Is this the life they are planning for us in the near future?

We are trained in schools, and reinforced in media, to not connect topics from different disciplines. Inter-disciplinary research rarely takes place in universities anymore. We are trained to compartmentalize various subjects and merely react, without seeing the big picture.

Yet social trends appear to point to major changes in how we are supposed to look at life (marriage, family, childbirth) and tech giants are telling us how their new gadgets will alter what it means to be human. So is this what we are being aimed to in the next generation:

yvancross.blogspot.com...

Of course some might see this as a utopia and some a dystopia. On the plus side it would make humans more efficient, it would make life quite a bit more interesting, and might even make us healthier and happier. On the negative side, privacy would no longer exist as we know it, our minds might no longer be our own and it could insure that we no longer see being "human" in a biological and metaphysical state but rather a technological one as we turn the concepts of the Industrial Revolution onto ourselves.

My personal opinion? Well, George Bernard Shaw said that only 2% of people think, 2% think they think but 96% would rather die than think an original thought. I believe that people will line up for the upgrades that are being predicted with only a small minority opting to stay human in the traditional context.

I think and I'll tell you why, pray for wisdom and it shall come.
Thinking takes courage to find oneself among a float of pig $hit out there. Teach your children the value of being on their own. Simple, don't go on welfare.

a reply to: edward777

have this smiley sticker because you have nailed the weakness of compartmentalization.

Take two

a reply to: edward777
You bring a boat of good questions to the thread ed, questions that we all could be asking ourselves. But rather than trying to answer any of them I will add one more.

You say.

our minds might no longer be our own

to which I will ask, are they really? Where did our ''minds'' come from. To me, they came from the environments in which we grew up. Parents, families neighborhoods communities. TV access and movie houses, comic books and schools. All of these and more environmental forces pouring information into baby, toddler, grade schooler, high schooler and on and much of that information flooding in with little to no regulation from inside the receiver, the person. How can we really claim ''a mind of our own.

Studies in neuro-science posture that within each one of us only about 2% of who we consider ourselves to be is really conscious while the other 98% is automatic unthinking unconscious behavior.

And while that 2% can match up with Shaw's 2% there is a huge difference. With Shaw's 2% each of us can believe that we are in that 2% while all the others are part of the 98% who do not have original thoughts. These new studies shatter that to pieces. Indeed it's ALL OF US who at best have 2% of our thoughts that are original and the rest, common to us all is purely unconscious behavior.

This is shattering stuff. How many of us could be and would be willing to admit this. It's much easier to just live with our illusions that it's all the other people that go about mindlessly when in reality its us too..

While one could take a BF Skinner approach and speculate that the brain is shaped by the environment anyway, there is always deviation from such programming that takes place - even if just a small minority of the general population. Such deviation would be impossible if the brain is dominated by artificial intelligence.

Or the human heart is fallen......

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

a reply to: edward777

For some reason I don't buy that fictional account and besides ATS will always be there, right?

Never know if the social media giants decide to hide it.

Then perhaps we might have an ATS underground.

a reply to: edward777

" I know, it is really unusual to have a married couple both working after the economic equalization laws went into effect ten years ago. "

I stopped reading there, clearly there is a terrible leftist dystopia afoot in this story.

Most people are parrots, they cannot figure things out unless it is layed out for them. They are easily deceived and tend to see and hear things in a way that reinforces their beliefs. We are conditioned that way, governments do not want people who can think on their own uncovering their deceptions.

I have known a real lot of people in my lifetime, I was an extravert. I worked for lots of people and see this everywhere. Actually. School is there to teach social engeneering...they presently have lost their way in the schools, the new system they developed in our society is not working worth a crap. I never thought I would see the system fail in my lifetime, They did a decent job of social engeneering in the schools around here in the sixties and seventies. The eighties even produced some good results, but after that our society started to crumble, too much negativity now and too much polarization.

a reply to: edward777

You make a good point about Skinner and others of the determinst school. As I alluded to earlier, the illusion of isolated consciousness, of individuation is hard to give up on. Myself, I have always gravitated towards the humanist school with guys like Maslow and Frankl. I have been particularly fond of Jung.

The notion that you offer that there is always a deviation from Skinnerian and Pavlovian conditioning is for me essential in moving forward and developing as an individual. Not that that deviation might take place within a small minority of the population but rather that deviation can take place within each one of us as we seek to nurture that individual and the free will that comes with it within ourselves.

Recognizing the ''Pavlovian'' nature that we all hold in common can allow us to focus on those areas, that 2% of ourselves that might be malleable, that is flexible for original thought and exercise and development of free will.

a reply to: edward777


Ummm...handsome and built as I am...along with my intellectual curiosity natch...I would gladly interface on a more intimate level with technology...

I would also gladly trade body parts for more efficient mechanical...as in artificial parts...should the need arise...I'm sure I could just print myself an arm or leg...or a kidney etc...

I think there's too much angst associated with AI and possible..."singularity"...I look forward to it...

I believe AI should be welcomed...and nurtured...loved even...

Sad that others will use it for destruction...for war...for expressions of the worst of human nature...








YouSir

originally posted by: funbobby
a reply to: edward777

" I know, it is really unusual to have a married couple both working after the economic equalization laws went into effect ten years ago. "

I stopped reading there, clearly there is a terrible leftist dystopia afoot in this story.

Ummm...being the less outspoken...junior conservative...ahem...Constitutional Libertarian that I am...I fully see that what is described in the OP's narrative...might be closer to future truth...when one considers the big picture...as per automation and artificial intelligence...

If we choose to...not...live in harmony with AI...then perhaps a more bleak and dystopian future awaits us all...

...here's to hoping the brighter sides of human nature prevail...





YouSir

a reply to: edward777
Archetypes and the Unconscious are big parts of the conditioning process, analytical, behavioural cognitive..... Oops better put biological in there, all these psychological schools explain they why the who and the what better than any single one but I would give precedence to the unconscious as it is permanent whereas our personal conscious is but just a blip, whether it continues after lights out I don't know.
The upgrades will be for capping us, so we can never discover out true latent power..

originally posted by: funbobby
a reply to: edward777

" I know, it is really unusual to have a married couple both working after the economic equalization laws went into effect ten years ago. "

I stopped reading there, clearly there is a terrible leftist dystopia afoot in this story.

Well, it is set in Oregon almost 30 years from now.

The point is, it is what the left and their allies in the tech trans-national corporations seem to agree upon.

The upgrades will be for capping us, so we can never discover out true latent power..

I think that is the core of the agenda.

a reply to: YouSir

I know some people think that robots and AI are going to take everyone's job and there won't be any work for people so the robot and AI owners will somehow need to be taxed and have their wealth redistributed to the huddled masses but we have robots and AI now doing various jobs that were once done by people, more and more every day, and yet our unemployment rate is at record lows.
In the future we can all be influancers and get paid in cryptocurrency for our musings and vacation photos. In fact if you were interested I could tell you how to do that now.

And if it goes the other way I've got a super soaker full of salt water for any artificial intelligence that wants trouble.

a reply to: edward777

they are mostly a bunch of stupid kids some of whom will grow up someday and realize that was silly.

A fully automated earth. Would there still be insects? Most definitely. And some smaller animals that thrive in dust. And there would be some solar powered looped videos playing endlessly. Probably some Hillary Clinton video. One that we haven’t seen yet.