1.) Garreau mentions the history and relationship of us and our technologies (p.6 "For all previous millennia..." and p.9 "In the late 1990s..."). There are both merits and demerits of using technologies. What kind of negative effects have occurred as a consequences of the use of new technologies until now?
2.)Do you agree with enhancing human ability by technology like the examples in Chapter 1 (living for more than 150 years, metabolically dominant soldier etc...) If you agree, what kind of ability do you want to get? (strong athletic ability or something) Give a specific example. If you disagree, what kind of problems do you think will happen to us by such technology? Explain with reasonable evidence or logic.
3.) In chapter one (pages 7~8), Garreau describes the scenario "The Law of Unintended Consequences" where the "Enhanced" (those who have amazing thinking abilities, beauty, vaccination against pain, telepathy powers, etc), the "Natural" (those who have the choice to become like the "Enhanced" but choose not to), and "The Rest" (those who cannot afford the education or money to become enhanced) may all exist together someday. What kinds of problems may arise from the co-existence of these three types of people?
Group Leaders:
Izumi Munakata
Kaori Suzuki
Kaya Doi
3.I think that a new hierarchy will exist, and that conflicts will arise when the three different groups struggle to gain control.It seems possible that the Naturals and the Rest join forces to try to subdue the Enhanced. Or they may exist as parallel systems, very much like the Ist, 2nd and 3rd world countries which exist at present.The reason why I think so is,
ReplyDeletehowever enhanced the Enhanced may be, it might be hard for them to be fully altruistic and put others' interests before their own. Just like the so called developed countries of the world today, they may use their superior abilities to further their interests at the cost of the unenhanced, leading to the conflict scenario I mentioned earlier.
It might be that history repeats itself yet again.
Hey Shantonu! Thanks for your comment! You're Number 1 :)
ReplyDeleteI like how you compared the relationship of the Enhanced, Naturals,and the Rest to that of the so called developed and developing nations today. Wow, it didn't occur to me that the Naturals and the Rest may join forces together until you mentioned it. That may very well be the case. And since the Enhanced will have many supernatural powers, it is frightening to think how they may retaliate against them in return... Maybe extreme forms of torture? (I.R. lol) I wonder if some of the Naturals will succumb to the powers of the Enhanced and join them in the end. I hope that we learn from our own history so that we don't let this same hierarchy exist on a larger scale in the future.
2.I agree in enhancing humans, due to their significant benefits to humans. Page 28 and 29 are the most interesting page I found throughout the chapter.
ReplyDeleteStarting off by the bottom of the page, I love the goal of the Continuous Assisted Performance program, managed by John Carney. The idea of adapting the ability of switching a proportion of the brain off and on to humans is fascinating. All of the examples given were military related, but I thought of having that skill in my daily life. 24/7 soldier? 24/7 student - one who can easily concentrate, c critically think, and play (of course this is an important factor. well at least for me it is.) for a week without sleep. Doesn't it sound great? We never feel sleepy during class, nor do we have to accumulate stress everyday thinking if we can finish assignments in time. And of course, we get to play more. To me, more time equals to more fun.
The top of page 28 seemed like an enhancement that could be useful to others. The book doesn't say about the rules, but I vaguely remember cells in one's body remembered cells of other parts to make lost parts of one's body to grow back. It could help people who lost a leg, arm, or any other body part. Moreover, this technology makes it possible to gain a leg or arm when a baby is not born with them. Lovely. I would heavily rely on this technology if my child was born with a physical handicap.
It's not related to the questions, but a game called Crysis is a similar world that DARPA is trying to achieve. Watch this video if you life. I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND IT IF YOU HATE WAR AND GORE. I REPEAT, DO NOT WATCH IT IF YOU DO NOT LIKE GORE!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X-jmIz1ccE
maximum speed - basically you can run really fast
maximum power - you become powerful and can jump really high
maximum armor - bullet doesn't penetrate
and there's this other one that makes you invisible. forgot the name of it. I think it was called cloak and when you use it the voice says, "Cloak engaged."
Well, I hope you enjoy the video if you have watched it.
Yuji is such a geek! You should play Stalker and Halo if you are interested in army tech like exoskeleton.
