"The Doomsday Machine"-Fact or fiction
John Markoff's "The Doomsday Machine" is an intriguing view on how our technology may exponentially improve into the future, but the essay fails to support the thesis statement that our technology will eventually destroy the human race. His dire predictions for our future are based on theories as well as conclusions that are themselves based on theories. These predictions do not account for how other simultaneous technological advancements and the desire for profit will affect our world. It ignores the power of human imagination, ingenuity, feelings, and personal motivation. There is also a complete disregard for God's plan.
Most of Markoff’s essay is used to aid us in envisioning the new technology that may be close at hand, but it is written as if a single piece of technology is developed in a vacuum, where its emergence will drastically change our world. This is not how the market for technology functions. Technology markets acts in a manner that is virtually indistinguishable from all other market segments, in that their goal is not to make things we need, per se, but instead it is to make a profit. Profit motivates the free market; and in the technology market, new products have a very short life cycle. The investors’ need to see profits will demand that new technology is placed on the market as soon as there is a perceived demand from the consumer. This tactic will increase sales and to avoid initial competition. With that, competitors may try to exploit profits by using this new technology in a negative way, but there is great profit to be made in counter-threat technology as well. People like Markoff spend time thinking of how new technologies can be used for “Evil”...
... middle of paper ...
...ator of everything, will be victorious is foreseen in what the Angel showed to John. It will be a battle between Heaven and Hell, not of machine and man.
The world is filled with dire predictions for the end of man-kind that have never come to fruition but the predictions keep being announced, and people keep believing them. One prediction that should be removed from the realm of possibility is that computers or robot will somehow play a significant role in the destruction of our world. The Bible records Jesus in the book of Matthew commenting on when the end of time will arrive, saying, "No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows." That being said, if people keep guessing, the law of probability states that eventually someone will get it right. Unfortunately, no one will be around to congratulate the winner.
The non-fiction book Hiroshima by John Hersey is an engaging text with a powerful message in it. The book is a biographical text about lives of six people Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamura, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Sasaki and Rev. Tanimoto in Hiroshima, Japan and how their lives completely changed at 8:15 on the 6th of August 1945 by the dropping of the first atomic bomb. The author, John Hersey, through his use of descriptive language the in book Hiroshima exposes the many horrors of a nuclear attack.
Have you ever had the thought that technology is becoming so advanced that someday we might not be able to think for ourselves? There is no questioning the fact that we live in a society that is raging for the newest technology trends. We live in a society that craves technology so much that whenever a new piece of technology comes out, people go crazy to get their hands on it. The stories that will be analyzed are The Time Machine by H.G Wells and The Veldt by Ray Bradbury. These stories offer great insight into technologies’ advancements over time that will ultimately lead to the downfall of human beings. These two stories use a different interpretation of what will happen when technology advances, but when summed up a common theme appears. In the story, The Time
The new technologies that make abundance possible have the potentiality of abolishing scarcity, from the viewpoint of many large corporations this has always been a great disadvantage: it can create a shortage of shortages. It is only logical, therefore, that corporate executives do everything possible to get into situations in which shortages are available. (Gross
According to the website to to2012.com some believe that the end of the world as we know it will occur on the 21st December 2012. This date coincides with the end of the Mayan Long count calendar and will supposedly mark a 'new beginning of joy and enlightenment for all of humanity. A new humanity 100 times more harmonious than we are currently. An instantaneous launch, if you will, to a higher vibratory state on 21st December 2012'. 3
Science fiction authors of the 1940's and 50's like George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov wrote their books about technological dilemmas such as automation (robots), information technology, and technologically influenced utopias (or depending on the reader, dystopias). Charles Allen once said that "if the human race wants to go to Hell in a basket, technology can help it get there by jet." In the era of the mentioned authors, technology was a new and exciting idea, and the concept of technology causing so many problems was far from their minds. Today, however, our lives are practically dictated by technology.
