[MD] Paradise in cyber space

[david buchanan]

Jos said to dmb:
Its like you're saying "I've guessed what the outcome of this experient will 
be so I wont bother to perform it" ...It might well be sinister and 
dangerous but there's nothing artless about it. You go with the flow and see 
what happens - often it turns out to have been a waste of time, but just 
occasionaly something amazing turns up. There's nothing different about AI 
research in this regard as compared to any other field. ...Whats the 
nightmare for our artisitic types? Competetion? Proper poets will be 
unhindered by the changing media and will most likely embrace it.

dmb says:
If it is sinister and dangerous and experimental then how wise is it to go 
with the flow? And I don't think we have to guess about the effects of 
technology. Nearly two hundred years ago a young women got involved in a 
writing contest with her poet friends and the result was FRANKENSTEIN, the 
subtitle of which is "the Modern Prometheus". So ancient myths and classic 
novels can be added to the more recent sci-fi versions of this idea. (The 
Borg, Darth Vader, etc) I could site example all day long. And of course 
there are utopian visions around technology too. Just about every major 
innovation brought with it dreams of a world transformed. Trains, 
lightbulbs, phones, computers, you name it. Its the other side of the same 
coin. Science will either save us or enslave us. Anyway, the various kinds 
of writers have already presented their nightmare visions of technology. I'm 
not saying Mary Shelly started it or that the brothers who wrote THE MATRIX 
trilogy are literally poets. I'm just saying that we can be delusional about 
the promises of technology. Don't forget that "TO SERVE MAN" was a cook 
book.

We have created a technological world for ourselves. We already use it to 
enhance almost every aspect of life. We depend on the power of technology to 
the point where we depend on it. I mean, if the technological infrastructure 
of the West were to suddenly break down we'd probably be counting the dead 
in the millions. I guess I'm thinking of what's already been lost. Too much 
data and not enough wisdom. I love Mr. Google as much as the next guy, but 
the biggest money maker in cyberspace is porn. Cyberspace was designed as a 
research tool but now MySpace is something like the 9th biggest country in 
the world. And its a fabulous tool. I never really had a computer at home 
until this year and nobody could go to grad school without one, but 
cyberspace mostly serves consumer desires, lust, vanity and is otherwise 
overflowing with bullshit. I mean, this medium was invented for noble 
purposes and they haven't disappeared entirely but its like any other kind 
of power. People use it unwisely. Its like the debate about gun control. We 
know guns aren't inherently evil, but we know that people are. We know 
people flip out, freak out, panic and are otherwise given to fits of 
irrationality. We know this for sure. Happens every day.

I mean, think about a sociopath with superduper google enhanced 
intelligence.

This is the thing about our time, you know. Osama Bin Laden is a medieval 
man with a satellite phone and a lap top. There is a gap betweeen his 
mentality and the power of the technology he can use. It must be something 
like given nukes to Charlie Manson. You don't know exactly what's gonna 
happen but you know it won't be good.

dmb

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