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Post by moritz on May 20, 2010 13:36:31 GMT -8
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Post by Josh on May 20, 2010 18:02:55 GMT -8
Mo,
I'm curious your thoughts on possible dangers/ misuses of such technology.
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Post by moritz on May 24, 2010 13:33:25 GMT -8
Mo, I'm curious your thoughts on possible dangers/ misuses of such technology. My concern here is anybody’s concern I guess: the fear of the unknown; the fear of losing control over the things to come and over the very thing we are creating. The fear that future events will turn against us. This fear is as old as mankind. The anxious feeling of having no control over several aspects of life is what made people try magic and drove them into the arms of religion. It is the core of superstition and it reappears every time somebody is playing with fire. This fear has been addressed in many pieces of literature. Think of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, where she expresses the fear of men going too far in the times of the Industrial Revolution. It has been expressed in the Lord of the Rings when Saruman speaks to Gandalf: “Moria… You fear to go into those mines. The Dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dûm”. Perhaps the most beautiful poem dealing with this topic is Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (which you might know from Disney’s Fantasia). Here’s a translation: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Good! The sorcerer, my old master
left me here alone today!
Now his spirits, for a change,
my own wishes shall obey!
Having memorized
what to say and do,
with my powers of will I can
do some witching, too!
Go, I say,
Go on your way,
do not tarry,
water carry,
let it flow abundantly,
and prepare a bath for me!
Come on now, old broom, get dressed,
these old rags will do just fine!
You're a slave in any case,
and today you will be mine!
May you have two legs,
and a head on top,
take the bucket, quick
hurry, do not stop!
Go, I say,
Go on your way,
do not tarry,
water carry,
let it flow abundantly,
and prepare a bath for me.
Look, how to the bank he's running!
and now he has reached the river,
he returns, as quick as lightning,
once more water to deliver.
Look! The tub already
is almost filled up!
And now he is filling
every bowl and cup!
Stop! Stand still!
Heed my will!
I've enough
of the stuff!
I've forgotten - woe is me!
what the magic word may be.
Oh, the word to change him back
into what he was before!
Oh, he runs, and keeps on going!
Wish you'd be a broom once more!
He keeps bringing water
quickly as can be,
and a hundred rivers
he pours down on me!
No, no longer
can I let him,
I must get him
with some trick!
I'm beginning to feel sick.
What a look! - and what a face!
O, you ugly child of Hades!
The entire house will drown!
Everywhere I look, I see
water, water, running down.
Be you damned, old broom,
why won't you obey?
Be a stick once more,
please, I beg you, stay!
Is the end
not in sight?
I will grab you,
hold you tight,
with my axe I'll split the brittle
old wood smartly down the middle.
Here he comes again with water!
Now I'll throw myself upon you,
and the sharpness of my axe
I will test, o spirit, on you.
Well, a perfect hit!
See how he is split!
Now there's hope for me,
and I can breathe free!
Woe is me! Both pieces
come to life anew,
now, to do my bidding
I have servants two!
Help me, o great powers!
Please, I'm begging you!
And they're running! Wet and wetter
get the stairs, the rooms, the hall!
What a deluge! What a flood!
Lord and master, hear my call!
Ah, here comes the master!
I have need of Thee!
from the spirits that I called
Sir, deliver me!
“Back now, broom,
into the closet!
Be thou as thou
wert before!
Until I, the real master
call thee forth to serve once more!” Translation Copyright © Brigitte Dubiel “From the spirits that I called - Sir, deliver me!” This phrase sums it all up. The German original is slightly different. The translation has been modified so it still rhymes, but the original passage says literally: “I can’t get rid of the spirits I summoned”. This is the moral of the story: “Don't meddle with things you don't understand”. This is what I fear when I read of scientists programming artificial life. It is an intuitive, conservative fear. It is a justified fear, for we have all made bad experiences ourselves on a micro level and have seen the grand catastrophes like Chernobyl or the recent oil pest at the Gulf of Mexico, emerge as a direct consequence of mankind’s greed and lack of caution on the macro level. But experimenting with fire has also brought us all the progress and prosperity we now enjoy. So now they broke through another wall. Nobody knows what this will cause. It is fascinating and promising, because they are fast on their way of deciphering what life really is and might even eventually find a way of answering the question of questions: If and how life can emerge from non-life. The flipside of this coin is, that scientists, like the Dwarves in LOTR might dig too deep and might, like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice or Frankenstein, create a monster they won’t be able to control. |
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Post by Josh on May 24, 2010 15:36:49 GMT -8
Great post, Mo!
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Post by Margot on May 25, 2010 10:20:00 GMT -8
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