In the text “It Always Costs”, author David Suzuki firmly defends his opinion on the detrimental effects of technology in today’s and age. Throughout his text, Suzuki continuously endorses the idea that technologies have far greater negative impacts than positive and are hardly worth the risk. He explains that these new technological innovations are assuredly unpredictable, reaching a point of somewhat unreliability. The author points out in his text that as humans, we do not have the capacities to foresee these fluctuations, for our knowledge in scientific innovation, is relatively limited. As such, he proposes that we, as citizens, must make a conscious effort to become more informed and aware of these new technologies sprouting in our
they are the creator of these things; so in the end, it is not technology that will be our downfall,
The Eloi were the weaker of the two beings, and they were used as food
Even though, the arguments put forth by the author are relevant to the central theme, they lack clarity. He tends to go off on tangents and loses the flow of the article. It seems that the author has a slight bias against our generation’s obsession with technology, but that can be attributed to him being a quinquagenarian. I feel that the author has not covered the topic thoroughly enough. He has not quite explained the topic in depth or covered it from various perspectives.
Technology turns into something new everyday. From computers to smartphones, technology comes in all shapes and sizes. Most people hope to receive new advancements from technology to do more activities for them. This is not in the best interest for mankind. In Ray Bradbury’s three short stories The Veldt, The Pedestrian, and August 2026, Bradbury describes three different worlds, where he shows the possible outcome of the world if technology advances too far. Each story leads to negative effects on humans and the worlds that they live in. Technology does not have all of the solutions to present day solutions.
In Lee Ann Fisher Baron’s “Junk Science,” she claims that the “food industry with the help of federal regulators” sometimes use “[a science that] bypasses [the] system of peer review. Presented directly to the public by…‘experts’ or ‘activists,’ often with little or no supporting evidence, this ‘junk science’ undermines the ability…[for] everyday consumers to make rational decisions” (921). Yet Americans still have a lot of faith in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to a 2013 Pew Research study, 65% of Americans are “very favorable” or “mostly favorable” of the FDA. When it comes to what people put in their bodies, the FDA has a moral obligation to be truthful and transparent. The bottom line of the FDA’s myriad of responsibilities is to help protect the health of Americans. Deciding what to eat is a critical part of living healthily, and consumers must be able to trust that this massive government agency is informing them properly of the contents of food. While the FDA does an excellent job in many areas, it has flaws in other areas. One of its flaws is allowing the food industry to print food labels that are deceptive, unclear, or simply not true (known as misbranding). This is quite the hot topic because a Google search for “Should I trust food labels” returns well over 20 million results, many of which are blog posts from online writers begging their readers not to trust food labels. HowStuffWorks, a division of Discovery Communications, published an online article whose author claims that “[the food industry] will put what they want on labels. They know the game….” While the food industry is partially at blame for misbranding, the FDA is allowing it to happen. If a mother tells her children that it is oka...
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. ”(Albert Einstein). In The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. The author contemplates, the way humans are evolving and developing in terms of technology. This advancement of technology foreshadows the loss of humanity, therefore leading to the destruction of the earth.
Technological singularity is the hypothetical period when artificial intelligence has progressed to the point of surpassing human intelligence, resulting in radical changes of civilization and human nature [6]. The ongoing acceleration of technology is the implication and inevitable result of what futurist and scientist Ray Kurzweil calls the Law of Accelerating Return, which described acceleration and the exponential growth of the products of an evolutionary process. The singularity is the inexorable result of the law of accelerating returns [1].
Better Is Not Always Best Technology is not inherently good or evil. Its nature is determined by what man makes of it, as is the case in Machine Man, written by Max Berry. After an industrial accident where he loses a leg, Charles Neumann fabricates a prosthetic leg that is superior to his biological leg. Realizing that human biology is not as efficient as machines can be, he begins a project to use technology to improve human’s natural form. Charles becomes consumed by technology and essentially has his life taken away from him in an attempt to improve himself.
Albert Einstein once said, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” Technology is a controversial topic, some say we are depending in excess from gadgets and devices. However, if it wasn’t for technology we wouldn’t be able to experience many benefits.