How Can Technology Harm Us?

Modern human beings benefit from technology in countless ways. But in what ways can technology hurt us, and indeed, how may it have done so already? Are most of us already so divorced from nature that we can never regain a healthy relationship with it, as certain tribal people maintained for millennia?

Will computers become smarter than humans? Will this be a problem?

Moore’s Law states that the power of computer hardware doubles about every two years.

And mathematicians and computer scientists like Vernor Vinge have predicted that computers will be more intelligent than humans by the year 2020.

After that, their intelligence could continue to grow to levels so far above that of a human, that perhaps their mentation would become as far removed from ours as ours is from that of a cockroach. At that point, who knows what could happen?

But Vinge also admits the possibility of such beneficial developments as computer augmentation of the human brain, so that you could perhaps instantly learn a new language by somehow having it “downloaded” into your cerebral cortex. So in general, Vinge sees the increase in computer intelligence as a positive development. Time will tell.

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