Enslavement of the Human Race?
I really like the direction that Hawking is taking with his views about the evolution of the computer world and technology. At the end of this brief article, there is a sentence which includes a comment about the “enslavement of the” human race. This is a common perspective of how the future might evolve, however it is not one that I agree with and see as unlikely.

What Hawking talks about is the use of genetic engineering, and other new technologies, to provide more and more man-machine integration … to reduce the boundary between humans and the networks that we use to communicate and generate business. This is exactly where I believe the world is heading … towards a synthesis of humans and the non-human … the extending of human abilities with human created extensions.

One of core creations of evolution that is missed in most discussions is community and organizations … and particularly the modern versions of these. As humans we strive to create effective communities and organizations, and communications is the bond with which these are created and held together. All of the work in communications and computer technologies are oriented towards the improved effectiveness of communications, and the automation of human infrastructure tasks.

The “closer” that we can get to the network – that we created – the more effective we can be in the communities and organizations that we are a part of. The integration of technology with humans is the “natural” path that we are moving down. We are closing the “gap” between our intelligence, and the collective intelligence that we are creating.

Stephen Hawking On Genetic Engineering vs. AI [Slashdot]

Leave a Reply