Comments on: Jaron Lanier on Staying Human http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2010/01/26/you-are-not-a-gadget-by-jaron-lanier/ Expanding the World of Ideas Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:08:30 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Kerry http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2010/01/26/you-are-not-a-gadget-by-jaron-lanier/comment-page-1/#comment-23064 Kerry Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:51:24 +0000 http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/?p=10474#comment-23064 Mr. Lanier makes some very good observations, particularly the analogy between Singularity and Rapture adherents. Humans seem quite prone to an eschatological narcissism, believing in age after age that the end of the world is almost here - conveniently, arriving in time to save and/or perpetuate the existence of the Believer. The trope of an overarching, self-aware and self-reproducing machine entity has been present in science fiction for many decades (as well as Rapture-like transportations of the saved or chosen). Optimistic as it was, even "Star Trek" was not immune to the occasional whiff of each of these. The computing mindset is self-selecting, and is often that of individuals who are uncomfortable with social interactions and seek to find order and predictability in their interaction with the world. Thus, the approach to "anticipating" the user's needs with "intelligent" software that won't get out of the way, and forces us to conform to the needs of the machine, and its programming, instead. I look forward to Mr. Lanier's presentation this week, and hope that his view portend some small movement away from technical myopia and toward a more wholistic and experiential understanding of our lives. Mr. Lanier makes some very good observations, particularly the analogy between Singularity and Rapture adherents. Humans seem quite prone to an eschatological narcissism, believing in age after age that the end of the world is almost here – conveniently, arriving in time to save and/or perpetuate the existence of the Believer.

The trope of an overarching, self-aware and self-reproducing machine entity has been present in science fiction for many decades (as well as Rapture-like transportations of the saved or chosen). Optimistic as it was, even “Star Trek” was not immune to the occasional whiff of each of these.

The computing mindset is self-selecting, and is often that of individuals who are uncomfortable with social interactions and seek to find order and predictability in their interaction with the world. Thus, the approach to “anticipating” the user’s needs with “intelligent” software that won’t get out of the way, and forces us to conform to the needs of the machine, and its programming, instead.

I look forward to Mr. Lanier’s presentation this week, and hope that his view portend some small movement away from technical myopia and toward a more wholistic and experiential understanding of our lives.

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