I’d Rather Not Merge with Robots, Thank You

bloomberg.com

1 point·amoorthy··3 comments

This is an opinion piece by a solid writer, and mathematician. This sentence caught my eye: "[obsession with tech] will lead us to become such godlets, augmenting ourselves step by step with technology in a process that will erase our humanity, turning us into machine hybrids that seek only pleasure."

We are already machine hybrids. The alphabet is technology.

“I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”

― Douglas Adams

Nice quote and fair candor. But maybe we similarly trivialized technology in the past and have suffered negative side-effects that could have been avoided with forethought?

I'm not sure it's necessarily regulation but rather education that comes alongside any technology.

It's hard to measure quality of life, particularly when keeping in mind the famous saying "the best things in life are free". But I'd argue that many technological advances have not necessarily improved quality of life.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com