From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Thu Apr 18 2002 - 01:29:21 MDT
Technotopia & the Death of Nature
Clones, Supercomputers, and Robots
by James Bell
Earth Island Journal
Summer 2002
Vol. 17, No. 2
===========
There is no question that technological growth trends in
science and industry are increasing exponentially. There is,
however, a growing debate about what this runaway
acceleration of ingenuity may bring. A number of respected
scientists and futurists now are predicting that technological
progress is driving the world toward a "Singularity" - a
point at which technology and nature will have become one.
At this juncture, the world as we have known it will have
gone extinct and new definitions of "life," "nature" and
"human" will take hold.
"We are on the edge of change comparable to the rise of
human life on Earth," San Diego University Professor of
Computer Science Vernor Vinge first warned the scientific
community in 1993. "Within 30 years, we will have the
technological means to create superhuman intelligence.
Shortly after, the human era will end."
Some scientists and philosophers have theorized that the
very purpose of life is to bring about the Singularity. While
leading technology industries have been aware of the
Singularity concept for some time, there are concerns that,
if the public understood the full ramifications of the
Singularity, they would be reluctant to accept many of the
new and untested technologies such as genetically
engineered foods, nano-technology and robotics.
Machine Evolution
A number of books on the coming Singularity are in the
works and will soon appear. In 2003, the sequel to the
blockbuster film The Matrix will delve into the philosophy
and origins of Earth's machine-controlled future. Matrix
cast members were required to read Wired editor Kevin
Kelly's 1994 book Out of Control: The Rise of
Neo-biological Civilization. Page one reads, "The realm of
the born - all that is nature - and the realm of the made - all
that is humanly constructed - are becoming one."
Meanwhile, Warner Brothers has embarked on the most
expensive film of all time - a $180 million sequel called
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. The film is due out in
2003; a good decade before actual machine evolution is
predicted to accelerate "out of control," plunging human
civilization towards the Singularity.
[…] The majority of people closest to these theories and laws
- the tech sector - can hardly wait for the Singularity to
arrive. The true believers call themselves "extropians,"
"post-humans" and "transhumanists" and are actively
organizing not just to bring the Singularity about, but to
counter what they call "techno-phobes" and "neo-luddites" -
critics like Greenpeace, Earth First! and the Rainforest
Action Network.
The Progress Action Coalition [Pro-Act,
www.progressaction.org], which was formed in June 2001,
fantasizes about "the dream of true artificial intelligence...
adding a new richness to the human landscape never before
known." The Pro-Act website features several sections
where the strategies and tactics of environmental groups
and foundations are targeted for "countering."
[…]
Yet there is something missing from this discussion of
the technologic singularity. The true cost of technologic
progress and the Singularity will mean the unprecedented
decline of the planet's inhabitants - an ever-increasing rate
of global extinction.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN), the
International Botanical Congress and a majority of the
world's biologists believe that a global "mass extinction"
already is underway
James Bell is a writer for Sustain, a national
environmental information group based in Chicago
[www.sustain.info].This article is excerpted from his
forthcoming book. For more information visit
www.technologicalsingularity.info or contact
jamesbell@sustainusa.org. An earlier version of this article
was published in the Samhain (November/December 2001)
issue of the Earth First! Journal. (c) 2001 by James Bell.
Copyright Earth Island Journal
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:13:34 MST