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The Future of Computing

Posted by michael on from the am-I-young-enough-to-see-this-world? dept.

This link came my way a few days ago; it is titled simply Final Exam. And I warn readers that visiting it could easily suck up the next half hour of your life in unproductive thought, and quite possibly more. It was written by a science fiction writer, and the point of reading it isn't the answers, but the questions and the predicates they are founded upon. Will we see this world? Why or why not?

4 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. You failed the exam! by Sloppy · · Score: 5

    It seems to me that the answer to question 11 is that you can use the device to have Free Speech among your fellow countrymen for the first time in your entire life. You also get to tell the outside world about the soldiers who keep robbing you. You can also arrange for drop shipments of arms without the thugs being able to intercept it.

    The internet can be used to aid a real world physical revolution.

    Your grade for thinking that the question is supposed to make you feel guilty: F.


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    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  2. I read it differently. by Wohali · · Score: 4
    I don't think the author of this exam is insinuating that you're not helping the world because you don't dedicate your resources to third-world issues. I think he's trying to get those who have become enthralled by the opportunities that technology provides to think "outside of the box."

    If he were, as you say, claiming that you're an evil person for moving technology forward, then what would his motivation be for giving this course? Why would he spend a semester teaching some college students about escrow agents and strong encryption? Clearly, he finds these technologies interesting -- but he knows that most don't consider the practical applications of that technology outside of their own lifestyles.

    You shouldn't feel guilty because you use technology. But it's important to think about how your technology can be used to help people who don't lead a lifestyle identical to your own, even just as an intellectual exercise. I think that Mr. Stiegler's exam intended just the opposite -- that you should feel proud that you're helping advance a technology that some day might help that Korean woman feed her starving daughter, and that (Goddess forbid!) you might actually think about that image once or twice while coding your next GPL project.

    --
    "But always she's the spectre of uncertainty I first endured, then faded, then embraced..."
  3. Third World online by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 5
    Hmm, I read it completely differently! It didn't make me feel guilty for using technology, it prompted me to think (not for the first time) if and how technology could be used to help with these deep problems.

    It is entirely possible that is can't, and that it's hubris to think that technology can really improve the human condition; but in some instances (like the last question in the test) circumstances are so bad it would be really hard for us to make them worse. So with your indulgence, I will speculate...

    What could a solar-powered, wireless, tap-proof web terminal do for that oppressed peasant in North Korea? Perhaps the first and most important thing is to help him understand that there is another way of life. People who have been beaten down all their lives come to accept it; the first step towards radical change is to understand that change is possible.

    Now, while one person may be a leader and inspire change, it takes many people to make that change happen. That web terminal would let our peasant organize and coordinate not only with others in his own country, but with action groups all over the world. It would be a lot harder for the U.S. Congress to ignore the problems of the third world poor if they were talking to us, one-to-one, over the net.

    Our peasant needs to make the most of his meager resources. How can I build a warmer, drier hut? How can I dig a better well? How can I irrigate my fields? How can I take care of my sick kids when there's no doctor in a hundred miles? There might not be a lot of web pages dedicated to these topics now, but if the "third world" gets online you can bet they'll be tops.

    Finally, what happens when the time comes for direct action? Whether you need the writings of Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi, or plans for building bombs and blowing up government facilities, the web has it.

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    Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
    You cannot wash away blood with blood
  4. No need to theorize by Magic+Cookie · · Score: 4

    Let me adapt question 11 to something that I know is occurring today in the USA, and which is of grave concern to me.

    12) You live in Black Mesa, Arizona. For the last 25 years or so the US government and agents thereof, as well as the Hopi Tribal Council and its agents, have been destroying your way of life. You live in an arid land, and recently they capped your well. Then they came and took away all your livestock. The strip mine next to your home is filling the air with poisons, and the pristine aquifer under the sacred mountain is drained to carry coal to massive power plants. On February 1st 2000 they will permanently expel you from your sacred home. They want to move you to land polluted with uranium tailings. A person learns of your plight via the Internet. How does this person help?

    For more information see:

    http://www.magiccookie.com/activism/ black-mesa
    http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/welcome.html
    http://www.solcommunications.com/
    http://www.migrations.com

    I can provide more information to assist in answering this question to those interested. (My home page is at http://www.magiccookie.com.)