Lughnasa Harvest Moon
Woolly meeting tonight. Kate baked a ground cherry pie and a raspberry pie. Big hits. “All hail, Kate!” There was applause near the end for the desert. Yin served her wonderful variations on Chinese originals, tonight a noodle and pork and vegetable dish.
Scott introduced the topic of the Singularity and we talked about technology and change for the rest of the evening. Mark Odegard brought up a good point about advances in technology contributing to a digital divide with digital haves and digital have nots. This divide will tend to reinforce class and racial divisions. He said this in reaction to me saying I wasn’t particularly worried about the Singularity. His point was that the rapid advances in technology can and will have unintended social consequences. He’s right.
In this argument I find myself on the conservative side, that is, I believe there are so many fundamental activities that make us human from painting to poetry, music to novels, athletics and theatre. They are not reducible to code nor products artificial intelligence can reasonably be expected to create. There are also the incredible complexities of life itself, human relationships, the intricate interlocking webs of ecology systems that will always, I believe, outstrip any technological advance.
And I love technology, gadgets, the new. Just don’t see them hanging out with me at a Woolly meeting as full participants. Ever.
