WHY FUTURE DOES NOT NEED US

Technology pace
Human Experience

3 Possible Scenarios of the Near Future

 1st - Genetically enhanced intelligence or the prospect of living longer lives free from genetic disease.
 2nd - advancement in stem cell research might soon allow us to regenerate any tissue in the body.
 3rd - the widespread use of psychotropic drugs like Prozac and Ritalin that can make everyone happy without
the side effects of the drugs.

Technology is changing our world at an overwhelming pace. Most people are deeply involved with
technology. They tend to be ever optimistic about its prospects and persistently eager to adopt and promote it. Many
focused their optimistic remarks on health care, food, energy, environment, education, economy and agriculture. In the
span of a few short years, social media, mobile devices and internet have transformed how we communicate and get
information about the world. Rapid advances in science and technology foreshadow a world that can displace some
forms of human labor. In addition, nearly everyone expressed concerns about the long-term impact of new tools and
techniques on the essential elements of being human. However, many shared deep worries and trepidation about the
danger brought by rapid technological change. It is of course true that no one can predict the future. The key variable
in understanding the future is rarely technology alone, but how humans use it, perceive it, and adapt to it.
C.S.Lewis argued that humanity, so –called power over nature “turns out to be a power exercised by some men
over other men with Nature as its instrument’. He feared that modernism and its ability to explain away everything but
“nature “would leave us emptied of humanity. All that would be left is our animal instincts. The choice we have to see
humanity as a complex combination of both material and spiritual components or else to be reduced to machines made
of meat ruled by other machines with nothing other than natural impulses to guide them. He also warned us of a
society that has explained away every mystery, and the danger of what he calls “man-molders which will be armed
with the powers of an Omni-competent state and irresistible scientific technique.
According to Francis Fukuyama, there are three possible scenarios for the near future. First, the genetically
enhanced intelligence or the prospect of living longer lives free from genetic disease. Next, advance in stem cell
research might soon allow us to regenerate any tissue in the body. Lastly, the widespread use of psychotropic drugs
like Prozac and Ritalin that can make everyone happy without the side effects of the drugs.
Jacques Ellul warns that as technological capabilities grow, they results in countless means to accomplish tasks
than ever before. The more dependent we become on technology, the more it conforms our behavior to its
requirements rather than vice versa.
William Gibson, who coined the term “cyberspace”, has said the ‘the future is here”- it’s just not evenly
distributed”. Some of the important changes in the future will come not from a new technology, but from a large
number of people having access to something that already exists (Scharre, 2017).

21st Century Technologies

1. Genetic engineering- is the process by which an organisms’ genetic material is altered or manipulated so that
the organism will have specific characteristics.
 It has been applied in numerous fields including research, medicine, industrial biotechnology
and agriculture.
It can be used in Cloning, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), Gene therapy.

2. Robotics
Is an interdisciplinary research area at the interface of computer science and engineering. It involves
the conception, design, manufacture and operation of robots. (Wikipedia).
Characteristics of Robots: Robots all consist of some sort of mechanical construction, Robots need
electrical components that control and power the machinery.
o Types of Robots:
 Pre-Programmed Robots (operate in a controlled environment where they do simple,
monotonous tasks),
 Humanoid robots (robots that look like and/ or mimic human behavior- Sophia),
 Autonomous Robots (operate independently of human operators,
 Teleoperated Robots (mechanical bots controlled by humans),
 Augmenting Robots (either enhance current human capabilities or replace the
capabilities a human may have lost),
Applications: military robots ( to search, rescue and attack), industrial robots ( IBM keyboard
manufacturing factory in Texas), collaborative robots or cobots,( intended for direct human robot
interaction within shared space), construction robots ( robotic arm and robotic exoskeleton),
agricultural robots ( closely linked to the concept of AI-assisted precision agriculture and drone
usage), medical robots ( da Vinci Surgical System and Hospi), kitchen automation ( Rotimatic,
flatbreads baking, Frobot, frozen yogurts), Robot combat for sport, domestic robots ( Roomba
vacuums the carpets), nanobots (Kinesin uses protein domain dynamics in nanoscales to walk along a
microtubule) and swarm robotics (disaster rescue missions, target localization and tracking,
simultaneous localization and mapping, cooperative environment monitoring and convoy protection).
3. Nanotechnology- is the study and manipulation of atomic or molecular scale to improve or even revolutionize
many technology and industry sectors.
4. Artificial Intelligence
 Refers to “machines” that respond to stimulation consistent with traditional responds from human,
given the capacity for contemplation, judgement and intention.
Alan Turing established the fundamental goal and vision of artificial intelligence. It is the attempt to
replicate or simulate human intelligence in machines.
Norvig and Russell defined Artificial Intelligence in four approaches: Thinking rationally, thinking
humanly, acting rationally and acting humanly.
It is being used in health care, energy development, finance, transportation, aviation and
telecommunications.
It includes autonomous vehicles such as drones and self-driving cars, playing games such as chess or
Go, search engines such as Google search, online assistants such as Siri, image recognition in
photographs, predicting flight delays and medical diagnosis.
Methods and Goals in AI: The symbolic ( or top-down) approach-seeks to replicate intelligence by
analyzing cognition independent of the biological structure of the brain in terms of the processing of
symbolic label. and the connectionist ( bottom-up) approach- involves creating artificial neural
networks in imitation of the brain’s structure.

Potential Risks to Society

 Devaluation of humanity
 Decrease in demand of human labor
 High costs of creation
 Ethical issues
 Social isolation
 Environmental Problems

Message to Humanity
 It is needless to say that like any other aspect of development, the technological development is similar to a
double edge sword which;
o One side can kill someone and on the other side can lead to one’s own protection.
 However, the decision to use it proficiently in proper perspective is one’s own decision and choice.
List of Emerging Technologies that will shape our Future

1. Electric/ self-driving cars

2. Robot butlers
3. Flying cars
4. Space tourism
5. Colonization of other planets
6. Wearable screens
7. 3D printed Food and Metal
8. 5G-6G connectivity
9. Re-engineering and Recycling
10. High-rise farms
11. Lab-grown meats
12. Robot soldiers
13. Roads over rivers and seas
14. Holography
15. Body implants prosthesis