Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

[devonin]

Re: Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

Unless.. We'd somehow use the books as firewood like they did 2000 years ago at the start of the dark ages.

As an aside...2000 years ago was still right smack in the middle of the rather advanced, cultured and intellectual Roman Empire.

The "Dark Ages" (Less perjoratively called the 'Middle Ages') is generally stated to have started in 476 with the deposition of the last Roman Emperor, and extends to around about 1350.

To be completely honest, the "dark ages" aren't called dark because people weren't advanced at all, they were called dark because there was very little historical recording of information, so we don't know all that much about what went on. IMO, the philosophy and intellectual thought of the middle ages leaves the renaissance in the dust. Middle ages philosophy (Like Thomas Aquinas, as an exemplar) was substantially more deep, well thought out and rigorous than the majority of renaissance thought.

[buttonmasher0]

Re: Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

If you still want to take this to the extreme watch the important plot parts of Zegapain, extreme or non-extreme that should explain the basics of what you are asking.

[Kilroy_x]

Re: Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

The "Dark Ages" (Less perjoratively called the 'Middle Ages') is generally stated to have started in 476 with the deposition of the last Roman Emperor, and extends to around about 1350.

For europe. Eastern Rome kept going for a while.

IMO, the philosophy and intellectual thought of the middle ages leaves the renaissance in the dust. Middle ages philosophy (Like Thomas Aquinas, as an exemplar) was substantially more deep, well thought out and rigorous than the majority of renaissance thought.

Well, when all you do is steal Aristotle and add a Christian element you don't have to worry about making any new mistakes. When you try to build a new system of thought from the ground up you don't have any such frame of reference.

[Master_of_the_Faster]

Re: Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

There are some traits of humans that just won't change with time. I don't think that without futuristic technology, people would forget how to eat. Sure the futuristic generation would probably be lazy, but I mean we all know that food goes down our mouths and into our digestive track right? Even if the futuristic generation would get lazy, why would a person want to change the joys of the pleasurable things that humans do in life? If you want to eat chocalte-chip cookie dough ice cream, are you seriously going to give it to some robot to chew for you and then just have it shove the ice cream in your mouth? Perhaps the robot would carry the ice cream to you and place it in your mouth, but I don't think the robot would actually chew it for you and get rid of the sensation (atleast I love cookie-dough ice cream). People probably don't have to shove food into your mouth to make you know that you are hugry and that you would eat or drink eventually using your mouth if you are able to access anything to eat or drink. I would probably say that if there was a way to make people not constantly breathe (which I would actually like), without that technology, we would still understand that breathing would be basic need for life. Under my impression that it is common sense for humans to know how to obtain their basic needs and then eventually obtain certain wants, I wouldn't think that humans would ever stay "primitive".

[Tails99]

Re: Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

Another Dark Age will probably happen. Not the End of the World, but an overthrow of machines on our way of life. That's if you get past the conundrum of machines are not smarter than those who programmed them. But of course, no one individual man knows everything, so if you get a machine that

A)Has a power to absorb ALL information by catalogged books and information sites.(and that is happening. Books on cd -> CD put on computers -> Put onto internet)

B) Is instated with other robots who are created to kill any people who do not share the intelligence they posess, by viewing them obsolete. These would have to be created by either someone who posesses all the knowledge the robots know, or a fool who doesn't realize that these smart robots are smarter than they are and would kill them too.

[devonin]

Re: Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

Why would a robot, concluding that it was more intelligent than a human, somehow be moved to destroy it? We keep around all -kinds- of things that are less smart than us without wantonly killing them all for no reason.

I find it odd how the general assumption about aliens is that if they are super intelligent they must be peaceful and enlightened, but if it is robots, they must somehow decide to kill all humans.

[FatalRay]

Re: Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

Funny this topic exists. I remember like 4 years ago I was watching this retarded show called...I think Blaster's Universe... Some kids learning show. I remember the kid, this alien chick, and their metal dog landed on this planet that was like a desert and the civilization is just terribly stupid. They have no idea what they are doing. Because before their time they lived in a time where EVERYTHING was done by robots and they lived in a marvelous city. However the robots eventually broke down leaving them all confused and not even be able to do the simplest tasks as mentioned, feeding themselves. I do believe there is a chance this could happen in many years to come

[Master_of_the_Faster]

Re: Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

Why would a robot, concluding that it was more intelligent than a human, somehow be moved to destroy it? We keep around all -kinds- of things that are less smart than us without wantonly killing them all for no reason.

I find it odd how the general assumption about aliens is that if they are super intelligent they must be peaceful and enlightened, but if it is robots, they must somehow decide to kill all humans.

I think that people get the impression that robots can be made or hacked into evil beings. You wouldn't have to be smart in order to kill someone (perhaps you would need to be smart to get away with it in certain cases though). I would say that an alien (if it exists) could be just as bad as an evil robot for the same reasons that there are bad humans. Any real argument that states that aliens are more friendly than robots is an unjustified argument because there is no evidence for now.

[devonin]

Re: Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

I think that people get the impression that robots can be made or hacked into evil beings. You wouldn't have to be smart in order to kill someone (perhaps you would need to be smart to get away with it in certain cases though). I would say that an alien (if it exists) could be just as bad as an evil robot for the same reasons that there are bad humans. Any real argument that states that aliens are more friendly than robots is an unjustified argument because there is no evidence for now.

You misunderstand the concept to which I'm referring. The belief is that any species that got to a point advanced enough to develop and use faster-than-light travel, or develop technologies to get such vast distances at sub-light speeds would need to be of a sufficiently advanced level that it is assumed they couldn't get there if they were still hostile towards one another.

When you're at war with your own species, you spend time and effort on ways to kill each other, not ways to cooperatively move yourself across vast stellar distances.

The argument doesn't say "Aliens are morally good" it says "Any species that gets to that level of advancement must necessarily reach a similar level of enlightenment that implies their moral goodness"

[Master_of_the_Faster]

Re: Will rapidly advancing technology make us primitive in the long run?

I still disagree with the idea that aliens or any developed species would be considered good. Sure a species might work togather with its own group of species, but next thing you know while they are in Earth, they might just want to blow humans up. If there are any real aliens, anything we have said or portrayed about them are probably steriotypical statements. As for robots, I would say that anything that a robot does bad would be blamed on their creators.