Gone are the days when we had to wait for mother nature to take us on to the next step in the evolutionary ladder. The future is now in our hands. Cascio suggests that the mind is the answer to the perils of our world. Human intellect is the instrument we used triumph over the worst this planet had to offer.
Ever wanted to get an 'A' in that really hard class. Well now its not just a matter of practice but investing your money in the right pill. Pop it and gone will be the days when only the exceptional triumphed. Cascio believes that such practices will become mundane, not a second thought given to the ramifications of altering one's intelligence. Perfection will be brought to a whole new level. But how then will we be able to distinguish between any two people. Will IQ tests have any meaning? If cheating the system becomes par for the course how will education evolve? With every child popping pills to success, will testing and examinations remain relevant? While the human race as a whole may benefit with every member focused and using their minds like never before, if the pills runout the ensuing effect on us may leave us crippled forever.
Evolution in technology too is the way forward. The internet unlike any medium before provides limitless access to human knowledge. Cascio makes a very interesting claim, he believes that as technology becomes more sophisticated we will leave it to do more for us. Digital assistants will deal with scheduling and planning holidays, our cars may drive themselves. This would leave us the time we need to focus on those matters which are intellect wants to pursue. Computers and the internet have already changed the way we do things. Research which would have meant days in the library is now at the tip of our fingers. As technology does more for us will it become a crutch instead of an advantage?
If human enhancement outpaces the evolution of processors and other technology how can we make the right choices? To choose wrongly is to get left behind.The most provocative idea may be about those left behind. What happens to those who chose an older pill or maybe decided to play the waiting game? In an age of intellectual improvement can anyone afford to be left behind?
Ever wanted to get an 'A' in that really hard class. Well now its not just a matter of practice but investing your money in the right pill. Pop it and gone will be the days when only the exceptional triumphed. Cascio believes that such practices will become mundane, not a second thought given to the ramifications of altering one's intelligence. Perfection will be brought to a whole new level. But how then will we be able to distinguish between any two people. Will IQ tests have any meaning? If cheating the system becomes par for the course how will education evolve? With every child popping pills to success, will testing and examinations remain relevant? While the human race as a whole may benefit with every member focused and using their minds like never before, if the pills runout the ensuing effect on us may leave us crippled forever.
Evolution in technology too is the way forward. The internet unlike any medium before provides limitless access to human knowledge. Cascio makes a very interesting claim, he believes that as technology becomes more sophisticated we will leave it to do more for us. Digital assistants will deal with scheduling and planning holidays, our cars may drive themselves. This would leave us the time we need to focus on those matters which are intellect wants to pursue. Computers and the internet have already changed the way we do things. Research which would have meant days in the library is now at the tip of our fingers. As technology does more for us will it become a crutch instead of an advantage?
If human enhancement outpaces the evolution of processors and other technology how can we make the right choices? To choose wrongly is to get left behind.The most provocative idea may be about those left behind. What happens to those who chose an older pill or maybe decided to play the waiting game? In an age of intellectual improvement can anyone afford to be left behind?
“Education is the preparation of the individual so that he can help his fellow-men.” W.T.Harris
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I came to realize that we, as a society, have taken an over-simplistic view of the purpose of education. The ‘pills’, mentioned in the blog, may enhance our memory and help us in our educational endeavors: Allowing us to remember that there are 11 electrons in a Sodium atom or the value of pi is 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510, or that the radius of earth is 12756.2 km. But this is not the function of education. Nay! One is in great error if one believes that knowing these details helps bring revolutions. However, it is the PROCESS of learning these mundane details that helps us develop our ability to think and improve ourselves as social animals.
With that said, I believe that Casico was trying to divert our attention to an intriguing idea when he mentions the problems that plague our generation: “end of the fossil-fuel era, the fragility of the global food web, growing population density, and the spread of pandemics”. The question here is not whether we will be able to acclimatize to the new world, but will we be able to do so before it’s too late. Adaption is not going to be an insurmountable task: If early humans can do it, so can we. However, the predicament here is that we are not willing to admit that a storm is approaching. We are so preoccupied with our daily routines that we do not give thought to the grave future.
Swallowing these ‘pills’ may help us ace our exams, but will not help us unite as a species to eradicate the global problems.
I agree, our technology is becoming a crutch and I am very wary of the advancements Cascio brings up.
ReplyDelete"If the next several decades are as bad as some of us fear they could be, we can respond, and survive, the way our species has done time and again: by getting smarter. But this time, we don't have to rely solely on natural evolutionary processes to boost our intelligence. We can do it ourselves." (Cascio 2)
When I read these words I immediately thought Cascio was being way too optimistic and I still do. Maybe it's because I have Turkle and Carr's words still stuck in my head but my immediate thought was that no matter what we might think, this type of artificial intelligence Cascio goes on and on about, is one word: ARTIFICIAL. As in fake, not real. He says that the only reason humans have survived these global catastrophes is because the human evolved to survive it. As far as I know, this type of evolution is a natural process not manmade. This intelligence we will give ourselves won't be natural, we won't actually be intelligent.
