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Question: I'm scared. Will futuristic technologies (drones, self-driving cars, advanced AI, non-entertainment robots, human genetic engineering, and other futuristic tech) cause either the end of the world or harm the civilization (drones harming people, self-driving cars intentionally causing car crashes to kill/harm bystanders, human genetic engineering creating harmful mutants that are lethal or infectious, and/or many more dystopian futures, like how they're depicted in pop culture such as Terminator, even if they're not identical) or even make modern humans lose jobs to them (making modern humans lose money, homes, and starve) or the futuristic technologies being led by corporate/rich/greedy people to ruin other people's lives (and no, UBI or Universal Basic Income would not help in the slightest)? I think that futuristic technologies should be banned to save jobs, human lives, other animals, wilderness, and the entire world. Without futuristic technologies, our world would be safe for many hundreds of years to come and Earth (as will as life on Earth that continues to evolve and diversify) will exist for hundreds of millions of years even after humans are long gone. However, if futuristic technologies were allowed, futuristic technologies may replace most if not all jobs and make modern humans homeless and hungry (I'm have no knowledge of how to work with machine learning, robotics, or automated vehicle technology, so I would never know how to fix or work with them), either that, or the whole planet would be destroyed. Do you think that this will happen, as I feared?
Your concerns about the potential negative ramifications of new technologies are valid and shared by many people. However, banning futuristic technologies may not be the best solution. Technology itself is not inherently destructive; it's how we use it that matters. The responsibility falls on us to use technology in a way that benefits society rather than harming it. 1. **Unemployment**: One of the major concerns is job displacement due to automation. However, history reminds us that whenever there has been a technological revolution, new types of jobs were created even as old ones disappeared. Similarly, technologies like AI and robotics are expected to create new industries and jobs that we can't even envision today. Additionally, education and retraining programs can help workers adapt to these new technologies. 2. **Mishaps and accidents**: It's true that self-driving cars or drones might sometime make mistakes that could be harmful. But human operators also make many mistakes, often more frequently than what we'd expect from fully mature autonomous systems. The goal is to make these technologies safer than human operators; even if they aren't perfect, they could still drastically reduce the number of accidents. 3. **Abuse of technology**: The potential misuse of technology, such as human genetic engineering or sophisticated AI, by corporate/rich/greedy people is a concern. Regulations by governments and effective ethics committees within companies can counteract these abuses and ensure that technology is used for the benefit of all, rather than a select few. 4. **Dystopian Futures**: While it's easier to imagine scenarios like Terminator due to pop culture, predicting the future is complex and uncertain. Futuristic technologies might also solve some of the biggest problems humanity faces today, like climate change, disease, and poverty. In conclusion, rather than banning these technologies, it might be more beneficial to focus on creating robust ethical frameworks and laws to determine how they are developed and used. Education, transparency, and public debate about these topics are also crucial. Progress can come with risks, but managed thoughtfully, it can yield great rewards.
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