“About 10,000 years ago, humans passed a tipping point where our ability to modify the biosphere exceeded the planet’s ability to modify us. That threshold was the beginning of the technium. We are at a second tipping point where the technium’s ability to alter us exceeds our ability to alter the technium. Some people call this the Singularity, but I don’t think we have a good name for it yet“- Kevin Kelly in a great book, What Technology Wants.
The technium is defined by Kevin Kelly as “…a word to designate the greater, global, massively interconnected system of technology vibrating around us“.
I find this historical perspective interesting (and frightening also a bit – see our post How We Are At the Brink of the Effective Real Birth of Artificial Intelligence). Enhancement of our capabilities or downright slavery? In the mind of Kevin Kelly, the internet and what might happen next is inevitable, the necessary evolution of technology in history. It is where the fact we can’t see any other presence in the universe turns scary.
I am rather on the optimistic side, believing that we will learn to dominate the technology around us… although this skill might become more and more difficult to develop. We definitely need develop a new skill set around managing the technology around us. This needs to be taught at school. This will even more necessary with the development of the self-driving car and other items that we won’t control any more directly. How should we react? How should we use emergency stops? We all need to learn what we can and cannot do. Sooner rather than later!
