacity on the planet combined. It is difficult to predict what life will be like at this point, be it utopia or dystopia. It is likely that death and ignorance will be a thing of the past and the human-machine society will move on to explore and colonize the universe. This will result in what amounts to an intelligence explosion throughout the universe and ultimately a shared self-awareness of all matter.

By: JayBaby

JayBaby — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:09:11 +0000

Isn’t this a bit melodramatic?
“Oh no! There’s no cash register? I guess I can’t buy groceries.” Seriously? You really don’t think someone could grab a sheet of paper and add up the prices? Arithmetic isn’t a use it or lose it skill, and neither is common sense.
We may become dependent on computers, but if they should fail, there will always be people who know enough to get us back on track… whether that’s with or without computers.

By: Sunflower

Sunflower — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:41:20 +0000

im 84 and this is da bomb

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 04:42:51 +0000

I believe the government has a computer system that is programed to exterminate any threat to mankind. Except the only threat to mankind is ourselves. Its not like nature decided to start global warming unless it wants to commite suicide.