Cascio believes the sole reason we will survive is because we can plan ahead, but in this period of technological advancement can we really? I don't know what I'm doing next week, I don't have a plan for the next five years let alone the next 50. Maybe I should but I can't. I live on my computer and my cell phone, the technologies that humans interact with on the daily and the ones that shape a human's daily life. These technologies are not about planning, they're about instant access and instant information. Someone wonders how the worlds going to end, they google it. Someone wants to learn about global warming, they google it. Someone wants to learn about the food shortage, they google it. Unless you're doing research for a project, that is the extent of a person's search for information now days. If google doesn't have the answer, no one has the answer. I can't google "beaumont's life plan" and have an answer appear, I would actually have to sit down and think about that and why would I want to when I can check Facebook, watch videos, catch up on Netflix? You know, the fun and easy things life, not the hard ones. And that's the issue Cascio forgets, this artificial intelligence might give us the ability to learn new things, but unless this intelligence also gives a way to use them people won't want to take the next step. Technology has made people lazy, if you think about it that is it's sole purpose, and this laziness won't go away just because we have more access to more information, in fact it will probably only get worse. The thing is, planning and thinking take effort, they take time, effort and time that technology says we don't have.
Its true that this hyper access we have with technology is limiting how much we know, in the sense that Hadi mentioned. We no longer take the time (nor do we need to) to remember mundane facts like the circumference of the earth or the digits in pi. It is not because we are intellectually lazy, but because as one Cascio stated, there is simply more information out there than before. As we evolve and grow, so does the extent of what we understand about the world. We are closer, but also farther away from attaining wisdom, because as we learn to understand the mysteries of the past, we open up new mysteries to uncover in the future. We’ve got so much more to learn, and we always will, which is why the way we learn needs to change too. Popping a pill to focus may sound like a convenience, but when there is so much information out there, and our brains have a limited capacity, it may become a necessity. If we cant keep up with the flow of things (like the eruption of the volcano and the ice age of our past) our numbers may dwindle and we may get set back if we don’t get smarter.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with Cascio; I do not think technology is the equivalent of human intelligence evolution. The "connection" of humans with technology does not lead to an augmentation of our intelligence, but rather a replacement of it. The more capable computers become, the less effort we need to put into thinking. We are letting machines do the thinking for us in order to live in a more conventional and efficient manner. I do not await the arrival of artificial intelligence with hope, but rather with skepticism. In a future where computers can do all the thinking for us, why even bother trying to think for ourselves? The fast evolution of technology results in an increasing dependence on computers and a decreasing dependence on human thoughts and interaction. I believe that at the pace we are at now, the achievement of full technological potential is likely to arrive before that of full human potential; but only because we have allowed ourselves to believe that machines and artificial intelligence can achieve perfection in a way the unaided human brain never will.
ReplyDeleteI also found Cascio’s claims about the use of technology (whether pills or computers) becoming an accepted part of society to slightly concerning. I already see the prevalence of drugs such as Adderall being used by college students and have gotten the impression that as it becomes more and more commonplace, those unwilling to cheat (like myself) will find themselves at a disadvantage. While Cascio views the future with excitement, I find myself more in the Carr camp. While many of these potential innovations are exciting, I think technology may become a crutch instead of an advantage. After having a smartphone for less than a year, I already find myself for more reliant on it than would seem possible considering I lived the first 18 years of my life without one. If I can hardly imagine life without a phone to look up random facts, add events to my schedule and go on facebook, I can’t imagine how dependent I will become if my phone starts to perform even more basic functions in my life. Although much of the technology Cascio describes makes things more convenient, I fear more of a “Wall-E” vision of the world, where technology creates lethargy and boredom, not hyperactivity and motivation.
ReplyDeleteCascio raises a thought-provoking point in beginning his article with an example of human evolution. Yet he proposes some sort of natural disaster to spur capability for language and higher level thinking. His proposition for increased human intelligence sans natural disaster holds little weight in my opinion. It is certainly true that the human brain has an extremely high ability for neural plasticity and new ways of accumulating knowledge, however it may also be true that we are investing to much confidence in the ability of our brains. Who is to say that we have evolved to the pinnacle of knowledge processing? Are we truly capable of becoming “smarter” without inherent changes to our biology which would have to result in the killing of the “weak” or “unfit” for today’s society?
ReplyDeleteThat being said, even if environment and technological pressure were enough to augment human intelligence, I feel today’s society is not headed in a smarter direction. When I look around today I see adolescents distracted by technology. I do not see them on quests for knowledge and information. I see them on quests for clever twitter posts and what their friends were doing over the weekend. Perhaps if the internet were not riddled with social media, online games, and mundane advertisements Cascio would have a stronger point. Yet for now, I do not see “intelligence augmentation,” I see a general dumbing down of society.
I really like the idea “fluid intelligence”. Education is not a cycle of memorizing every single word from the textbook and then filling the exams, but is the creation of new solution applying your knowledge. Swallowing these ‘pills’ forces your brain to active and keep study time longer. It is a tedious replication not an efficient learning. It reminds me Turkle’s idea, the second self. When the time swallow pills become mundane, will you deny that your second self is the real you? Will you have the illusion that the one could memorize all textbook is the real you? While students appreciating those magic pills, ability to think critically and read deeply has gone far away. I feel pathetic for who swallows magic pills, for who want this cheating way to get an A.
ReplyDeleteWe with access rely on the Internet to serve as a smart personal assistant. I like this author's optimism, but then I can afford broadband, multiple computers, and the education that taught me the critical thinking to use all of the above well.
ReplyDeleteWhat, indeed, of those left behind?
Carly, those of us with a strong will to power, to use Nietzsche's term, don't spend a lot of time worrying about clever Twitter posts and friend's facebook statuses.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that many others like me, with without a will to rule others, will use these technologies while others distract themselves.
Thus the emergence of a technologically and pharmacologically enhanced super-elite. I do foresee that coming. And if bionics and virtual immortality beckon? Would anyone like those with a will to power, rather than a will to goof off, not spend anything to attain that pinnacle? I suspect we'll be considering this as a real issue in a decade or two.