ReplyDelete1.The damage and victim of the world wars would not have been as it was if technologies and capitalism had not bonded together to create industrial capitalism, which in turn led to imperialism. According to German philosopher Adorno and Horkheimer, if we blindly believe in rationalism and keep making science specialized, we are inevitably going to get to barbarism. The world wars are a good example of such barbarism. Now that technologies have so developed that we can even manipulate gene activity and information, the significance of their theory seems to have doubled.
Perhaps we should rethink the relationship between technologies and humans from the bottom up.
I read Tomoaki's post, and i believe that what Adorno and Horkheimer said differs a bit from what's written here......anyway, i would like to know what 'rethinking the relationship bottom up' means.But i do agree if he means that advances in science divorce purpose from ability.
ReplyDelete1." These hands never get dirty", Carney jokes(p31) " fundamentally altering human nature would be an unintended consequence". (p44)
I feel that these two quotes sum up the irresponsibility and aloofness of the people involved.... maybe they feel that pure sciences are superior to the humanities?
This chapter details the creation of the perfect killing machine to help nations to win wars and gain dominance. HELLO? perfect killing machines? I think that Tomoaki is right when he says humans are barbarians. One might argue that it is DARPA we are talking aboout here. But why should DARPA continue to pursue short term goals which usually mean winning wars? What war are they envisioning? "battle for the supremacy of the world" or something? The researchers sound like children with new toys to play with.
Anyway, my point is, the purpose should be well defined before new technologies are sought out.
My post was about chapter 2. I apologize for the inconvenience.
ReplyDelete2.Again, yes, I do agree in enhancing humans. "They have this odd habit of cocking their head in a certain way whenever they want to access information they don't yet have in their own skulls-as if waiting for a delivery to arrive wirelessly (8)." The cocking movement is odd, but this technology will help me a lot in ICU. ICU does not have wifi, and it is a pain in the neck when one wants to access information in a second. One has to walk to the ILC or library to use the Internet. Not only does it waste time for students, it restrains students from gaining new information due to its inconvenience. Overall, this technology would be useful in areas that do not have wifi at the moment. Of course, the act of turning on the computer is omitted to those of who complain that have access to wifi.
"For a week or more at a time, they don't sleep (8)." As said on my previous post, more time equals more fun.
Have a nice day everyone!
Hey,Shantonu! Thanks for your superficial comment. Your post is very you. Just kidding! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'll respond to you later, so please tell me how you think Adorno and Horkheimer said differs from what I wrote. Their work is a bit difficult, so maybe my interpretation is wrong...or just different from yours. We'll see^^
3)I agree with Shantonu that a new hierarchy will be built among the society in result of the emerge of this technology which Garreau introduces to us. I say this because I think these developments will simply mean that there will be another criteria to divide people in to new baskets of the "haves" and the "have-nots".
ReplyDeleteBut one thing we shouldn't forget is that Garreau included the "Naturals", which is like the resistant of the future society, in his theory, and not just the Enhanced and the non-Enhanced. The people who have chosen to become the have-nots.. I mean, where will they fit in this hierarchy?
I think this is one of the important things that Garreau wants to stress in course of writing this book; that people will resist the technology (at first at least..) and probably a large number at that.
Shantonu predicts that the Rest and the Naturals will get together and fight(?) against the Enhanced, but I think that it will be more complicated than that.
We already have a hierarchy built in this society that is dividing the future-Naturals and the future-Rest from each other. This gap is huge. I think it is unlikely that they will be able to join forces as if they belonged to the same team, the non-Enhanced. What we do now, that is to support, exploit and absorb from the "future-Rest" all at the same time, may as well be unchanged in the future society.
Another thing is that it will take time for the Enhanced to become the majority among the society, if ever. And when the population of the Enhanced grows and they finally emerge as a force to be recognized, there will probably be new laws to restrain their use of abilities in order to protect the non-Enhanced. And these are likely to be enforced by governments or organizations formed by the Naturals, in other words, the non-Enhanced with wealth and power. One of the scientists are saying something like this on page 34; "Will the International Olympic Committee ban it? Absolutely. My measure of success for this is that the IOC bans everything that we do."
I think something like this will happen widely in other parts of the world, not just in the Olympics.
So what I'm trying to say.. is that I think there is a possibility that the Naturals may remain to have power, even among the Enhanced, at least at the beginning of these radical changes. This new hierarchy may not be a simple triangle that narrows at the top.
I mean.. with this new technology that will introduce to us a totally different world from what we live in today, maybe the conventional idea of hierarchy will not apply as well.
