Creating The Means Of Our Own Destruction

[k_nitin_r 8]

Did anyone else notice that scientists and engineers are hell bent toward building things that movies say are going to kill us. There is the self-driving car that could decide to kill its occupants - not that cruise control by itself hasn't had cars try; there are cases reported in which the cruise control supposedly malfunctioned, and I am not referring to the Lexus incident which was because of a floor mat but instead I am referring to the incident in which the cruise control would not disengage and the brakes would not work.

Then, there are the android robots that Asian scientists build to resemble human beings to the extent that you can hardly tell the difference between the person that the robot was built to resemble and the robot itself. As if we didn't have enough to worry about with terrorists plotting to take over the world and the possibility of replicating another person's face using plastic surgery (remember the technoloy from Face Off starring Nicholas Cage and Jogn Travolta?).

We are at a point where we have machines that can replicate themselves using 3D printers. They can repair themselves after being hacked to bits - Yahoo News has an article about a plastic polymer that can heal itself after literally being cut in half.

If the machines do take over and we do have the end of the world as Terminator, The Matrix, and countless other films predict, it won't be the Amish that you all would be blaming, that's for sure.

[sheepdog 10]

"it won't be the Amish that you all would be blaming, that's for sure"

Ok, now that was funny!

 

But yes, everything you say absolutely could come true. How many old time science fiction movies made in years past have actually come true now in modern times? Laser guns used to be a Buck Rodger's fan's dream. Now lasers are common tools used for hundreds of practical purposes. Computers used to take up entire floors of buildings, now you can hold one in your hand. I worry about cars too. These new ones that can put on the brakes for you especially trouble me. I just don't care about a machine doing the driving for me, I'd much rather do it myself. I can think of a whole lot of ways that kind of technology could screw up.

 

So yes, as we advance daily in technology more and more of these futuristic dramas will find themselves playing out in our lives.

[k_nitin_r 8]

The statement, "We often provide the means of our own destruction," was mentioned in Civilization V in reference to eagles providing the feathers with which people create arrows to shoot down the eagles. Of course, in the case of the eagles, there is little that they can do because it is natural for them to grow and shed feathers. However, we as humans experiment out of curiosity, and mass-produce devices out of greed to commercialize on our findings.

In Minority Report, a computer was able to determine the intentions of a human being and would arrest would-be criminals before the criminal act could be performed. This is probably similar to what we have today with the government monitoring messages posted on social networks, on the telephone network, and over the Internet in general. There is software available to determine the general mood of a particular city based on the Tweets of the individuals from that city. Similarly, the outcome of elections is determined through Tweets even before the votes have been cast. Of course, this assumes that people who post messages on Twitter or any other social network are actually the people who go out and cast their votes because often people choose not to vote because it is something that they have never done or because they do not wish to queue at a place several kilometres away for something that does not immediately benefit them in any way.

Cruise control within cars is along the lines of the what we see in Knight Rider, but cruise control systems in some cars have malfunctioned and have put their owners in moving high speed death traps when the cruise control system develops a mind of its own and the owner sits helplessly in the driver's seat, holding on to the steering wheel for dear life. Following the incident in which the accelerator pedal was caught underneath the floor mat of a vehicle, Lexus has made it possible for the driver to override the accelerator pedal input by depressing the brake. Lexus is probably overdoing it though because you can no longer ask a passenger to change the audio track, change the GPS destination, or look up the phone number for a ringing call when the vehicle is moving - this is prompted several independent vehicle service centers to provide their quick-fix solutions to disable the safety features built in by Lexus and therefore we would not be able to rely on the manufacturer's safety systems after modifying the vehicle or buying a pre-owned second-hand vehicle that may have been modified. Even if you are buying a certified pre-owned vehicle, there is a chance that the safety system has not been checked and the vehicle was only tested for mechanical fitness.

[sheepdog 10]

It seems to me that with modern tech in cars, there should be some sort of way to come up with a kill switch or override button or what ever you want to call it that could save a person in the event of a malfunction in the computer system. In Demolition Man they had cars with auto drive or manual drive, whichever you preferred at the time. All voice activated. So I suppose you would also have to create a fail safe in the event the voice activation software failed too. You'd have to spend a lot of time thinking about all the things that might possibly go wrong and how to avoid them. Might get pretty confusing and complicated by the time it was all worked out. But I'm reasonably certain that before long they will figure all this out. LOL, I just wonder what is going to happen when the power goes out and none of this garbage works!

[k_nitin_r 8]

I remember in Total Recall, the newer one from 2013, and not the classic one, the protagonist is in a futuristic car that has all kinds of safety measures in place. In the car chase, he just wants to turn off the safety so does stuff that the manufacturer would not approve of. Most modern cars have a switch that is difficult to reach if you want to disable the stability control, or ABS and EBD. If there is such a thing as too much technology, it's all these acronyms that they put into cars.

[OpaQue 15]

off-topic....

My car flashes all these indicators every time... From EPS to ABS, Something of the other breaks (I suppose) and this indicator tries to scare me while I m driving... Sometimes after I see that ABS Indictor (saying its ******), I purposely brake here and there and check it a bit... My car works like always when these indicators flash, May be I m terrible driver.. or my advanced systems were already broke from day 1.

[k_nitin_r 8]

My car has been doing weird stuff too. The sedan suddenly became self-aware and turned its headlamps and CD player on when I had the lights set to Auto. The battery then died, leading to a three-hour series of events to get the car running and fitting a new battery. These car batteries just aren't designed for deep cycles, so all it takes is one discharge and the battery needs to be tossed out. The SUV refuses to connect to my phone's audio and seems to have a mind of its own when it automatically shuts off all electronics if it thinks the battery might get discharged. Apart from that, I've never had a vehicle with proper working brakes that lasted more than a month - right now, my odometer still reads under 600km and the brakes haven't worked well since it clocked 500km.