X-Message-Number: 14789 From: "Mark Plus" <> Subject: Fwd: Wired News : In Search of Cyber Humanity Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 21:23:41 PDT >Subject: Wired News : In Search of Cyber Humanity >Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 21:14:55 -0700 (PDT) > > From Wired News, available online at: >http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,38846,00.html > >In Search of Cyber Humanity >by Patrick McGee > >2:00 a.m. Oct. 28, 2000 PDT > >CAMDEN, Maine -- In his groundbreaking book The Age of Spiritual >Machines, Ray Kurzweil argued that humans could attain near >immortality by becoming one with technology and robotics. > >Ellen Ullman, however, believes that while Kurzweil is a great thinker >in many ways, he is a better scientist than humanist. > >"It always makes me nervous when people talk about an improved human >race," said Ullman, a programmer, adding that it makes her think of >dictators like Mussolini and Stalin. > >Kurzweil has taken his knowledge of the computer sciences and >"superimposed it on every thing he seeks to understand," Ullman told >attendees at the Camden Technology Conference. > >The theme of this year's conference is "Being Human in the Digital >Age." Ullman, author of Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its >Discontents, made her comments during a session on the human being and >the machine. > >Kurzweil's ideas got Bill Joy, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, >thinking about the issue as well. A long piece that he wrote for Wired >magazine, "Why The Future Doesn’t Need Us," sparked much discussion >when it appeared earlier this year. It has also acted as a touchstone >for the conference. > >Like Joy, Ullman is leery of those who view the body as a machine that >can be augmented or replaced. Ullman told an estimated 500 attendees >that it is a big mistake to view human beings as modular units that >can be split into separate components, such as body and mind, to make >them more efficient. > >"I think those traits -- speed, efficiency and accuracy -- are machine >traits, not human traits," she said. > >Pattie Maes, an associate professor at MIT's Media Laboratory, came at >the issue from a different angle. Her lab isn't working on replacing >humans, but on giving them a little extra assistance through >"intelligence augmentation." > >"There is this mismatch between the complexity of our lives and our >cognitive abilities," Maes said. > >She is hoping that software "agents" developed at the Media Lab over >the last eight years can help by serving as information filters, >problem solvers or in a variety of other tasks. > >One is called a "remembrance agent," and it tracks files, e-mails or >other data for its user. If someone is having a conversation with >their boss about a particular project, it can automatically pull up >all the data relating to the task on the computer, Maes said. There is >also a version of this agent that can be worn on the head; it has an >eyepiece that projects data, she added. > >Another program called Letizia browses the Web with its user, looks in >the vicinity of the Web page in use, and suggests links to follow that >will bring the user to information that interests them. > >"It's sort of a scout that browses along with you to point you to >information that you might regularly miss," she said. > >But despite the promise of such technologies, Ullman said she is >unconvinced by arguments that scientists can create humans and human >consciousness. > >She believes scientists and futurists alike have made the same mistake >of using "the whole view and mindset of computing overlaid on the >long-time question of consciousness." > >And although she said she was compelled to address these issues, it is >often difficult to do so in the tech world: "These days, it's almost >impossible to criticize cyber visionaries without being called a >bleeding heart humanist," Ullman said. > >During a question-and-answer period following the session, Ullman >said, "I'm not a futurist, I'm an alarmist." > >Copyright 1994-2000 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved. > > > _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14789