.. or am I being waaaay to optimistic??
I think the debate comes down to the point whether the technology will be applied to ordinary people in our society, or remain only for use of the soldiers in battlefields..
hmm..
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete2.I disagree with the idea of enhancing human ability by technology because we never know what the side effect could be.
ReplyDeleteEnhancing one's metabolic ability, for example, might results in an unexpected genetic mutation. Or it might accelerates the growth of cancerous cells.
It would be too risky and problematic to practise such technology on living creatures.
Although, even if the safty was guaranteed, I would still disagree with the idea. I think that it is ethically wrong.
God has created each individual in a very unique and special way. I really think that we should be happy with who we are and what God has given us. Gaining extraordinary ability sure sounds great, but it might blind us to amaizing ability each of us got now.
My apologies to Tomoaki. I failed to read the paper thoroughly.....Can someone tell me how to delete my own comments? i think that my second blog post went off into the 2nd chapter, just like Yuuji's....sorry.
ReplyDelete2. I think that the new adaptations will lead to an evolutionary dead end because of constraints like energy, raw materials etc. There are just too many assumptions regarding infrastructure. For example, i can't go online tomorrow because the ICU campus experiences a powercut tomorrow! Imagine what would happen if my intelligence depended on a steady power supply?
>Shantonu
ReplyDeleteDon't be sorry. It was my fault. I should have explained more about the theory of Adorno and Horkheimer.
I appreciate you always helping me deepen my thoughts. I would be very grateful if you keep it that way:) I always look forward to your response however hard it may be for me. Cheers bro!
>Shantonu
ReplyDeleteOh, I almost forgot to tell you. You can delete your comment by pushing the rubbish bin icon found at the bottom of the post.
1. New technologies have made our lives much easier compared to those in ancient times, but we cannot deny the fact that there are lots of negative effects caused by the new technologies. To begin with, a huge gap occurred between the one who has the new tech and the one who has no access to them. After the PC emerged in the world, those who had no PC (mostly poor people) were disadvantaged in the society. On the other hand, the top and average people in hierarchy could afford the latest technologies and used them for job, for example, which would eventually enrich their lives economically (which would lead to economic gaps!). Another demerit of new technologies is that they can alter into great threats to our lives if used in evil ways. The Internet is so useful that now it is getting something we cannot we live without, but it can be used in invading privacies or posting vicious remarks of classmates. Cars are, again, something essential in people’s lives, but can be serious weapons if used by drunken people or gangs. I think we always need to carefully examine the possible effects (good and bad ones) before actually bringing the new technologies in our lives.
ReplyDeleteWow dude, call someone "geek" after you get PS3 and Call of Duty Tomoaki! And I'm really looking forward in going Yakiniku! lol
ReplyDelete1. Well, through the development of technologies, it accelerated its gap among society and countries, added fuel to the two World Wars and many other conflict, and gave boost to global-scale environmental destruction, which all are still in a present progressive form.
For all the conveniences we use extract a price without even knowing it. Like the video we watched last term, "The Story of Stuff".
But I guess no matter the history or the reality is, science will not stop developing unless we exterminate all the scientists, which is impossible.
If what Garreau said will come about for real, then like Shantonu said, there will be a new type of hierarchy and many other problems that are like too difficult to solve.
For ex.) people may not die till they are over 300 years old or something.
What I really do not want to happen is that to ruin the sport games and making it boring by the existence of the Enhanced.........
unless they make new types of games for the Enhanced, like "Quidditch" in Harry Potter. lol
I learned that the later you try to post a blog the harder it gets.
ReplyDeleteJust like how Tomoaki told me, its hard to get a brand new idea into discussion..hmm..
3. I agree with Shantonu and Saori's idea that a new hierarchy will be built. However, there is a slight difference between the form of the hierarchy that I imagine that the one of Shantonu and Saori.
In my opinion, the world would split to two groups; a small group of the Enhanced, and a vase majority of the Naturals and the Rest.
Having artificial abilities like the Enhanced would be like a dream and would become everyone's desire at first. But would you really want to have it? The abilities are too convenient that they will surely destroy endurance in daily life. For example, how would an Enhanced enjoy the pleasures of sleep after the last day of the final exam? The attempt to memorize and efforts to study would be needless, and they wouldn't even need to sleep because of their ability that enables them not to. They will never be able to have those 人間臭さ(sorry, i couldn't find the English word for it). Besides, you can never deny the possibilities of breakdowns. One of if something goes wrong in the process of activating an ability and the whole system turns off? I mean, people always make mistakes, and there can be mistakes in the process of creating an Enhanced.
