Technology

It’s this weird dichotomy of superintelligence and super stupidity, sort of mixed in one scenario.

No matter how poor you are, you don’t really have to wear rags anymore. Why? Because technology automated the production of t-shirts.

The problem of our information society isn’t anymore that we don’t have access to information. It’s that we have actually too much information.

It seems, to me, that relationships are face to face things. There is no point in having a virtual relationship if you are never going to see those individuals again as it crowds your 'mental boxes'. To think of this in context, they are real cognitive limits.

Evolutionary Psychologist Known for Dunbar's Number Theory

It turns out, though, very clearly, that our social networks are no larger in virtual worlds than in reality. The people you have on your network are the people you would typically keep into contact with in reality, face to face. The difference is, though, that you get lots of 'hangers on' appearing on your network.

Evolutionary Psychologist Known for Dunbar's Number Theory

There is something about the female psyche which is intensely social, and the most trivial conversations become part of the process of bonding. This perhaps is what causes the difference in message in sms, facebook, etc. They may appear trivial (e.g. I'm here, doing this) but there will be a lot more un-stated below the surface (i.e. I'm here talking to YOU and I'm happy to be talking to you rather than someone else) A form of commitment.

Evolutionary Psychologist Known for Dunbar's Number Theory

I think that inequality within societies and between regions has become a key cause for conflict, exacerbated by rapid information dissemination, as people are now more aware of inequalities.

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It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

Physicist who developed the theory of relativity and E=mc².

It turns out that for every ipod sold by Apple, it makes the US trade deficit go up by USD 150. Is the US poorer because the world loves ipods? No, we accrue the high-value elements like intellectual property, profit, and so forth, and outsource the lower-value parts of the chain.

Chief Strategist & Senior Currency Strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex

Right now, biological evolution is not the main engine of change in the human condition. Instead, social and technological development, which occur on shorter timescales, are the predominant change-makers. In particular, it seems that we are gaining capabilities to directly modify human nature—through genetic selection, gene therapy, cognitive enhancement drugs, life extension treatments.

Philosopher & Director of Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford

Super intelligence would be the last invention biological man would ever need to make, since, by definition, it would be much better at inventing than we are. All sorts of theoretically possible technologies could be developed quickly by super intelligence — advanced molecular manufacturing, medical nanotechnology, human enhancement technologies, uploading, weapons of all kinds.

Philosopher & Director of Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford

In my view, all the big existential risks are anthropogenic, arising out of human activity. More specifically, the biggest existential risks in this century arise out of anticipated future technological advances. Humanity has survived all kinds of natural hazards over a period of over one hundred thousand years; it seems unlikely, then, that any natural hazard would do us in within the next hundred.

Philosopher & Director of Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford

Remember that back in 1950, they invented something called the computer that allows you to do more complex calculations than you could with a paper and pencil. Computers allow us to use much more sophisticated statistical techniques to calculate seasonal adjustments, which mean that we do not need to use year-over-year calculations.

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New media conducive to fostering participation can indeed increase freedoms… just as the printing press, the postal service, the telegraph and the telephone did before.

Internet theorist & author on cognitive surplus and social media's impact.

a country that stops its citizens having access to Facebook, say, or Google or Skype, faces real disadvantages – from inward investment to domestic discontent…

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In order to censor YouTube, for example, countries like Turkey and Pakistan had to block access to the whole site; it's not practical just to block selected content.

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