STS6: Why the Future Doesn’t

Need Us?
Jeremiah G. Pedral
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality
Virtual Reality
3D Printing
Quantum
Computing

Advanced Space
Exploration
Technologies
Wearable
Technologies
Surveillance and lying
machines

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Armed Drones
Technology is considered to
be a form of provision…

not until we took it for granted by

becoming over-dependent to it
 Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us?
•Possibilities highlighted by Bill Joy:
• Human decisions will not be necessary anymore in the
future;
• Extinction of human beings that might occur in the
future because of arti cial intelligence;
• Dangers of transformation technologies of Genetics,
Nanotechnology and Robotics (GNR);
•Arti cial Super-intelligence through machine learning.
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 Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us?
• Human decisions will not be necessary anymore in the
future
• knowing that the work done by the machines will
garner better outcome, the more people will let the
machines handle it for them.
•Humans unconsciously accepting every decision and
result that the machine will give.
 Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us?
• Extinction of human beings that might occur in the future
because of arti cial intelligence.
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 Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us?
• Dangers of transformation technologies of Genetics,
Nanotechnology and Robotics (GNR)
• Scientists desire positivity in creating GNR especially in
producing new crops, plants and even human species,
experts claim that we are still not suf ciently
knowledgeable in making these to work.
• creating GNR is less costly than building war weapons
making it easily obtainable to small groups.

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 Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us?
• Arti cial Super-intelligence through machine learning
•Humans creating things that will eventually be able to
outsmart them or even do better than them.
•Machines replacing humans in various industries.
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 “Humans, who are limited by slow
biological evolution, couldn't
compete, and would be superseded.”
Stephen Hawking

 Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us?

• Clever machines that are capable of doing jobs will
replace millions of white and blue collar jobs.
• Global economy develops the idea of maximizing worth
of technology to economy, even if it leads to removing
manpower.
 What causes some
people to think
that we are
no longer needed
in the future?

 Risk of Digital Trust:

When a processor
performs math in which
a certain human person
inds dif icult to do,
the processor
will execute what
it has been taught.
Work is done successfully
and the processor
is labelled as “smart”.
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 Existence of
Unexpected Results:
People have
this mistaken judgment
of giving the responsibility
to technology when
something bad happens
yet we celebrate its worth
when it is useful.

 Fragile State
of Technology:
Today’s technology
already requires a
lot more resources
and future’s technology
certainly be
more power hungry

 Interconnected
Devices:
The increase in number
of devices that are
interconnected
to each other
is highly observable
in the past few years.

 Learn More!
• Interesting TedTalk Videos to ignite your understanding of the topic:
• https://www.ted.com/talks/
shyam_sankar_the_rise_of_human_computer_cooperation
• What Happens When We Rely Too Much On Technology (https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FxLQ9KPYJ4)
• Technology Addiction and What you Can do About It. (https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=0adeZP6aDQw)
• A funny look at the unintended consequences of technology (https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQigUH0vZSE)
• Technology is Rede ining What it Means to be Human (https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=bXSd6G7r4Ek)
• 8 TED Talks on emerging technologies to watch (https://enterprisersproject.com/
article/2019/7/emerging-technologies-8-ted-talks)
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 Re lect!
• What do you think of Bill Joy’s assessment of the fate of
humanity in the continuous advance of technology?
• Who is to blame when it comes to technology addiction?
Human dependency on technology or technology being
accessible to many?
• What could be other reasons for human irrelevance in the
future?
• Can we cohabitate and co-exist with emerging technologies
that may prove to be superior to us in the future?
• What can you do now to ensure the proper use of technology
knowing its risks?
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 References
• Why the future doesn’t need us. Our most powerful 21st-century technologies –
robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech – are threatening to make humans
an endangered species. Retreived from: https://www.wired.com/2000/04/joy-2/
• van de Poel, I. (2015). “Human Well-Being, Nature and Technology.A Comment on
Dorato.”Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
• Ismael, N. (2018). Cyber security best practice: De inition, diversity, training,
responsibility and technology. information-age. Available https://
www.information-age.com/cyber-security-best-practice-123474528/
• Birkinshaw, J. (n.d.) London Business School. Beyond the Information Age. Wired.
Available: https://www.wired.com/insights/2014/06/beyond-information-age/
• Ratner, P. (2018). Why the Era of Social Media Is Due to Come to an End. Big Think
Smarter Faster. Available: https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/why-the-era-of-social-
media-is-due-to-come-to-an-end
•
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