After Professor Kelly sent out the link to the article via email, I instantly jumped on the assignment…
Jared Lanier’s article gave me plenty of “food for thought” about the Web 2.0 he helped to create and the surrounding digital world. It is a matter of self-identity on the web; that is the name of the game. A few notorious websites within the digital past and present are constantly being sued over identity and privacy rights. Websites control us. Watch us. Mimic us. Even Lanier sheds light on a particularly interesting futuristic thought- Nerd Rapture, “The belief that increasing computer speed and processing power will shortly result in machines acquiring “artificial intelligence,” consciousness, and that we will be able to upload digital versions of ourselves into the machines and achieve immortality.”
I do not know about this class, but I for one… Do not understand how the World Wide Web is becoming or has grown to a robotic, digital Hitler just waiting to attack? This is the very thing we, including Ray Bradbury, have all feared from the beginning, a ‘Fahrenheit 451’ takeover!
I forgot to mention in my introduction blog- Please, at your convenience, follow me on Twitter: @LaurenHWaldron
The ever expanding possibilities of the web are terrifying, but I think Lanier’s concern about increased processing causing AIs to manifest may be still out of reach. While I’ll admit I need to read more on the subject, computers seem to lack whatever the main component of human memory is, which is at the basis of creating a fully-functioning AI. Something about how the human brain works is linked with how we create and store memories, which is not yet fully understood.
ELIZA, a computer program from 1960s, triggered a similar piece of writing on the destructive power of AIs by J. Weizenbaum, but the issue there wasn’t the computer’s ability to think but that humans projected consciousness onto it. The real fear of an AI may be easiest to defeat by altering humans, not the machine. Might be some interesting reading, if you’re really interested.
Long way round, trying from the psych route may shed light on where this Digital Hitler came from. Being one of those who isn’t comfortable with the internet, I started poking around myself, and this seems as good a place to find explanations as any. It also suggests that maybe the internet isn’t as threatening as advertised, though it could go there if people continue to tinker with it.
Maybe you should bring this up in class. Prof. Kelly would probably find it pretty interesting, and other students might have better answers than this.
Thank you for your valid information and feedback. I agree, this information would provide a great in-class discussion. I hope all of the class took the time out to read this article, because it takes more of our in-class discussions and gives a more abstract approach.