Jessica Rhodunda
Dr. Adam Johns
ENGCMP 0200-SEMINAR IN COMPOSITION
26 AUGUST 2008
Dr. Adam Johns
ENGCMP 0200-SEMINAR IN COMPOSITION
26 AUGUST 2008
Why the Future Doesn't Need Us
As the technology of the world increases, the dangers of the world does the same. Nanotechnology is one of the newest forms of mass destruction and is used by many today. In the article "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" by Bill Joy, it helps us see the near future of the world as the effect on people and land and the effect of gray goo.
The near future with nanotechnology means destruction. With terrorism on the rise and the wars that are developing, nuclear technology is being a major contributor. The way that the technology can be destructive is how it can be so specific on the area that the people want to destroy. This in turn leads to the mass killing of people which is in the area or surrounding area of the site. Not only the people and land of the area that is hit is effected, but also the future of that area is hurt. "Self-Repliaction: Even Peptides Do it" by Stuart Kauffmann describes a discovery of a 32-year old amino-acid peptide that was "auto-catalyse its own synthesis", which means that it was giving off radioactivity 32 years after it was made. If this was to hit an area where there are people, they would be effected for many years after the hit of this mass of destruction. An exmaple of what the future may hold would be the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. These bombs not only effected the targeted population but the future population as well.
With nanotechnology creation, a new threat is being formed. It is called gray goo. This effects nature and everything in it. It harms the plants and it destroys them. Also, it will create bacteria that will compenate for live bacteria. This can become expensive and over time the people wouldn't be able to afford it. Over time the cost to prevent accidents of gray goo will be so expensive that people will not be able to afford it. If these accidents occur it will lead to the ending of humanity.
The creation of nanotechnology will likely destroy humanity because of the destruction it causes. The effect of it on the people and the land and the gray goo that is formed will be hazardous to the world. As Bill Joy said in his 1989 conference, "We can't simply do our science and not worry about these ethical issues." We have to focus on the problems that are being created by humans now so they will not effect us in the future.
1 comment:
Your introduction is completely pointless - you want to start out with your idea or your argument - this intro basically just acknowledges Joy’s existence.
The next paragraph discusses nuclear weapons, more or less. The biggest problem with that is that Joy is more interested in *contrasting* nuclear weapons to GNR technologies - you’re summarizing Joy here, but you’re summarizing him without, seemingly, really knowing what he’s up to with this material. Also, since you’re mostly summarizing Joy, you should be citing (with page numbers) the passages which you’re using, where you use them - the way this reads is as if you read Kaufmann, when you really read Joy writing *about* Kaufmann.
Similarly, in the final two paragraphs you are summarizing/echoing Joy - without even really accurately summarizing his argument. It’s a vague discussion without a clear point. Is your focus really on the problem of Grey Goo? If so, why didn’t you begin with that, instead of ending with it?
Short version: this is a summary, and not a terribly accurate one, of Joy’s article - it isn’t the presentation of an argument in response to it. Also, there are many typos and grammatical problems - you need to spend more time proofreading.
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