A Response
to Some Iranian Leftists about Futurists and Technology
A Response
to Some Iranian Leftists about Futurists and Technology
Sam Ghandchi
http://www.ghandchi.com/2606-futurists-technology-english.htm
پاسخی به برخی چپگرایان ایرانی
درباره آینده نگرها و تکنولوژی
http://www.ghandchi.com/2606-futurists-technology.htm
Two years ago I wrote a short note entitled <Futurists
and the Left: Differences and Agreements> (1). Since that time, I see some
Iranian leftists write that futurists believe <progress of technology by itself
will solve all humanity's problems>! Actually many futurists were even less
optimistic about technology than many of the leftists, a good example being
Marilyn Ferguson
whose views were highly promoted in New Age Movement although I never supported
her views
(2), but she was, nevertheless, the protégé of Richard Buckminster Fuller who is
considered one of the founders of
Modern
Futurism (3). Certainly Ray
Kurzweil the leading futurist of our times does not think technology will
solve all our problems by itself, and reading his book "Singularity
is Near" best demonstrates his views on this topic (4). As explained in my
book "New
Variant to Meet Human Needs" which was reviewed by Kurzweil, contrary to
leftists who always assumed the human itself to stay constant while the progress
of technology continues, for futurists, there will be a time when humans, will
not even be based on biology anymore (5). True that for more than 3.2 million
years (that is the estimated age of Lucy), despite the
advancements of tools and technology, basically the human body itself did not changed
much (6). Nonetheless, today, thanks to medical technology, seeing humans with pacemakers and
prosthetic hands and feet is commonplace and building
humanoids is making progress although not as fast as we expected it to
happen (7).
Hoping for a democratic and secular
futurist
republic in Iran,
http://www.ghandchi.com/index2.html
April 21, 2019
Footnotes:
1. Futurists and the Left: Differences and Agreements, Second Edition
http://www.ghandchi.com/2065-futurists-and-left-english.htm
آینده نگرها و چپ: اختلافات و توافقات، ویرایش دوم
http://www.ghandchi.com/2065-futurists-and-left.htm
2. Futurism, Sandbox, and
Political Potency
http://www.ghandchi.com/403-FuturismSandboxEng.htm
آینده نگری، جعبه شن بازی، و توانمندی سیاسی
http://www.ghandchi.com/403-FuturismSandbox.htm
3. Modern Futurism
http://www.ghandchi.com/347-FuturismEng.htm
آینده نگری مدرن
http://www.ghandchi.com/347-Futurism.htm
4. About Ray Kurzweil
درباره ری کرزوایل
5. New Variant to Meet Human Needs-An Electronic
Book
http://www.ghandchi.com/human-variant-book-english.htm
واریانت جدید برای تأمین نیازهای بشر- کتاب الکترونیک
http://www.ghandchi.com/human-variant-book.htm
6. Intelligent Tools: The
Cornerstone of a New Civilization
http://www.ghandchi.com/353-IntelligentToolsEng.htm
ابزار هوشمند: شالوده تمدني نوين
http://www.ghandchi.com/353-IntelligentTools.htm
7. Nanobots or Humanoids
http://www.ghandchi.com/2164-nanobots-or-humanoids-english.htm
نانوباتها یا انسان نماها
http://www.ghandchi.com/2164-nanobots-or-humanoids.htm
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