To be more like us. Don't believe me? Go read Kevin Kelly's What Technology Wants. Most of us, including me right now clicking happily away on my laptop, don't really think much about the future of all the gadgets that surround us. We have come to naturally assume that computers will keep getting cheaper, faster, and smarter, but we don't really think much beyond that. Well, Kevin Kelly is one of those who do.
Computers are, says Kelly, an extension of all the technologies that have preceded it over the course of time, from multicell organisms to, say, paper. (Kelly uses the word "technology" in a very wide range of contexts to denote natural and technological developments.) All these technologies, including the modern computer technology, have combined to form the "technium", a vast technological membrane or net, if you will, that surrounds our world. This technium is beginning to develop independently of us, following the laws of evolution (from simplicity to complexity, from inanimate to living, from generalized to specialized, etc.).
Where is all this going? Fear not. The age of the Terminator is not quite upon us yet. Kelly thinks the development of our powerful technium, which faciliates and speeds up innovation, is actually a great thing for us. Humankind is, says Kelly, on the verge of a splendid new future where our innate strengths of creativity and intelligence will combine with the powers of technology to create, well, a brave new world (there is some mention of world peace through unlocking the realm of possibilities for the masses, but this is towards the end of the book).
Whether you agree with the conclusion or not, this stuff is food for thought. Go read the book and see for yourself.
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