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Welcome! At Signs and Wonders we sift through the World Wide Web looking for evidence of emerging religious futures. Our mission is to provide our readers -- religious futurists, ministers, and just plain spiritual people -- with a guided tour of the web, stopping wherever we see the future of faith unfolding before our eyes. We update this site every three days or so, so come back again and join us on our next trip. If you want to comment on anything you read here or discuss religious futures in general, come over to our forum. |
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March 20, 2000 [technological] -- Dueling Futures: How will 21st Century Technology Affect Humanity's Destiny? by Cody Clark at 11:05 AM (EST)  Far from being a Luddite, Bill Joy is co-founder and chief scientist at Sun Microsystems. Yet he is worried that emerging technologies -- genetic engineering, nanotech, and robotics -- might possibly lead to the extinction of the human race and must be more tightly controlled. His article in Wired, chillingly titled "Why the future doesn't need us", is extraordinarily dystopian for the usually techno-happy publication. Not so fast, says author Robert Wright. In his editorial in this week's Slate magazine, he dumps cold water on Joy's fears. Wright argues that the problems with the new technologies will not be as likely, as severe, or as unsolvable as Joy anticipates. In fact, Wright's recent book, "Nonzero -- The Logic of Human Destiny" projects a rosy future for mankind spurred on by that same set of technologies Bill Joy wants to limit. editor -- I'm leaning toward Bill Joy, if only for the fact that he carries some heavy tech credentials which make his anti-technology stance seem more genuine. Robert Wright has a book to sell (as he reminds us in his essay in Slate). Regardless, both men differ in emphasis only. Both acknowledge that serious potential problems with genetics, nanotech, and robotics will need to be addressed. This is an opportunity for religious thinkers and people of faith to engage the future. After all, what concerns religion more than the ultimate future of humanity? |
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