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> March 17, 2000:
Hour Two: Perils of Technology
Most people see advances in technology as a good thing -- "Where do you want to go today?" and all that. This week, however, the technology magazine Wired released an article written by Bill Joy, co-founder and chief scientist at Sun Microsystems, in which he paints a not-so-rosy picture of a possible technological future.
In fact, the subtitle of the article suggests that advances in robotics, nanotechnology, and genetic engineering "are threatening to make humans an endangered species." | Drawing on ideas from the writings of inventor Ray Kurzweil, Joy's article describes the possibility of artificial intelligences playing such a large role in human lives in the future that individual human ideas could become irrelevant, and the possibility of self-replicating nanomachines or genetically-engineered organisms running amok -- either accidentally or as a new type of weapon of mass destruction. | 
This nano-scale guitar is harmless... but will all applications of
nanotechnology be so carefree?
(D. Carr , H. Craighead, Cornell University) | | Joy calls for scientists to become more concerned about potential uses and abuses of new technologies, pointing out that the apocalyptic visions of the future in some science fiction novels needn't necessarily remain fiction. He even points to some of the arguments in the Unabomber's manifesto, a rant against all technological advances, as being worthy of reasoned consideration. |  | On this hour of Science Friday, we'll talk to Bill Joy, Sherry Turkle, and Raymond Kurzweil about their ideas of the future, and take your questions and comments. Call in at 1-800-989-8255.
Guests:
Bill Joy
Author, "Why the future doesn't need us." (Wired Magazine, April 2000)
Co-founder and Chief Scientist
Sun Microsystems
Aspen, Colorado
Ray Kurzweil
Author, "The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence" (Penguin, 2000)
Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts
Sherry Turkle
Author, "Life on the Screen : Identity in the Age of the Internet" (Touchstone Books, 1997)
Professor of the Sociology of Science
Program in Science, Technology, and Society
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Books/Articles Discussed: Related Links:
Wired 8.04: Why the future doesn't need us. The Unabomber's Manifesto
This segment produced by:
Karin Vergoth
Web producer:
Charles Bergquist |