sts ppt 1

• The study material identifies William Nelson Joy's arguments as to why the future does not need us, evaluates contemporary human experiences with science and technology, and asks students to write an essay emphasizing the importance of humankind in visualizing the future
• The study material provides an overview that discusses the danger posed by science and technology unchecked by moral and ethical standards, drawing insights from William Nelson Joy's article "Why the future doesn't need us?"
• The introduction poses several questions about the possibility of a future without the human race, robots and machines replacing humans, and medical breakthroughs going terribly wrong
• The study material explains that imagining a future without humans is nearly synonymous to the end of the world for many, but a dystopian society void of human presence is the subject of many works in literature and film, and a constant topic of debates
• William Nelson Joy


  An American computer scientist and chief scientist of Sun Microsystems who wrote an article in 2000 titled "Why the future doesn't need us?"
• In his article, Joy warned against the rapid rise of new technologies like genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics, which have become very powerful and can potentially bring about new classes of accidents, threats, and abuses
• Joy argued that these dangers are even more pressing because they do not require large facilities or even rare raw materials - knowledge alone will make them potentially harmful to humans
• Joy cited the ability of nanobots to self-replicate as a particular concern, as it could quickly get out of control
• Joy cautioned humans against overdependence on machines and stated that if machines are given the capacity to decide on their own, it will be impossible to predict how they might behave in the future, putting the fate of the human race at the mercy of machines
• Joy was also concerned about the rapid increase of computer power and the possibility of computers becoming more intelligent than humans, ushering societies into dystopian visions such as robot rebellions
• Joy drew from Theodore Kaczynski's book, Unabomber Manifesto, where Kaczynski described that the unintended consequences of the design and use of technology are clearly related to Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong"
• Since the publication of the article, Joy's arguments have received both criticisms and expressions of shared concern
• Critics dismissed Joy's article for deliberately presenting information in an imprecise manner that obscures the larger picture or state of things, and accused him of being a neo-Luddite
• The study material states that whether Joy's propositions are a real possibility or an absolute moonshot, it is unavoidable to think of a future that will no longer need the human race, and it is necessary for the scientific community, governments, and businesses to engage in a discussion to determine the safeguards of humans against the potential dangers of science and technology