Bit Bang – Rays to the Future now online

Kari Silvennoinen — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:45:27 +0000

A quick note letting you know that the book I was involved with is now available online for free as a downloadable PDF.

If you’re interested in what’s in the pipeline technology-wise in the coming decades be sure to read this report. As previously mentioned, this report is a compilation of articles written by the PhD students of Aalto University (previously Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki University of Technology and University of Art and Design Helsinki).

The topics include

Future of IT and hardware
Future of Telecommunication and Networks
Printed electronics and nanotechnology
Future of Media
Future of Living
Future of Globalization
Robotics and artificial intelligence

Also, in the appendix is a small diary of our meetings in Silicon Valley.

Normally these kind of reports would cost thousand of euros, but thanks to the Finnish educational system you can get the report right here for free (PDF; 2MB).

Technology, business, and the need for a religion

Vincent van Wylick — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:48:17 +0000

Before you label me a religious nut, let me explain that religion to me has little to do with god, rather it is about finding meaning in what we do. In that sense, it may be more appropriate to call me a type of Buddhist than the Catholic that I was raised as. I think that business and technology (to the latter of which, I include science in general) are particular areas missing a type of meaning, and there is actually a continuous battle being fought against it.

This is perhaps more apparent in science, where prominent celebrity-scientists like Richard Dawkins are waging a war against creationism, and with that all that it stands for. I have little defence for the bible-based pseudo science being propagated by people with very little in credentials to their name. I don’t particular think that science should’ve ever entered this area of people lives; it comes from an outdated belief that the church should control everything that we stand for. ‘Control’ is the wrong word; there should be ‘meaning’ to all things we do, but the validity of science is established and the validity of religion is being undermined more everyday by pretending to be a pseudo-science.

In business too, a battle is being waged between maximising measurable shareholder returns vs. the more intangible qualities that make ideas great. Religion, meaning, has lost it’s place to the Dollar bill a long time ago…

I thought this subject appropriate as one of my favourite science fiction shows has ended last weekend, Battlestar Galactica, in which the presence of a god or gods plays a strong role in determining the fate of man and machine. It is one of a trilogy of shows that have played a strong part in my thinking since I was a teenager; the other two being “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Terminator,” the movies and the show [I also love "Babylon 5," though that more for the solid quality of screenwriting, on par with shows like "The Wire," a story for another day and blog].

There is little doubt in my mind that some version of the future predicted in those three shows will come true. The robots will come anyway, but what does that mean for us? Will they be equals like Data in Star Trek; dangerous allies like the friendly terminator on John Conner’s side; or simply “the enemy?”

I guess that this is for us to decide and I think that some kind of religious element, similar to Asimov’s three laws of robotics perhaps, will have to come into place for there to be a meaning that transcends the relationship between man and machine. Our very nature is determined by the state of nature as we perceive it: a planet with resources too few to maintain all of us, feeding our competitive spirit; humans that are a kind of machine, with a limited life-span, and the ability to procreate, feeding our compassionate spirit and need for understanding. By creating beings that defy that logic, it is hard to fathom what effect that will have on us. Will we see them as competition, as slaves, as children, as equals? How will they see us?

I think that religion, as it is now, needs to accept that science is an established area that explains, in part, our place in the universe—science will not, as yet, make us immortal. I also think that religion is a strong candidate for the building of communities, something that science and technology plays a role in also. I think that the imperfection that is religion, should perhaps also be built into technology in some way, remembering that by religion, I mean “the bringing of meaning,” which is different to “the bringing of purpose.”

That meaning, whatever it is, “god,” is by nature imperfect, fuzzy, and unclear, because worshipping perfection, a perfect god, a “techno-god,” will more than likely mean the end of us. I have a hard time imagining that such a god will tolerate flawed creatures like us.

This is my brain-dump after spending a few days in limbo, and currently on just a few hours of sleep. It is, admittedly a little light on criticising the business side of things, which, in my opinion, has more than proven it’s ability to take meaning away from action. Take it as the start of a conversation perhaps.

Vincent
P.S. speaking of sci-fi and the future, did you know that “Demolition Man” is considered the Nostradamus of sci-fi movies?

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Bit Bang – Rays to the Future now online

Technology, business, and the need for a religion