After the boom of abilities, people will realize the disadvantages of the Enhanced and there will be more Naturals.
Coexistence of the Enhanced on one hand and the Naturals and the Rest on the other will be difficult, and the latter might even despise the former. Especially for people with religious thoughts, they might detest the idea of "fixing" one's body to have new abilities.
3, Everyone posted before me sounds so convincing that I kept nodding in agreement while reading their comments. Therefore there may be some overlap in the opinion. Apologies in advance.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, like others said, I also think that there would be a new hierarchy and we would have a new method for differentiating people. However, I don't think the enhanced would be the majority in society, as Saori said.
The main reason is that there is little hope this will be a national commitment. What do you think if it was a campaign pledge of a prospective candidate for prime minister that he supports the idea of "the enhanced"? I doubt he would win a vote. Of course there should be some rich or elites supporting him who can take advantages of the change, but the overwhelming majority prefer a prime minister who tries to focus on the issue at hand, like the problems of employment or pensions. Yes, I would like him to deal with poverty if he has such money and time to spent on the technological advancement.
Therefore, even if some people start enhancing themselves, it will be on a small scale. Also, "the rest" and "the natural" are fundamentally different in terms of social status thus they will not be compatible enough to join hands to stand up to the enhanced together. Just like people who choose not not eat meat due to the religious reasons and others who cannot afford these foods in poverty are not likely to be protesting for meat taboo together.
What I am trying to say is that this new hierarchy cannot develop into a large issue in society. "The enhanced" cannot gain the power nationwide, "the rest" and "the natural" won't get together....Furthermore, the acceptable level of "enhancing" would vary among different individuals. It's like there are people against the plastic surgery, who would agree with the one for someone who lost part of their face after a terrible accident and so on. The relationship between "the enhanced" "the natural" and "the rest" would be exactly like the situation for taboo food and drink. There are many types of people, Vegetarian, Vegan, Straightedge...and of course such people never care as the majority of Japanese. Their reasons for the strict diet differ; spiritual or religious reasons, ethical commitment, concerns for health or moral commitment for animal rights.
The fundamental pattern of "the enhanced" is bound to end up with the a likely scenario that rich elites, who is willing to benefit from the technology but do not want to enhance themselves, pay a large amount of money and get those poor enhanced to work for them. Nothing more, I think. I hope.
3, Everyone posted before me sounds so convincing that I kept nodding in agreement while reading their comments. Therefore there may be some overlap in the opinion. Apologies in advance.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, like others said, I also think that there would be a new hierarchy and we would have a new method for differentiating people. However, I don't think the enhanced would be the majority in society, as Saori said.
The main reason is that there is little hope this will be a national commitment. What do you think if it was a campaign pledge of a prospective candidate for prime minister that he supports the idea of "the enhanced"? I doubt he would win a vote. Of course there should be some rich or elites supporting him who can take advantages of the change, but the overwhelming majority prefer a prime minister who tries to focus on the issue at hand, like the problems of employment or pensions. Yes, I would like him to deal with poverty if he has such money and time to spent on the technological advancement.
Therefore, even if some people start enhancing themselves, it will be on a small scale. Also, "the rest" and "the natural" are fundamentally different in terms of social status thus they will not be compatible enough to join hands to stand up to the enhanced together. Just like people who choose not not eat meat due to the religious reasons and others who cannot afford these foods in poverty are not likely to be protesting for meat taboo together.
omg it's getting too long.
------->
ReplyDeleteWhat I am trying to say is that this new hierarchy cannot develop into a large issue in society. "The enhanced" cannot gain the power nationwide, "the rest" and "the natural" won't get together....Furthermore, the acceptable level of "enhancing" would vary among different individuals. It's like there are people against the plastic surgery, who would agree with the one for someone who lost part of their face after a terrible accident and so on. The relationship between "the enhanced" "the natural" and "the rest" would be exactly like the situation for taboo food and drink. There are many types of people, Vegetarian, Vegan, Straightedge...and of course such people never care as the majority of Japanese. Their reasons for the strict diet differ; spiritual or religious reasons, ethical commitment, concerns for health or moral commitment for animal rights.
