FUTURE COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE TO PREVENT EXTINCTION?

Posted on August 10, 2009 by

An idea is circulating that the human race will overcome the pressing problems of global warming, terrorism, nuclear threats and widespread pandemics, through a melding of top minds via new technology. Massive and organized data analysis and modeling will lead to a “collective intelligence” that will solve these issues.  Not everyone agrees. Some say that the new technologies and data alone won’t save humankind unless values change. After all, it is pointed out, a vast majority of scientists already hold that C02 emissions are causing global warming yet not much is being done to stop it. In the July/August issue of Atlantic Magazine, Jamais Cascio writes that humans will evolve to meet all major challenges including food shortages by 1) harnassing technology and pharmaceuticals to boost our intelligence. He refers, among other things, to a drug called Provigil, a stimulant-like compound allowing the user to stay awake for 40 hours at close to full mental capacities and increased alertness and enhanced cognitive powers. Provigil is an intresting compound tested and used by our military and approved by the FDA for use by prescription for sleep apnea fatigue and narcolepsy. It is thought to be a “wakefulness promoting agent” versus an amphetamine like stimulant. Could this allow scientists to examine massive data sets and debate simulation models? Perhaps, but to suggest this would make us smarter to resolve the existential problems of our times seems a reach. Cascio also references the quickly developing field of machine learning and the increase of data crunching and trend/model analysis. This is the part of his essay where I think Cascio may really have something. The pharmacology is interesting but there are no real “smart pills” on the horizon. Machines and computers are learning to crunch real data and are learning at an incredible rate. Next: machine learning developments.machinelearning

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