The Art of the Long View

In the class today we had a prolonged debate; in future will there be use of paper for instance newspapers. People kept arguing from their various perspectives. The guest lecturer proposed that the things will be digitized and probably there will no newspaper in future like we have in today. Well, some of the argument was good but some I would call as "blind argument". They just want to hold the newspaper by their hands and try to get the feelings of touching it. The guest put forward many examples where the electronic papers will feel like today’s paper and it will be very interactive and also argued that the choice will possibly change in coming generations. The answer from those groups of audience was "Still, we want the paper based newspaper". That's why I called it as "blind argument". I think people in 30 years back from now had different demands than today’s young generation holding iPhones. So may be in couple of generations paper based newspaper sensation may not be the truth. I have seen in the movie "Harry Porter - prisoner of Azkaban"; newspapers look a lot like we have now but instead of still pictures there are animated pictures or video clips under the news headlines. What a wonderful concept of Live News Headlines… I am open to any of these positive changes that science should bring to us.

"Why the future doesn't need us" is an article written by Bill Joy, Chief Scientist at Sun Microsystems. In this article, he argues (quoting the sub title) that "Our most powerful 21st-century technologies — robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech — are threatening to make humans an endangered species." The article was published in the April 2000 issue of Wired magazine. Joy warns:

"The experiences of the atomic scientists clearly show the need to take personal responsibility, the danger that things will move too fast, and the way in which a process can take on a life of its own. We can, as they did, create insurmountable problems in almost no time flat. We must do more thinking up front if we are not to be similarly surprised and shocked by the consequences of our inventions."

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html