SAVE THE HUMANS! introduction Smartphones, health-care robots and driverless cars – they’re coming, or they’re already here. The products around us are becoming ever more human and autonomous; we live in a society where people and systems live together intimately. As we grow ever closer to the things around us, the definition of a human being is changing. Smartphones are like extensions of our brains; cars, of our legs; screens, of our eyes. We identify with these products and feel handicapped if we have to do without them. When the car breaks down or we forget our phone, we feel as if we’re missing a body part. Behind these smart products and services are big companies that record our behaviour and collect all manner of personal details. All these digital “big data” are saved in the cloud. We follow and are followed, and we are served whatever information we’re looking for. It sometimes seems as if our computers know exactly what our desires are. But what are the interests of these corporations, and what effect are they having on people’s lives? Like all living beings, big companies want to survive and grow. And economic growth processes are linked to technological development. What effect does this have on our autonomy and humanity?
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The future is popular, now that new technological applications are rapidly, almost magically bringing about fundamental changes in society. History teaches us that humans and technology have been evolving in tandem for centuries. We can identify two phases in recent history when technology has affected humans. The first began in the mid-20th century and consists of the effects of industrialisation, globalisation, mass media and network technology. The second phase has to do with algorithms, big data, drones, wearables and the many technological surprises still in store. The last phase seems quite radical; it will likely change the way we define human beings in the coming century. We do not yet know what the consequences will be once technology enters our bodies. In Save the Humans, we examine the threats that could be around the corner for humanity. Melting ice caps, scarce resources, increasing bureaucracy and overpopulation are forcing us to change the way we live. Meanwhile, algorithms and robotics are challenging us to enter a new reality with far-reaching consequences for our lives on earth. The book is made up of statements by contemporary and classic thinkers collected following a public appeal. The book looks at the primary threats to human beings’ continuing existence. Are we becoming imprisoned within our systems? Will robots take away our jobs? Will the planet
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ALIENS DIDN'T COME DOWN TO EARTH AND GIVE US TECHNOLOGY. WE INVENTED IT OURSELVES. 17 Douglas Coupland
➔ By the end of this decade, computers will disappear as distinct physical objects, with displays built in our eyeglasses, and electronics woven in our clothing, providing full-immersion visual virtual reality. 18 Ray Kurzweil
TURN OFF! TUNE IN! KNOWING WHEN TO TURN OFF OUR MACHINES AND WHICH INFORMATION IS REALLY IMPORTANT IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT OF HUMANS. MOST INFORMATION HAS LITTLE OR NO VALUE.
27 Alexander Shapiro
THE///GREATEST DANGER///////IN /////////MODERN TECHNOLOGY ISN’T////////THAT MACHINES////// WILL/////BEGIN ///////TO///THINK LIKE////PEOPLE, ///BUT//////THAT PEOPLE/WILL BEGIN////////TO /////THINK///LIKE //////MACHINES. ///////////////////// HUMANS ARE NOT PRODUCTS!
28 Unknown
DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH HAS ALWAYS BEEN DEEPLY POLITICAL. 48 Thomas Piketty
LOGIC IS A POOR MODEL OF CAUSE AND Design: EFFECTS. 49 NaomiBateson Klein Gregory
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ROBOTS TAKE OVER drones, clones and algorithms The robots are coming! They’re getting stronger and smarter every day. How long will I have my job before a robot steals it? And they’re taking over our families, our houses, our cars‌ basically, our whole lives. Visions of the future in which people are dominated by superior machines have always been with us. Sometimes they turn us into human livestock; in other scenarios, our appliances actively try to exterminate us. Though Hollywood movies usually depict robots as metal people, the reality is more subtle than that. For decades, robotisation has been used widely to accomplish work that used to be done by people. The industrial revolution rendered human brawn redundant; now the digital revolution is computerising cognition. This development is not only taking work off our hands, it is changing our very nature. After all, highly productive, precisely functioning machines require highly productive, precisely functioning people. As a side effect of standardisation, mass production, computerisation, bureaucracy and globalisation, human beings have been robotised to an advanced degree. While we wait for the day when a humanoid robot will shake our hand and introduce itself as an artificial intelligence, the machine has long since grown 55
BE AFRAID.
BE VERY AFRAID: THE ROBOTS ARE COMING AND THEY WILL DESTROY OUR LIVELIHOODS. 61 Andrew Keen
IS THIS CELL A HUMAN BEING? 72 Antoine Suarez and Joachim Huarte
YOU ARE NOT A GADGET! 73 Jaron Lanier
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IT'S TIME FOR THE HUMAN RACE TO ENTER THE SOLAR SYSTEM. 86 Dan Quayle
WE MUST ACCEPT OUR PLACE IN THE NEW COSMIC ORDER. 87 Douglas Rushkoff
The really
INCONVENIENT TRUTH is that it’s not about carbon, it’s about
CAPITALISM.
94 Naomi Klein
Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned
WILL WE REALIZE
WE CANNOT EAT MONEY. 95 Unknown
9.6 BILLION
The key problem facing humanity in the coming century is how to bring a better quality of life without wrecking the environment entirely in the attempt.
104 E. O. Wilson Edward O. Wilson
In truth, we are all part of the team of humanity. And as such, we are all obligated to share ourselves, and our talents, for the sake of the team.
112 Yehuda Berg
life?
WHY DOES IT DEPEND ON CONSUMING OTHER LIFE. 113 Douglas Rushkoff
HUMANS ARE INTERMEDIARY, SMACK IN THE MIDDLE BETWEEN THE BORN AND THE MADE. 124 Kevin Kelly
I STILL BELIEVE THAT WE ARE ONE PEOPLE. 125 Barack Obama
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TECHNOLOGY ISN’T WHAT MAKES US ‘POST-HUMAN’ OR ‘TRANSHUMAN,’ IT’S WHAT MAKES US HUMAN.
150 Nicholas Carr
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TECHNOLOGY IS OUR NATURE. THROUGH OUR TOOLS WE GIVE OUR DREAMS FORM. WE BRING THEM INTO THE WORLD. 151 Nicholas Carr