What I know, 3.0

Though some of the facts in this video are shocking, some of them are not too surprising at all. Everyone knows how large of a population both China and India have. Mentioning that the 25% of India’s population with the highest IQs exceeds America’s total population it didn’t really shock me, considering that there are almost 1.2 billion people living in India and only 300 million in the US. And so what if China becomes the number one English speaking country? For this to happen only a little over 20% of its population would have to speak English due to the massive amount of people in the country. What did surprise me though, as it did most other people, was the statement that “by 2049, a $1000 computer will exceed the computational abilities of the entire human species”. This was so surprising because currently most regular computers aren’t even that cheap and a computer of any price that will outsmart the entire human population has yet to be successfully created.
Technology throughout time, except for warfare, has been developed to make everyday tasks easier and more enjoyable. Inventions like the automobile, the telephone, and the computer, have helped to revolutionize society. Even smaller advancements like Velcro and the mechanical pencil have helped to improve people’s lives in one way or another. But what happens when the potential risk of danger in new technology outweighs its benefits? This is where I draw the line. For example, when a robot takes a doctors place, a patient’s life would be in the hands of this technological being. Technology malfunctions all the time, who’s to say that robotic doctors will never have any glitches? A simple glitch in this case would cost someone their life. Many new robots are stationed at military hospitals like the Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Here, a robot nicknamed “Chungbot” visits patients daily and allows Dr. Kevin Chung to monitor them from over 1,500 miles away with a computer and a joystick. Though Chungbot can only examine wounds, with information and technological developments increasing at an incomprehensible rate, it won’t be long before something like this robot will be able to operate on patients while being controlled by someone miles away. This is the type of technology that really frightens me. I have no doubt that robots might be able to eventually successfully complete a surgery with more precision than a human being, but I have enough distrust in my laptop to do the right job without any problems ever, never mind the distrust I have in a robot to complete surgeries without any even minor malfunctions. It is one thing when a doctor messes up and causes someone to lose their life, but it’s a completely different story when you throw a robot causing people to die in the mix.
So what does it all mean? It means that the world is growing rapidly, not just in population but in technology and information as well. How we decide to use this technology and information, and what limits we set, will determine the outcome of this increasingly concerning exponential growth.

Source:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/23/tech/main5260524.shtml