The fundamental pattern of "the enhanced" is bound to end up with the a likely scenario that rich elites, who is willing to benefit from the technology but do not want to enhance themselves, pay a large amount of money and get those poor enhanced to work for them. Nothing more, I think. I hope.
2. I disagree with enhancing human ability by technology because I think it is just not right. It is true that we all have wanted supernatural power to overcome with the limited abilities we have now and it would be very easy with the power to do things that are very difficult and take time for us in today’s world. However, in my opinion, the reason of why we are able to live is because we have limited abilities. Imagine if you can do everything easily without any difficulties, controlling yourself even the feeling of sleepiness. It is similar to what Kana said in her comment, but I think enhancing human ability by technology would lead us to lose the humanity. We enjoy our life because how it is now gives us a good balance of fair difficulties and eases. 150 years of life is too long for us and it would sure be boring. There are many problems dealing with our limited life and health, therefore we feel the happiness and success. Like Yusuke said, if enhanced people would appear in the world of sports, the games would lose its excitements because the players’ weaknesses and limitations would be removed as how they want by technology. So I say that we are actually perfect with the life we have now because there would be just too many problems if human ability was enhanced by technology.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to post this because most of you do not agree to enhancing humans. Yes, I admit all of your ideas that the current humanity will be lost if humans are enhanced. But notice, it is the "current" humanity. Once we live for 150 years, we will think that 150 will be too short. Back in the days of the Edo era, people did not live as long as we did. It is important to remember that these longs and shorts are measured by our current system, and not the future. Our current emotions, such as what Kana and Yumi stated, will be lost, but new ones will appear once we obtain these powers. I believe difficulties and goals will never disappear. Well, isn't that whats called evolution. I don't know if this relates, but I think I've read or heard of something like Japanese hate change.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete2.I disagree in enhancing human abilities like how it is illustrated in chapter1. I mean I think it would be great to have all those powers, but it scares me to think how far the technology would go. Humans would eventually be like robots if we are being remodeled like machines.
ReplyDeleteI say this because we humans tend to forget the first impression we have toward anything. Take plastic surgery for example, like how Yuga has mentioned. Plastic surgery, now used for making someone prettier, seems to have its roots in self-defense of Jewish around the time of world war. Back then, it was used for Jewish to survive in the discrimination. They changed their faces to hide that they are Jewish; I can imagine that. But now, people put silicon in their faces, breasts, hips, everywhere only to look pretty. And people are starting to or already accept this. If you stop and think about those gooey things going into your body, you would or should feel some repulsion. But I have to admit that there is part of me saying “it is only small part of the body and not like actual machines are planted in”. This is what scares me. When people get used to something, the line they draw between “acceptable” and “not acceptable” changes easily.
If those enhancements of human abilities in the book begin, people would not know where to stop. Like I said, it will get to some point that humans become close to robots.
So I agree with Yuji saying that if it is in the future, we would not have the same standards as we do now and accept the changes. But that is why I disagree with enhancing humans.
p13...'if you have a choice between starting your story with a telekinetic monkey or an attractive teenager in a wheel-chair whose life might be changed by the technology the monkey represents, you have to lead with the bright young woman every time for that's what people care about.'
ReplyDeleteI think that technology can play a great role as a leveller (anyone heard of death as the great leveller?). Sure, it could lead to superhumans, but more importantly, it could lead to better quality of life for physically challenged people(assuming that the quality of life for normal people is better). I also think that the prospect of being technologically enhanced is more tempting than it sounds here, and that 'ethically wrong' or 'just not right' are not enough to explain it.
An anecdote- In Indian history, one of the reasons why the British managed to gain control of India was because of the proud nature of the kings at that time. They would never cooperate and fight against a common enemy, and just like a basket of crabs , they kept pulling each other's legs and ended up preventing each other from gaining control of the whole country.
Thank you for all the comments, especially question 2. I've already learned a lot about technology from these comments.
ReplyDelete>Yuji,
You're the only one who officially disagree with enhancing human ability...thank you for making a controversial discussion. and The "current" system thing is very interesting. I'm convinced that maybe new emotions will appear, but what about if we can go so far to control our emotions? by embedding tips in brain or something. Drug is a good example. It was made for soldiers not to feel ill when killing enemies, but after that it started to drive ordinary people crazy. I don't know what happens but there must be a disaster when the time comes when technology can conrtol people's emotion itseld completely.
