Thursday, 20 June 2013
Just in Case the World Doesn’t End By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo
Columnist:
Correct Me If I Am Right By Rudolf Okonkwo Just in case the world doesn’t end on Friday, there are still some exciting things to look forward to.
Do you plan to live up to the year 2045? That is 33 years from now. If yes, then you better listen to what a man called Ray Karzweil says. He has pushed Singularity theory back to 2045.
You have to suspend belief if you want to understand Karzweil’s projections. He believes that the human brain can be engineered in the reverse. In effect, by 2045, machine and man will become one.
Ok. It sounds crazy already. But this is just the beginning.
The best computer that MIT professors had some 33 years ago is less sophisticated than the phone a Kenyan Masai is using today in the valley of Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. In fact, it is universally acknowledged that the phone that a bus conductor in Ajegunle, Lagos, is using today gives him access to more information than the information that was available to President Bill Clinton some 16 years when he was the president of the United States.
In another 35 years, technology would have surpassed its present level by a square of what it is today. The way dialup internet disappeared when broadband emerged, so will the current wireless we use be abandoned. Already scientists at CERN have developed the grid that will make today’s internet 10,000 times faster. Gadgets like the phone will be smaller and a lot more powerful.
The advancement of technology means that what is possible for man is increasing exponentially. The blind is seeing with the help of chips fitted in his head. The dumb is talking with the help of the computer. And the mind is acting as the computer mouse, controlling the cursor.
Chips are being installed in humans to store data and to communicate with the brain. In researches on what to do about memory losses, scientists are closing in on installing chips in humans that will back up the brain. So, very soon, you can store things you know in an implanted gigabyte SMC. You can recall them whenever you want. Men will no longer forget their wedding anniversaries or what their spouses wore on their first date.
Scientists are optimistic that, soon, one can actually transfer knowledge through a port on human body– the same way computers now transfer information. So a surgeon can download in minutes all he knows to another person who wants to be a surgeon.
I know. You think there is no way. That possibility scares you. The tons of knowledge that we bury when someone dies can now be stored safely. And, if need be, can be transferred to another person who will perfectly carry on with the life of the person who had the original knowledge.
So, instead of spending 8 years in a medical school, a young man will just download the knowledge needed to become a doctor. That is where the world is headed to. Goodbye books. Goodbye teachers.
This is not a script of a Hollywood science-fiction movie. This is real life coming your way. The proponents of this idea called transhumanism have some accomplishments under their belt. They have imitated the natural structure of the brain to produce computer programs that can learn. The brain, the original wifi, is getting connected to the other wifi the computer speaks to.
The nanotechnology is one hell of scientific advancement with potentials that boggle the mind. Studies in the field of brain implants and genetic modification are going on. So are cloning, stem cell research, vaccinations, artificial intelligence and various forms of human genetic engineering. Machines are expected to reach human intelligence level in a few years. There is now a machine that can make a video of what a cat is seeing by looking at the cat’s brain.
This is the future. If you plan to be here when it comes, be prepared to delete all that you think you know about this life.
For those of you who are not sure of how in the world the fax machine picks up a copy of a paper sent thousands of miles away, or how the TV transmits images, well, imagine how old you will look when someone starts hacking into your brain to steal whatever thought is still left in your mind.
Those who say access to information does not imply intelligence must explain how an IBM Deep Blue computer defeated Garry Kasparor, the best chess champion in the world, in 1997. Recently, a computer also beat Jeopardy’s best players. When a large amount of data moves, it creates possibilities. A chip with all the phone numbers of New York City is just a digital phone book. But when the chip can recite someone’s number, when last the number made a call, and what number it called, then, the chip is more than a digital phone book.
Some of you may dismiss this with just a wave of a hand. Some will default to the mantra: Jesus/Mohammed is the answer. Yes, Jesus/Mohammed is a convenient answer. Science is not. While the rest of us say that the Kingdom of God is near, Ray Karzweil says that Singularity is near. Karzweil is foreseeing the age of spiritual machines. His latest book is on how the mind works and how to build one.
Humans are taking over control of their evolution. It is as if they are saying to God, thank you for taking us this far -we can take it from here. This path will end natural selection as we know it. Some say that the posthuman era has started. You bet that Albert Einstein will be jealous of what scientists of today are capable of doing.
No doubt, there are risks associated with this extrapolation of modern science. But I’m sure that even the skeptic is quietly saying in his mind that, if scientists can do this, maybe they can finally achieve the bald hair replacement challenge and the penis enhancement promise.
Those will be good tidings.
One side note: When Ray Karzweil dies, he wants his body frozen in liquid nitrogen at Alcor Life Extension Foundation facility. He hopes that in the future medical technology will revive him.
So just in case the world doesn’t end on Friday, there are still some exciting things to look forward to.
Comments
19 comment(s)
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Re: Vision 2000, 2010, 2020?
Submitted by Black Coffee (not verified) on December 24, 2012 - 22:58.
More like '....would not stop [thinking they are] fooling us.'
They fool no-one; we're only just a stoic lot after all. No?
brilliant
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 22, 2012 - 20:11.
just brilliant. nwa abalukwu nnobi jide ka iji
predicting rudolf
Submitted by uzor (not verified) on December 20, 2012 - 10:05.
I waited for you to mock God ,lo and behold you did or atleast tell us how stupid jesus believers will crumble in presence of science,lo and behold you did.im a better computer i can i predict you better!
Technological evolution is a
Submitted by Agdav (not verified) on December 20, 2012 - 08:39.
Technological evolution is a process. Man was created by God to replenish the earth. The coming of the Christ is in the programme, so his coming will not mess up the fun - the bible talks of a new heaven and a new earth
Rudolf - one of the best I
Submitted by Mao1 (not verified) on December 19, 2012 - 14:39.
