As Ray Kurzweil says in the film The Coming Singularity, the information technology glows exponentially, we may find it hard to believe the advance technologies decades later. I am always hold the opinions that technology, which is designed by human, can only be a tool for human being to extend our abilities. As long as technology cannot change the restriction that they can only follow the instruction given by human, they will not be out of control unless they are operated by evil mind, which is still not coming from the technology itself but human brain. However, Ray Kurzweil predicts that by 2029, the reversed engineered technology will be able to simulate all parts of human brain, which will enable a computer to combine "the subtlety and suppleness of human intelligence" and the "ways that machines already superior to us" as they can harness all human knowledge, remember billions of thing accurately, and share knowledge a million times faster than human language (The Coming Singularity). It raises my worries because I believe the flexibility of human brain is what makes human ultimately superior than a computer. But if a computer can also redesign and refine themselves, then it may cause a problem to human as they have more powerful computational ability than human. Imagine a human who can store infinite information and run at the speed of light, he/she will be able to defeat any human beings. However, the thing is at the process of developing a human like computer, we can still manipulate it to think in the way we want it to in order to make sure it does good to human. Though I have some worries about it, I am still optimistic about the future technology.
2. How has technology impacted your life?
Technology has made a great influence on human lives, but the most important impact is that it change my life style. I remember when I was a kid, bookstore was the place where I spent most of my time while I was waiting for my mom to pick me up after school. At that time, no big screen phone or e-reader, the only thing I could do when I did not finish a comic book was to come back tomorrow. When I went to middle school, computer became a popular thing, where I can read a lot of comic book online. I could always finish what was left at home. Later on, during high school, my phone and tablet freed me from a computer screen. Instead, I could read and access to any information online anywhere. It changed the place and the way I read. But it also changed my life style. Now, besides school, almost all the information I learn about come from electronic product. I have got used to an instant access to any information online. Not just education, but literally anything, from food, to clothes, and to leisure. We have been surrounded by a giant cyber network created by these technologies. We cannot simply say the technology is good or bad, but one thing that can be sure of is that technology has integrated into our daily lives.
Question #1
Artificial intelligence might just be the final frontier in technological advancements. First of all artificial intelligence is the ability of computer systems that will be able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. That means tasks such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages would now be accessible to computer programmed things. While many people might see artificial intelligence and nothing more than a technological milestone, I believe it will be a significant problem in the future. Like Stephen Hawking as stated, “the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” Hawking’s counterpart, Elon Musk shares the same feeling as Hawking when he stated that he believe the artificial intelligence is humanity's "biggest existential threat" and in addition, the human race needs to be super careful with artificial intelligence because it potentially could be more dangerous than “nukes” (nuclear power).Already the human race is increasingly becoming a lazy one. We have come to rely on technology more and more so much so that simple every day, mundane things we cannot no longer do on our own.
Question #2
As I stated in the first essay question, human beings have become more and more reliant on technology. While I cannot speak for every human around the world, I know that this is true for me. If someone was to ask me whether technology has impacted my life for the better or for the worse, I would answer for the better. But I am not sure how merit that holds in essence. I know it has made my life a lot easier. When I need to make certain calculations, I can grab a calculator or my cell phone and punch in the numbers. When I need to get from point A to point B I can just input the address in my handy dandy GPS and I’m on my way to go. When I’m feeling bored, I can read a novel on my kindle or put on a movie on my television. And pretty much the list is endless. But this means that I have become increasing dependent on technology and at times I feel like I cannot function. Lets say technology all of sudden ceases to exist as we know it, I believe I would have a hard time surviving in a technology-free world as well as many people in the world like many other people.
The first sentence of the essay already caught my attention as I never thought artificial intelligence would be the final frontier in technological advancements. I do believe that in order to achieve actual artificial intelligence, which means a computer has an independent thinking skill, a very advanced technology need to be applied to it. But is is necessary to be the final frontier of technology? If it is, then I can assume that the author has regarded human ourselves as the most advance "technology" in the world. However, there are two theories about relationship between human and nature. One may argue that human is insignificant comparing to the nature as human is like a infant while the nature may be a thousand year old tree. Our intelligence will be nothing in front of the universe. However, others may argue on the basis of computational equivalence, saying that the human brain may be just as sophisticated as the universe itself. If it is true, then reaching the same computational equivalence as human will be the limit of technology.
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