>Natsuko
"When people get used to something, the line they draw between “acceptable” and “not acceptable” changes easily." That's really true. Plastic surgery is a good example. but I think most of us still have a resistance to it(maybe except Korean people). Maybe we can stop to accept such things with our sense of ethics, so far. We never know what the future holds though.
>Yumi
"There are many problems dealing with our limited life and health, therefore we feel the happiness and success." I cannot agree more. The life balance is very important. These days medical technology advances so much and we don't know how far we should treat patients. I mean, organ transplant, surrogate mother, cancer treatment etc. Too much care sometimes lead to unhappiness. Considering "life balance," we probably already start to lose it along with the current improvement of technolody.
>Ayaka
"for example, might results in an unexpected genetic mutation. Or it might accelerates the growth of cancerous cells." I totally agree with the idea. The problem of artificial recombination of genes(of food) is pretty much like that. We already face a risk of it. When it comes to human, it's way more scary.
Saori – Thanks for your comment! I don’t think you’re being overly optimistic at all. I thought you gave a lot of thoughtful consideration to the possible reactions of the future people against technology, the divide that exists between classes today, and comparing that to what we may see in the future. And in any case, it’s good to have some hope for the future :) From reading your comment, it occurred to me that maybe getting all scared that robots are going to start taking over the world is an overreaction and that maybe things will not escalate to such a level, looking at things realistically. I thought it was interesting how you separated the Naturals from the Enhanced and the Rest and predicted how they may rise to power. When you say that this new type of hierarchy may not take the shape of the triangle that narrows at the top, what kind of new shape do you think it might take?
ReplyDeleteKana – Thanks for your comment! I understand how you feel when you say that it’s harder to write after other people have already commented. But your comment brings in some really new fresh ideas which were really interesting to read! :) Like the loss of 人間臭さ and religion by becoming the Enhanced. The examples you chose to support your ideas like the feeling of relief after endless hours of studying and examinations are very relatable for us students. I wouldn’t want to lose those humanistic emotions and qualities! I thought your comment and Saori’s support each other’s in the sense that there will be more Naturals or that they will have more power in the end. You’re totally right about how everyone makes mistakes no matter how smart or advanced they are, and I'm positive this will apply to any human being in whatever age. It gives me a chill to think about how the whole system within an Enhanced person may turn off all of a sudden… and to think how any of us could be one. :O Now I definitely don’t want to be an Enhanced, lol. I wonder, as you say in the end, that if a boom of Enhanced suddenly decreases, what kind of influence this may have on the economy?
ReplyDelete3.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the comments on this question 3 that there will be a new hierarchy in the future but I'm opposed to Kana's idea of people realizing the non-usefulness of technology developed by the Enhanced and shifting to the Naturals.
I think that once the enhanced gets the wonderful and convenient technology to live more efficiently, they won't be able to discard the useful technology even if they recognize that those power have negative effects on them both physically and mentally.
This could be supported by looking at today's wide spread of cellular phones. Scientists, TV reporters and many people asserts in news and papers that too much use of cell phones negatively affect human's eyes, brains and cause sleeping disorders. In spite of that, people keep using portable phones and no one can not imagine life without them.
so what I want to emphasize is that once the people from wherever world(1st or 3rd) obtain the technology, it is impossible for them to give up those powers.
As a result, if the technology somehow spread from the Enhanced to the Natural, there would be more Natural to use technology and more Rest to be like Natural.
well..sorry for the late post.
Yuga- Thanks for your comment! :) I really liked the way you compared the relationship between the Enhanced, Naturals, and the Rest to that of those with different diets or those getting plastic surgery based on their various reasons. It made it easier for me to understand how even if the two groups Naturals and the Rest may be against the same thing, they would each have totally different reasons behind their protest. About the scenario you mentioned at the end, do you mean to say that there will be a hierarchy within the Enhanced group where the upper class will try to have the lower class work for them? Why do you think that the Enhanced will not want to enhance themselves and instead just hold onto this technology? I wonder what they would use it for. :O
ReplyDeleteTomoya – Thanks for your comment! :) That’s a very convincing example you introduced about the cell phones. I really can’t imagine what I would do without it, and I’m sure this goes for everybody who has a phone. The way the media gets all excited about every new version of an iPod or some technology also goes to show how we are hooked on new and convenient things. I thought it was interesting how you said that more Naturals will become like the Enhanced and that more of the Rest will try to become like the Naturals. But I think that since the Naturals have decided against becoming like the Enhanced upon acknowledging the powers and advantages of the Enhanced, there might not be such an increase of Enhanced from that group. On the other hand, there may be a large number of the Rest who, if they had the money, would want to become like the Enhanced since they cannot afford to receive the education which probably teaches both the advantages and dangers of high technology. If everybody moves up or moves down into different groups, I wonder what kind of new problems/positive outcomes may result from that?