Rudolf - one of the best I have read from you.
Thanks.
God has given man a fertile mind to grow ideas and nuture them to maturity. As some soils are more fertile than the other so is the human mind. Technology is the fertilizer of the human mind; it makes limitless possibilities possible.
As some use their own soil to grown rice, some use theirs to grow opium. This is the question we should be asking ourselves in Nigeria - what are we using our mind to grow? Corruption? or ...?
Just in Case......
Submitted by Steve Osasuyi (not verified) on December 19, 2012 - 08:30.
A nice distraction from the corrupt sphere Nigeria.
People might be too ignorance to see machines take up control of our daily lives, certainly it come.
fooling themselves u mean.
Submitted by nzcliff (not verified) on December 19, 2012 - 08:00.
fooling themselves u mean.
Ray Karzwei
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 19, 2012 - 05:29.
Ray Karzweii was the principal inventor of the first CCD flatbed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition.
The future is always in
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 19, 2012 - 04:18.
The future is always in motion!
Science is doing great and
Submitted by wilfred edet (not verified) on December 19, 2012 - 03:03.
Science is doing great and may achieve all these. the bible says as far as the eyes of man can see so he will achieve but no eyes can see further than God who made the original wifi which is producing all these nano tech wonders.
Ogo Great futuristic
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 19, 2012 - 02:51.
Ogo
Great futuristic article.
It is Kurzweil not Karzweil.
Thanks
Ogo
Okonkwo
Submitted by gerd meuer (not verified) on December 18, 2012 - 23:34.
WHEN will somebori stop, shut up that double-O who thinks, claims he is witty, clever or what-have-you ???
Osuji-or-so
must have some prescripshon for that fella who pretends he is witty !!!
but - agin - SAHARA dare NOT publish this !!!
dat fella has no KULTSHUR:1
he neva sschooled with da village-headmaster and with Ken S-W.
he did NOT !!!
he is simply sufferin' from diasporitism:
he is !!!
Prof-of-penkele-sabe-all-of-diasporitism
Nice One and intelligent analysis so far
Submitted by Justice (not verified) on December 18, 2012 - 23:07.
I could see this write up is far beyond the Dikes Tolus and Haramis. If this writer and the few analysts so far are indeed Nigerians why would the country remain the way it is? Painful to find intelligent analysts as these few and still not make meaningful progress. Anyway my assessment of human existence is that right from the day they were born they work towards one goal - THEIR DEATH! This rapid advancement by humans is nothing but a facilitator of this ultimate truth. God almighty remains sovereign! Good write up though.
The world is not ending this
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 18, 2012 - 21:07.
The world is not ending this year. And by the time we achieve what you highlighted, we would still be a long way from reaching our true potential. This is the greatness of mankind.
...beginning of the end...?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 18, 2012 - 19:34.
Nice sci fi, wittingly articulated. I enjoyed the way ur pen moved. MY comment is on one point and only one:
"Humans are taking over control of their evolution"
One may be creationist [...that a superhuman being (God) is in charge] or evolutionist (that mere accidental natural processes are in charge), that doesn't matter, the questions are: Can man harness and make GOOD USE of these multi-dimensional and exponential advances? Looking at merits and demerits of such advancement, is the overall result really positive? Remember man has already created what is widely seen as the ultimate terminator (i.e. Nuclear weapons); Man is still struggling to regulate/contain this science product. Do we really need these advances? If we do need them, what lesson can we take from the previous breakthroughs, are developing the regulatory regime at the same pace... until these issues are addressed such advances are likely yielding negative overall effects...
Ghost Dey Gbaladun
Submitted by The Ghost of N16billion (not verified) on December 18, 2012 - 19:17.
A few notes:
its Ray Kurzweil -
also, I appreciate your mention of the Religion issue.
While the industrious attempt is on to learn and advance human knowledge, some people are looking for 70 virgins, while others are hoping to great 'rich' via Pyramid schemes (sowing the seed).
Whilst others are trying to get to Mars, others are looking for Private Jet, and convincing 1000000+ strong congregations that Jesus can do theirs for them. I will not contest the dispositions of Jesus in this post.
I saw this African church on CNN and another church in Ghana.
The enthusiasm to suspend, rational analysis, and believe thinking is mutually exclusive to Faith...left me stupefied.
And, yes, Kurzweil keeps them coming.
And others like Aubrey de Grey.
I bet though that there are Nigerian/African scientists in these ranks of advancement thinkers.
What encouragement are they given, by Infrastructure and Planning? Notice, I didnt blame government...I didnt want to waste my time...
no chance in hell, the mayans were high on peyote!!!
Submitted by 8:37! (not verified) on December 18, 2012 - 18:52.
the mayans were high on peyote...welcome to the new world of science and technology. what you see is NOT what you get...bothering of the spiritual. someday, science will fully explain the spiritual bit by bit. the future is very exciting and loaded with anticipation. you did not mention picothenology a parallel technology to nanotech. immortality? cryonics-preservation after death for later resurrection by science; tissue engneering-regrowing body parts and limbs; what about genetic modification that has created halfman/half beast? OHHH yeahhh! i look forward to 2045 to see the tower of baabel II!!! the power of the human mind...that is ofcourse if Christ doesn't mess up the fun by showing up too early.
Vision 2000, 2010, 2020?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 18, 2012 - 18:47.
Rudolf,
A medium end Nokia handset has more capabilities than the computer Americans used for Apollo 1.
Now my prediction for 2045.
Nigerian government would be putting up a policy paper to make Nigeria among the worlds top 20 countries by year 2060.
Housing//Education/Food/Power and others for all by year 2000. They never imagined year 2000 would come.
How about vision 2010?
Now it's year 2020.
These bastards would not stop fooling us.
