No âmbito de concluir este blog decidimos criar um pequeno documentário que fizesse um apanhado das ideias aqui exploradas ao longo do semestre.

Deixo também o texto escrito para o documentário. Está em inglês devido ao uso de uma voz sintetizada que só compreendia essa língua.

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Since the beginning, man has always walked towards new frontiers. Its greatest ally in this search has been technology. We constantly build new and more effective tools to make our lives more comfortable. Fire allowed us to see in the darkness. Clothing protected us from the elements. New weapons made us stronger. Language and the written word made it possible to pass on knowledge to others. All these inventions changed Man beyond recognition.

Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, technology has evolved so much that we find ourselves at a crossway with three possible futures. All of them revolutionary.

First possibility
Very recently, we’ve been seeing a trend in trying to simplify technology to make it easier for us to interact with. Early computers were complicated pieces of equipment that required advanced knowledge to use. These mechanisms worked against men’s natural intuition. But now with advances in technology we are able to make them more user friendly. What this means is that our machines are adapting to our needs, becoming more human like. By the rate technology is evolving, machines will become so human we won’t be able to tell them apart from us.
What will be the consequences of having tools that cater to our every need? We have changed so much already trying to make our lives less complicated. What will we do when we won’t even have to walk anymore? Are we making it so easy for ourselves that we’ll start losing many of our natural abilities? The lack of challenges may be de-evolving us. This would be a sad fate for humanity.

Second Possibility
Another possible future is one in which there is none. Machines superior to us in every way, soon realize the futility of serving our kind. We become nothing more than an inconvenience to them. Our fate is set. Extinction.

Third Possibility
But there is still one other possibility. Something we are already beginning to see in today’s world. Man is moving further and further away from its natural biology. Becoming more infused with machines. Extreme examples of this show us individual’s whose lives are completely dedicated to virtual worlds. Their bodies have become mere shells for their minds. Taking this trend into the future, what will become of us? Incredible advances will allow us to improve our physicality. Bioengineering will improve our strength, our speed our intelligence and our longevity. We would also be able to simulate human consciousness on computer hardware. We could live in world’s where everything and anything is possible. In such a future where we would fuse with machines, would there still be traces of humanity left in us? What purpose in life would these new beings have? Should we take any precautions to prevent such a future? Is it correct to fight progress to preserve human nature?

Conclusion
These are some of the defining questions we face in this time of change. What does it mean to be human? What is the purpose of technology? Have we set in motion a path that will lead us to our end?