Nathan Key

Don't Panic

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Will Artificial Intellegence Kill us All? (Part 2)

5/28/2009

 
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The other day I came home and found that the internet wasn’t working. I didn’t have anything particular that I needed to do- I think I was going to check my e-mail- but I got really nervous for a moment, wondering what I was missing because my link to the world was cut off.

It was strange, though, because for a moment after my initial panic I actually felt a sense of relief. I actually felt free. There was a sudden freedom from any obligation to respond to e-mails, Facebook updates, Tweets, and RSS feeds from GoogleReader. The internet was down and so I had a legitimate excuse to be disconnected from the world and solely focused on my family. The truth is, it’s shocking that I felt this way because only a few months ago I would have been going crazy trying to figure out how to get my connection back.

Remember that scene in Matrix where Joe Pantoliano’s character Cypher begs a Sentinel to allow him back into the Matrix? I didn’t make the correlation until now, but I’m beginning to think that his need for the Matrix is similar to our need for the internet and social networking.

Can you imagine life without our current range of technologies? Could we even go back to the way it was before personal computers, cell phones, Wikipedia, Google, and Facebook inundated our culture?

I’m hard pressed to admit it, but I think we’re already enslaved to technology. Most of us couldn’t figure out a way to grow our own food, weave our own clothes, or find water that’s safe to drink. Whether or not our own technology turns on us, I think it’s pretty safe to say that any sort of major interruption would be more than most of us could handle.

I think that’s why New Orleans eroded so quickly into madness after Hurricane Katrina.

Without our technology, we’re helpless.

So, I don’t believe that AI will kill us.
I think it’s much more likely that we’ll kill ourselves off in the wake of a major power failure.

But that’s some of the beauty of these AI Monster Movies. They may not paint an accurate picture of what the world will really be like if the robots take over, but they paint a very clear symbol of the slavery that we’ve created for ourselves. As I mentioned in the first post, it’s all very much like the Tower of Babel- we’ve placed our hope in technology rather than in God and in our fellow man.

And as a result, we’re confused. We don’t understand each other any longer. We only understand our own needs and our own beliefs.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

The other day, I was unplugged and rather than spending the evening worrying about whether or not the internet would come back on, I played with my son and I spoke with my wife. I’ve been doing that a lot more lately. In fact, last night I didn’t even look at my computer for more than a few seconds.

I spent the evening with them, instead. And I’m going to be really honest…
It was much better than the Matrix.

Dana link
5/28/2009 12:53:05 am

*nods* I can relate to the relief you felt. There are times when I wish we could just go back to the 80s before most people had any inkling of what the internet was... and the only portable phones were in cars... or the size of a military walkie-talkie and only available to the upper classes.

I recall a time not too incredibly long ago when I told people "I don't want a cell phone because if I'm not available, I probably don't want to be found." Alas! *sigh* People can find me a lot easier these days. :o(

...all in the name of "what if there's an emergency and I can't get to a phone?"

Jordan Mitchell link
5/28/2009 01:22:52 am

Mmmmhmmm!

Do you read Wendell Berry?


Nathan link
5/28/2009 01:28:29 am

I know Wendell Berry's stuff although I haven't spent much time reading anything he's written. He's the guy who really likes farming and such, right?

FTP Blog link
5/28/2009 03:51:12 am

"I’m hard pressed to admit it, but I think we’re already enslaved to technology. Most of us couldn’t figure out a way to grow our own food, weave our own clothes, or find water that’s safe to drink. Whether or not our own technology turns on us, I think it’s pretty safe to say that any sort of major interruption would be more than most of us could handle.
I think that’s why New Orleans eroded so quickly into madness after Hurricane Katrina.
Without our technology, we’re helpless.
So, I don’t believe that AI will kill us.
I think it’s much more likely that we’ll kill ourselves off in the wake of a major power failure."

Couldn't agree more. As much as I find technology captivating, there is an urge in me to learn to do the simple things like farming, making soap, woodwork and so on. I want to be able to survive within any terrain, regardless of what is available. While technology makes things easier for us, it also makes us lazy. I mean, how many of us in the western world can even hand-wash our own clothes?
Like anything in life, science and technology needs to be applied responsibly. It doesn't serve any individual right to become enslaved to things that he/she made.
Nice post.

Nathan link
5/28/2009 04:15:13 am

@FTP I think you're right. We should do our very best to be individually responsible with what we have. And I really hope that I can learn to do some simple things like farming, ect. I don't know that I'd ever have enough land to survive in the event of a disaster, but just being able to have a general know-how about basic survival is of great importance.

Beth
5/28/2009 04:56:12 am

I like the new you. Its hot. So does Ethan. He calls for dada every morning upon waking now.

Nathan link
5/28/2009 05:05:07 am

The new me thinks you're hot, too.
And the new me wishes he were around in the morning to greet his baby boy!


Comments are closed.

    About Nathan

    Nathan Key likes to think about faith and philosophy and talk about it with others. He lives with his family in New Hampshire. He doesn't always refer to himself in the third person.

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