Jaron Zepel Lanier is totally neutral and does not believe in the heaven or the hell scenario. Lanier thinks that Kurzweil and Joy are both over stators. He judges them as paranoid people that build a cage around themselves to imprison them. Lanier doesn’t believe that technology can either lead to heaven or hell. He believes that there is a third path. Garreau calls these visions The Prevail Scenario. (Phil)
In Lanier’s Prevail Scenario, he is talking about transcendence through an “infinite game.” He gets his information about infinite games and finite games from James P. Carse. A finite game is a game that is played for the purpose of winning; an infinite game is a game played for the purpose of continuing to play. I agree with Lanier’s thoughts about infinite games being the real transcendence games. All humans are basically living on a game board.
The game is being played infinitely. Unlike finite games, it will never end and it can never stop. In finite games, you can quickly tell which way the game will end up going. The heaven and hell scenarios are finite games. The finite games are set up to follow a path and let the user predict the next step. In these games, once a path is chosen, there is no way to surpass that. In infinite games, you can transcend that boundary. There is no definite path for infinite games. (English 101)
There is always a way to transcend it. This is just how it’s like in the technology world. The outcomes of enhancing our current technology can go both ways. It can either be a finite game or an infinite game. For the infinite game, technology enhancing doesn’t necessarily mean hell or heaven. There are ways where you can transcend these scenarios. If we can create ways to enhance the technology and make our lives better, then maybe there are ways where we can create a different path for us.
Just because god or whoever gave us a road doesn’t mean we have to follow it. We can think of different ways that would suit us better. It’s just like the cuttlefish. Even though it is born with a soft and vulnerable body, it uses its wits to capture its prey with ease. The cuttlefish has a vulnerable body, but it still finds ways to survive. The cuttlefish doesn’t just live with its fate, it thinks of ways where it can prevail and adapt to what it’s given. Humans can also do that. Even after we messed with a little technology enhancements, we can still do different things to prevail.
We can all make a difference now by doing something ahead of time. If we have predicted that something like this would happen, we could all do something so we can make sure we will live through it. We can all gather and construct a meeting on this issue. Everyone must be aware that this may someday happen. It is also not too late to stop some of the developing technologies.
Since some of the projects are still under construction, we can still stop them in time to avoid any further destruction. Some things that we can be stopped now include nanotechnology, robotic intelligence, and enhancing human’s genetics. It is not too late to do anything. If we all put an effort into developing a way to avoid the worst, then we will not have to worry about anything.
We can transcend through these bad scenarios and come out in triumph. “We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.” If we want to continue to develop new technologies, we must also create back up routes so we can avoid any type of bad event from occurring. Like what R. Buckminster Fuller said, if we are called to be architects of the future, than we must not become its victims.
The Hell Scenario is still inevitable, but we can transcend all of these things and come up with a new and better future. We can push ourselves out of these boundaries and limits and create a new world. Technology does not control us; we will control technology. We will not allow anything to go bad in our generations and try our best to create a great and better future for everyone else.
If we did create solutions for the challenges we will face, then we will be able to become a superior race and that will conquer anything. We will fall in to the hell scenario and come out triumphant. We will not let technology control us. We will prevail and not become the pawns of the board game. Humans should never give up hope and continue to strive through each generation. I hope that all of you are aware of the situation we are in and will do something ahead of time about it. It is time we took control of things.
Phil, James. “The Singularity and the Prevail Scenario.” Philosophistry. n.p., 17 Jun. 2005. Web. 28 Jun. 2013
In-text reference: (Phil)
English 101. n.d. Web. 28 Jun. 2013
<http://english101atseattlecentral.blogspot.kr/2006/03/lanier-scenario-future-as-adventure.html>
In-text reference: (English 101)
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