Essay on Tech Advances: Pros & Cons - Examined by Bill Joy

Technology is one of the progressive advancements which is facing the world today. Technological advancements contribute to better lifestyles due to less application of human power in most processes. This is contributed by computer innovations and other electronic devices that perform various duties on behalf of human resources following a set of commands. Bill Joy came up with his concepts opposing the contribution of technology on people's life based on the underlying potential severe effects which might accompany the advancements. Bill's ideas were aimed at countering Ray Kurzweil's concept of engineering and robotic technology. According to Kurzweil, technology is a progressive advancement which will lead to robot singularity. This will result in the configuration of the human mind and end-effectors of robots, whereby the end-effectors will be blocked, leading to collinear alignment. The process might result in unpredictable implications as the robots will be uncontrollable. Kurzweil claims that by 2030, human civilization will be significantly affected by the singularity hence becoming irreversible. Therefore, Bill's fears are based on Murphy's Law, which suggests that every situation likely to go wrong will ultimately go wrong. Hence, the unpredictable effects of technology instill fear among people as it would be irreversible and may severely impact human civilization. Joy’s fears can be explored based on the negative impacts of engineering, robotics, and nanotechnology on human civilization and lifestyles by 2030.

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Increasing technological advancement will result in the intense application of robotic technology hence affecting human power. The technology is set to upgrade and be modified to improve human life; however, there are potential dangers that might affect human functioning. Approximately by 2030, the technology will have advanced in such a way that the computers and other technological devices will be uncontrollable. Hence, Joy uses Moore's law to defend his concept. Based on the law, the processing speed of computers doubles every eighteen months (375). Hence, by 2030, the speed will have increased to an uncontrollable state, which will affect their application. In comparison to Kurzweil's concept, at that time, human beings will have achieved singularity with robots. This will lead to an irreversible situation in which nobody knows its effect on human intelligence. Human beings will share a common intelligence with computers and robots hence resulting in human mind displacement. Human beings will not be required to apply their minds to solving issues and giving out instructions to robotic technology. Joy's fear is, therefore, based on the possible extinction of the human generation. People will no longer be required for any operations as the technological advancements will be doing all works without human interference. This might lead to unpredictable effects, including replacement of the human brain.

The sharing of the human mind with AI will also lead to unemployment and internet hacking. The robotic technology serves to replace human power. Hence, by 2030, the technology will outdo human existence and replace the existing species with more advanced species, challenging to handle and control. The role of human beings will have no value as the robotic technology will perform all the required tasks rendering people unemployed (374). Besides, sharing the human mind with AI will lead to reduced security of personal details and secrets hence increasing hacking cases across the globe. The human mind will be made accessible to the internet through robotic and Intelligence technology where hackers can retrieve information. In addition, the technology will be difficult to control due to its continuous progression and duplication.

Nanotechnology advancement will also lead to monopolistic possession of resources and the introduction of superpowers. Joy argues that the advancements are very expensive and, therefore, unaffordable to the common citizen. Hence, the opportunities will only be available to the rich, and most of the applications of robotics and nanotechnology will result in the formation of superpowers. Based on previous technological advancements, the introduction of nuclear weapons resulted in cartels and superpowers that owned production costs and controlled others. Similarly, nanotechnology poses a great fear of human civilization as it might favor a few individuals leaving others in suffering. Therefore, there is a need to look for possible pitfalls and severe consequences resulting from technological advancement. “As 2030 nears, Bill Joy says it best: Perhaps it is always hard to see the bigger impact while you are in the vortex of change” (376). Joy suggests that his fears are brought by the upcoming powerful technologies, which pose a great danger to human life as technologists and scientists are more focused on the positive contribution of technology, leaving behind the severe implications associated with each form of technology.

Joy also claims that his fear is stimulated by the desire to know how the human race will coexist with the powerful engineering technology. Based on Joy's incrementalist argument, continuous dependency on technology applications will result in an irreversible situation. People depend too much on technology for everything, which makes them dependants, and it will be difficult for them to resist it. Hence, there is a need to consider how people will coexist together with technological advancements. Engineering technology is applied in various situations, such as driverless cars, cross-breeding, and other unfriendly environmental factors. Most of the upgrades might contribute to environmental pollution and various mistakes that will not be controllable by human power. This is because human intelligence will have been voluntarily presented to machines. Hence, machines will replace the human brain until a point where humans cannot control them. The robots and engineering technologies will require high skills and human power to be applied; hence, the developing countries may not meet the sufficient requirements, which will make them dependant on other countries. Hence, the main fear portrayed by Joy is all about handling the possible outcomes which are unpredictable. The human brain will be functioning non-biologically, thus, becoming irreversible.

Technological advancements also pose fear of the human race's existence as the predicted possibilities might go wrong. Joy uses Murphy's law to support his argument. The advancements are not always secured to produce positive results; hence there are possibilities of going unexpected. The implementations might be short term and ineffective due to limited resources and rapture of discovery. Consequently, by 2030 human civilization will be interfered with due to brain replacements. However, it is possible to advance without singularity. This will help in reducing human being's vulnerability as computers, and other technologies can be fed data directly (409). Repetition of correct feeding of data will standardize the process and bring about positive results by 2030.

To sum up, Bill Joy fears are contributed by the progressive technological advancements which might interrupt and affect human civilization by 2030. The advancements are unpredictable and hence expose people to potential replacement due to singularity. Robotics, nanotechnology, and engineering advancements are expected to replace and merge the human brain by feeding the data into computers. Hence, Joy argues that there needs to consider potential risks before rejoicing on the positive impacts of technology.

Works Cited

Mathas, Carolyn. "2030—Ray Kurzweil’S Predictions Or Bill Joy’S Fears?". Electronics360.Globalspec.Com, 2016.