Terminator, The Matrix, I Robot and many other movies deal with an exciting topic of what happens when humans gain the powers promised by a certain technology. Will the robots rebel? Could internet turn into SkyNet? Will advanced nano technology allow building bombs that make nuclear weapons seem like sticks and stones? What about merging ourselves with technology?
In so many ways further technological development seems akin to playing with fire and powers once only prescribed to gods. Are we up to the challenge? Are we ready? And if not, how can we become ready? Technology could give us the power to destroy, but it could also give us the power to create a world of unimaginable prosperity and freedom. It could be used to enslave, but also to liberate the potential of each individual.
We need to identify the *good* uses of technology and we need to evolve our social and cultural mentality to the point where destruction and enslavement wont even be a temptation anymore. If that ideal is an utopia, if it cannot be reached then perhaps we are already doomed.
While some politicians would have us believe the crisis is over and we're recovering I think we can never be too sure, at the very least. Respectable people who are widely credited for predicting this crisis (George Celente, Peter Schiff, Ron Paul etc.) are saying there are even worse times to come. Suffice it to say it would probably be a bad idea to go get too comfy right now and think saving and being prepared is no longer so vital.
In my recent article titled ""Intellectual Property" a Violation of Real Property" I've laid down the reasoning behind my rejection of the intellectual property idea, primarily in recognizing that it cannot exist without the medium and that in fact it is the medium itself - a specific property of the medium such are the dents arranged on the surface of a compact disc or energy patterns within the brain, and so on.
Video games are taking the place side by side to blockbuster movies. They are the new form of mass media entertainment as the visual realism begins to match that of movies and even the real world. What gives them an edge however is the fact that they are interactive, that not only can you passively experience them as you watch, but participate and influence exactly what you see.
Unless you really want to believe in something you know is a lie you probably wont be inclined to believe people who express inconsistent ideas.
Free Software or Open Source Software have been typically attacked by people who do appear to believe quite strongly in property ownership. If you create something, they would argue, then you are entitled to control it. How else are you gonna get compensated for it?
Just as we may talk about the dangers of future technologies when they are put to some negative uses we can talk about the internet as a present and still largely evolving technology and dangers its negative uses pose to other people.