ReplyDeleteSorry for not commenting by Friday x(
ReplyDelete1.Through the development of technology, there have been many negative effects caused by the new technologies. One of the negative effects is the effect in war. The more the technology has developed, the more the damage of wars has extended. When people were using swords they were battling with the people who went into the battle line. However, now since bombs can be dropped anywhere from above, and land mines can explode without a person in control, people who are innocent can be harmed. It can be said if the technology develops then it could help the recovery, but as Garreau says in the book, the scientists in military is doing the latest researches on technology so it should be keep going in the way as it is now. I think we have to keep an eye on what comes out, and think ethically as possible and have our own opinion to keep the negative effects as small as possible.
Also the gap within the people who can use technology and the people who can’t should be a negative effect. Information is a very important thing now and whether you can get it or not would affect the person’s life. I think this gap will remain and is leading to hierarchy as Shantonu and the other people said.
Thank you all for the comments to the questions and sorry
ReplyDeletefor my late response to the first question.
>Tomoaki
Your idea, that the use of technologies causes disadvantages besides advantages, not only to humans daily life directly, but also to the way of thinking and theories in the society such as imperialism and barbarism, was new to me. At first when I was thinking of this blog question, I've had the image of only 'the influence by one certain innovation's influence on people as one negative effect.' For example, invention of cars threatens people's safety. However, reading your comment, I realized another aspect that, new techs has also supported to form new types of thoughts.
I think this forming of new thoughts causes greater influence than just one effect such as the increased probability of danger I mentioned above. Thoughts and ideas are what actually moves and motivates people, transfer into something which might have more power than any other weapon created by humans.
>Miki
I agree that we always need to carefully examine the possible effects and think that we need to be careful with how we get along with new technologies. Then in my head, this linked with the existence of numbers of laws today. It is important that each of us consider and make use of technologies, but there is no guarantee that every single person do so. To minimize the damage and negative influence in case someone abuses the technology, we need law. Without law, it would be very hard to keep public order. Therefore, I think more laws regarding the invention of new technologies would become enforced when more and more people gets access to new technologies. In this respect, many people's daily life might become uncomfortable, not convenient, by the new technologies.
>Yusuke
I strongly agree about how you think about the current science, that it will not stop developing unless we exterminate all the scientists, which is impossible. Scientists will probably not stop seeking for new things because that's their job!
As Miki has also mentioned, the development of technologies is not being only the problems of science but also stepping into international relationships due to economic gaps. It would be really difficult to solve those problems, but I think that we have to face them as a member of global citizens.
And thanks for the interesting example! Your wish was very convincing because it was a feeling by someone who actually do sports. I also hope that the world of sport does not become boring because of those Enhanced people. No one is going to watch the Olympics then.....
>>>By the way, in a fundation class I'm taking now, I heard that 'effect ' is an influence which was intended and predicted to happen. On the other hand, 'influence' is something which was not predictable, that occured outside the intension of the performer.
Just a little info...:)
3. If those three existed altogether there would be several problems we'd be encountering. First, the current law would not be applicable. If one had a special ability to read people's mind there would not be such a thing as privacy. We would need different laws for every single superficial ability to keep the enhanced from abusing it. Second, I can't help but think that we have had enough trouble dealing with people's differences such as characters, appearances, physical capacity, perspectives and interpretation, nationalities, political views, right wing or left wing, and so on. It seems natural to me not to add any more burden on the issue list.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too familiar with or into this kind of topic so excuse my point is kinda vague and that I'm only posting now.... I also wanted to say that the jobs available for 'the Rest' will be quite limited.....and things like that but on the way I lost my point. When my thoughts are organized I might post again about that. Not promised though.
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