Hamid A. Campbell
Dr. Adam Johns
ENGCMP 0200
03.17.2009
Final Project Proposal
With all of the knowledge that humans have accumulated since the beginning of our search for enlightenment, we have come closer to uncovering an ultimate truth. This, in part, is due to the rapid expansion of science and technology that has introduced us to fields such as genetic engineering and robotics. Not only has technology revolutionized the way that we live, but it continues to develop at an exponential rate. A rate that will soon render humans the tools of technology, effectively reversing the relationship between man and machine.
There are those, however, who believe that all advancement is good advancement. Uneducated about the risks of technology, or convinced that the pros outweigh the cons, these people support the unhindered search for knowledge and creation of artificial intelligence. They feel that technology can somehow make life more livable for future generations. It is certainly arguable, and popularly believed, that technology is indeed the solution to our problems.
However, the depth that technology has reached, as we have discovered this semester, is quite dangerous. Humans, by nature, are a species of curious creatures. We have spent centuries seeking the answers to the questions that are not directly answerable, or even provable. When we realized that we were incapable of this feat, the need for and creation of a higher “artificial” intelligence arose. Will we ever stop? When will we have reached the point at which we are satisfied with the amount of knowledge that we have attained? What would we do with this new knowledge anyway? Will this knowledge lead to solutions to the problems that we currently face, or will it further complicate our problems, thereby making them harder to solve?
This project would, in essence, explore the motives of human curiosity and attempt to answer these questions. Literature would be consulted that discusses the extent of the progress that we have made in fields such as robotics and genetic engineering, enabling an objective analysis of the progress that we have made in the human quest for omniscience.
Dr. Adam Johns
ENGCMP 0200
03.17.2009
Final Project Proposal
With all of the knowledge that humans have accumulated since the beginning of our search for enlightenment, we have come closer to uncovering an ultimate truth. This, in part, is due to the rapid expansion of science and technology that has introduced us to fields such as genetic engineering and robotics. Not only has technology revolutionized the way that we live, but it continues to develop at an exponential rate. A rate that will soon render humans the tools of technology, effectively reversing the relationship between man and machine.
There are those, however, who believe that all advancement is good advancement. Uneducated about the risks of technology, or convinced that the pros outweigh the cons, these people support the unhindered search for knowledge and creation of artificial intelligence. They feel that technology can somehow make life more livable for future generations. It is certainly arguable, and popularly believed, that technology is indeed the solution to our problems.
However, the depth that technology has reached, as we have discovered this semester, is quite dangerous. Humans, by nature, are a species of curious creatures. We have spent centuries seeking the answers to the questions that are not directly answerable, or even provable. When we realized that we were incapable of this feat, the need for and creation of a higher “artificial” intelligence arose. Will we ever stop? When will we have reached the point at which we are satisfied with the amount of knowledge that we have attained? What would we do with this new knowledge anyway? Will this knowledge lead to solutions to the problems that we currently face, or will it further complicate our problems, thereby making them harder to solve?
This project would, in essence, explore the motives of human curiosity and attempt to answer these questions. Literature would be consulted that discusses the extent of the progress that we have made in fields such as robotics and genetic engineering, enabling an objective analysis of the progress that we have made in the human quest for omniscience.
1 comment:
Your first paragraph itself includes a number of large and provocative arguments. For instance, you *assume* the existence of something called "the ultimate truth" - which is what, exactly?
You stay general in the second problem. Not only does the last line of the 2nd paragraph not really state what *you* think, but I'm not clear on what "technology" or "our problems" really mean to you.
The questions you raise in the second paragraph are, of course, good questions. Even answering one of them, though, would be a tremendous challenge for a single paper - you certainly can't do all of them. So, if you do this topic (and I know you might not) you need to find a focus within it. For instance, you might argue that curiosity should be controlled/restained in some particular way...
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