Science is a Blessing or a Curse
More refined technologies brought huge improvements in the quality of life, but also in weapons of mass destruction. Explosives and vacuum cleaners, artillery and the microwave oven. Accurate and sophisticated theories about the nature of the universe were thought up, and then World War 2 started.Thus began the Nuclear Age - you could also call it the Age of Fear. Nuclear weapons, electronics, computers. From then on, scientific research progressed at an exponential rate. Moreover, computing power increased with great strides, quality of life soared. Automobiles, televisions, hi-fis, telephones all improved our lives. Long range bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, neutron bombs and cruise missiles were all designed to destroy others.Throughout history, science and technology have proved to be a see-saw of sorts, with the ups and downs, benefits and disadvantages, increasing with time. Today, our quality of life in first-world countries is comparatively excellent - life expectancy is high, general affluence is high, entertainment is readily available. But also we live with the terrible, ever present knowledge that one skirmish, one conflict, one mistake, could destroy the delicate balance of the see-saw and our weapon
For a down to Earth example, IPv6 allows computers to address every brain cell on Earth many times over, an essential component of a direct brain link. They would say that we would lose our individuality and society would become homogenised. Thus, for the most accurate, and the most 'distilled' form of communication, we would talk to each other, directly from brain to brain. Computers with processing powers that are orders of magnitude greater than what we have now would be required to interpret and convey the masses of information between brains thousands of kilometres apart - but we already are researching optical, biological and even quantum-based computers. Nanotechnology is a controversial field - some argue that it is merely the realm of science fiction writers who use it as a poor plot device to create machines out of thin air. "All good things come to an end; the Church decries affinity as the Edenists become supremely confident in themselves, psychologically strong to the point of denying the existence of God. Moreover, computing power increased with great strides, quality of life soared. But after reading these novels, I was intrigued as to whether this direct brain communication, artificial telepathy, was scientifically and technically possible. Such a feat of engineering would be impossible - that is, if we discounted nanotechnology. There will be those who cry out against artificial telepathy using brain implants - saying that we are losing our humanity, and becoming machines. They called it the Soul Catcher, a name which will enthral the public. Along with the price, there is also hope that we can get off the see-saw. Last year researchers succeeded in interfacing a ??disabled/paralysed?? individual with a computer so that he could move an arrow about on a screen, allowing him to communicate when he could never have before. Artificial telepathy would not be a wholly new technology - rather, the convergence of many other technologies which are generally perceived as unrelated. Finally, we would need to create a means of manufacturing a direct brain link - a device unimaginably small and intricate.
Common topics in this essay:
Research Agency,
Fear Nuclear,
Internet Internet,
Ian Pearson,
God Edenists,
Chance Eden,
Technology Labs,
artificial telepathy,
,
Soul Catcher,
World War,
direct brain,
science fiction,
brain link,
direct brain link,
quality life,
science fiction writers,
fiction writers,
brain implants,
millions people,
mass destruction,
weapons mass,
weapons mass destruction,
conducted university world,
university world artificial,
|
Acceptance Essays
