Originally posted by _Phoenix_
But what worries me is, I don't want people going into a world where machines tells us what people are.
I still don't understand.
We already live in a world where other people - make that cabals of very powerful people - tell us what people are, and what people should be like.
Hollywood, Madison Avenue, the educational system, the medical establishment, organized religion, "society", etc. And the people mostly listen and
follow.
How would machines make it any different?
Can't we make our "own" minds up.
It's already bad enough with people just looking at papers about you and making judgements about you before even meeting you, like job interviews
etc. instead of looking at you in the eyes for who you really are.
Come to think of it, I would rather be judged by someone looking at a sheet of paper with an objective summary of my skills and accomplishments than
by someone looking into my eyes and projecting his or her personal prejudices. If this make me sound autistic, then I'm sorry, but it is the other
side of the coin.
It's hard to come up with "he's too fat", "he's too skinny", "he's too short", "he lack social skills", "he lacks confidence", "he
dresses not in Hollywood style", "he has a scar below his right ear", "he limps when he walks" etc. etc. from a sheet of paper or a computer
monitor.
Whats next? machines that tells us what jobs we should do, how intelligent you are by reading your genetics, Who you should marry etc etc. We
should be carefull of not losing our ability to make our own minds up. 
In a society where most people already
have lost the ability to make up their own minds thanks to the machinations of powerful people, I
see no added threat from machines. Believe me, such people already have, and still are, going to use everything in their power to maintain and
enforce their prejudices. Including technology.
BTW,
Akira rocks!
[edit on 2-4-2008 by _Phoenix_]