All the past is but the beginning of a beginning; all that the human mind has accomplished is but the dream before the awakening. ~ H.G. Wells Continue reading Does Evolution Imply That Life is Meaningful?
Monthly Archives: February 2016
Critique of Bill Joy’s “Why the future doesn’t need us”
ABSTRACT
In his well-known piece, “Why the future doesn’t need us,” Bill Joy argues that 21st century technologies—genetic engineering, robotics, and nanotechnology (GNR)—will extinguish human beings as we now know them, a prospect he finds deeply disturbing. I find his arguments deeply flawed and critique each of them in turn.
(Published in ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, Volume 32: Issue 6, June 2003.) Continue reading Critique of Bill Joy’s “Why the future doesn’t need us”
Summary of Bill Joy’s, “Why the future doesn’t need us,”
Bill Joy (1954 – ) is an American computer scientist who co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and served as chief scientist at the company until 2003. His now famous Wired magazine essay, “Why the future doesn’t need us,” (2000) sets forth his deep concerns over the development of modern technologies Continue reading Summary of Bill Joy’s, “Why the future doesn’t need us,”
Review of Paul & Cox’s, Beyond Humanity: Cyberevolution and Future Minds
Gregory Scott Paul (1954 – ) is a freelance researcher, author and illustrator who works in paleontology, sociology and theology. Earl D. Cox is the founder of Metus Systems Group and an independent researcher. Their book, Beyond Humanity: Cyberevolution and Future Minds, attacks the opponents of scientific progress. Continue reading Review of Paul & Cox’s, Beyond Humanity: Cyberevolution and Future Minds
Summary of Jaron Lanier’s, “One Half A Manifesto”
Jaron Lanier (1960 – ) is a pioneer in the field of virtual reality who left Atari in 1985 to found VPL Research, Inc., the first company to sell VR goggles and gloves. Continue reading Summary of Jaron Lanier’s, “One Half A Manifesto”
