January 4, 2012
Posted by Caitlin
Or is Everything OK?
So at this reflective moment whilst I am in the process of accepting that computers and phones mean more to my happiness than I care to admit, and that their absence produce more isolation than even the most drastic culture shock. I’m still confused about whether a strategy to ‘sober’ up is in need. For example, if staying in touch with friends and family was that important to the degree that I couldn’t maintain my sanity without technology connected to the Internet, should I move to be in closer proximity? Or is it alright to embed these creatures deeper into our hearts and to explore how life will change as an afterthought?
I’m entertained by arguments that fall on either side. This little video seems to imply that nanobots will fundamentally change how technology infiltrates our lives to unimaginable extremes, thus we could experience an even greater dependence but this is of course portrayed as a positive.
NANOYOU – Narrated by Stephen Fry from Neon Otter on Vimeo.
Kunsler is skeptical:
What awaits us in a “time-out” from hyperbolic technological progress. Forget about Ray Kurzweil’s nanobot nirvana. That is not in the cards. Instead, wrap your mind around life in an economy organized around farming, with a much sparser distribution of big urban centers, and far fewer people overall. Don’t imagine for a moment that your grandchildren will be zinging across the landscape in electric cars sampling one theme park after another while “networking” with “friends” on cyborg social networks implanted in their brain jellies. Think of them grooming their mules in the summer twilight. Anyway, you get the picture: everything that the finance ministries and treasuries and central banks are affecting to do is mere shadow theater performed in support of wishful thinking.
The question, then, is what kind of hardship and disorder will attend our journey out of the industrial era into post-technological age we are entering. Will we just turn the world into a Michael Bay movie and blow everything up? Or will we make some graceful descent and retain what is really best about the human spirit?
And then there are ethical questions. What happens if we do allow technology to become embedded in our brain jellies? We like to think of technology as enhancers and dream up possibilities, but then we must always peddle backwards to fix the things that we didn’t consider, which is inevitable, by the way. At the DTMO conference there was an excellent presentation by Jan Silwa who discussed the possibilities of having sensors embedded within us in order to prevent medical emergencies and to keep track of medical histories so that doctors and emergency workers would have the most complete information possible. But what is often failed to be acknowledged is that this idea could also lead to murder through hacking, and also total surveillance!
I’m also guilty of dreaming of the possibilities more than treating the disastrous consequences, as much of my own research is jumping on the ‘infiltrate more’ bandwagon. If we track richer and more complete data, and make it open, then we will be able to connect more, know more, and act more relevantly. These are attractive assumptions, but their application plays out in way usually not along the lines of what I have in mind. Rather, it seems that the only way people will take an interest in open data is when there is a case for money-making (what’s new…). For example, the main purpose of the new Open Data Institute in the UK seems to be to explore how open data supports economic growth and innovation. The techies that first caught on to open data concepts used to speak about knowledge and collaboration, and freedom and rights. Now it’s just a big dialog about money again, but hey, who wants another tech bubble I guess.
I suppose the only reason why I haven’t given up on these research themes yet is because I believe I can’t let these dominant themes run my life! I’m looking forward to beginning 2012 in hopes of exploring the alternatives further.
In terms of our tech futures, I’m siding with Chrysippus, and just shutting up because things have become vague!
Related articles
- Where will open-data momentum take it in 2012? (vancouversun.com)
- How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Nanobots (pjmedia.com)





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