[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
summarize all of it.
Since that time, we have evolved the idea that centers of learning --
libraries, universities, etc. -- are places beyond human scale. We journey
through them, as through a world, and we never dream of knowing or seeing
everything they contain.
What we value is the trajectory of the journey, and what we hope
Hacking Matter Afterword: Accidental Demigods?
171
is that our velocity is sufficient to carry us beyond some particular boundary
of human knowledge. It's a race against time, against death: with so much
already known and studied and catalogued, can we learn something genuinely new
in the short span of a human lifetime? Can we add a line or a page to the
human library? It seems a daunting task indeed, and yet ten thousand new
books are published every month worldwide, along with articles in thousands of
different trade and technical journals. Some experts estimate that the sum
total of human knowledge now doubles every four years.
Even the Library of Congress has stopped trying to keep up with all of it,
although the astonishing growth of the World
Wide Web -- and the search engines which index it -- may soon restore the
capability to have all of human knowledge at our fingertips. And with
increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence, there will be "autonomous
agents" capable of gathering and summarizing information for our own
individual purposes -- and perhaps their own purposes as well.
Vinge's take on all this exponential growth is that it leads, inevitably, to a
Page 127
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
point where all the growth curves go vertical, where all of our assumptions
break down --in mathematical terms, a "singularity." On the far side of this
event, the style and substance of human life will have undergone a
transformation so dramatic that we can scarcely comprehend it.
And for all we know, quantum dots may be the straw which breaks that
particular camel's back. If programmable matter can be made to work, not only
is it a powerful technology in its own right, providing hypercomputers and
dazzling optics and an unimaginable wealth of new materials -- it also has an
"instant gratification" quality which eliminates many of the inconveniences of
today's world. New materials can be invented and examined at any time,
without the need to mine or manufacture or calculate anything. New devices
can simply be specified and tried -- eliminating the pesky steps of design
iteration, parts and materials acquisition, prototyping and production.
Matter becomes something akin to software --
infinitely malleable and precisely obedient. In the future, manufacturing may
join mathematics and software as an enterprise where true, literal perfection
is not only possible, but easy and quick. This makes the technology of
programmable matter a huge enabler and catalyst for technology development in
other areas.
Hacking Matter Afterword: Accidental Demigods?
172
Perhaps more importantly, wellstone provides ready access to the quantum
world. Without specialized equipment of any kind, even home hobbyists will
have the means to explore and manipulate infinitessimal particles and waves
and energies, as easily as backyard astronomers examine the heavens today.
Maybe nothing significant will come of this, other than a general increase in
the understanding of quantum mechanics. It's far more likely, though, that
this will drive scientific and technological progress even further and faster
than before.
The classic Promethean warnings apply: new technology brings new dangers. In
Greek mythology Prometheus was a Titan, or demigod, who stole fire from the
forge of the gods and delivered it to human beings. Humans abused the gift,
though, falling out of harmony with nature and creating a scientific
civilization which rivaled -- and therefore offended -- the gods. Prometheus
was chained to a rock as punishment, and sentenced to be pecked at forever by
a patient and sharp-taloned eagle. Those Olympian dieties guard their power
jealously.
Is the human race collectively ready for point-and-click power over matter
itself? Certainly, any abuses which are possible are also very likely to be
attempted. Still, as with most other technologies, it seems unlikely that the
potential evils of programmable matter outweigh the benefits. Indeed, on the
whole our civilization will be greatly improved. There will be much less need
to harvest and squander the natural resources of our planet -- other than
silicon and sunlight, which can be found literally everywhere. Mines and
factories will give way to vast software libraries and home workshops. Our
newer, cleaner industries will produce superior products at much lower cost,
with vastly less waste and pollution. We will have efficient ways to capture
and store and re-use energy, possibly including the long-term storage of
antimatter.
By the end of the 1950s, most Americans expected the 21st century to be a time
of conquest and exploration, as humanity spread to the planets, and perhaps
Page 128
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
even the stars. That dream has faltered, owing mainly to the staggering cost
of conventional rockets, which are as large and heavy and complex as office
buildings, yet as disposable as paper napkins.
Technologically, they've changed very little since the earliest days of the
space program. But with programmable matter at our command, we may find it
trivial to construct much lighter and more capable spacecraft, even as we
wallow in an energy glut of
Hacking Matter Afterword: Accidental Demigods? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl freetocraft.keep.pl
summarize all of it.
Since that time, we have evolved the idea that centers of learning --
libraries, universities, etc. -- are places beyond human scale. We journey
through them, as through a world, and we never dream of knowing or seeing
everything they contain.
What we value is the trajectory of the journey, and what we hope
Hacking Matter Afterword: Accidental Demigods?
171
is that our velocity is sufficient to carry us beyond some particular boundary
of human knowledge. It's a race against time, against death: with so much
already known and studied and catalogued, can we learn something genuinely new
in the short span of a human lifetime? Can we add a line or a page to the
human library? It seems a daunting task indeed, and yet ten thousand new
books are published every month worldwide, along with articles in thousands of
different trade and technical journals. Some experts estimate that the sum
total of human knowledge now doubles every four years.
Even the Library of Congress has stopped trying to keep up with all of it,
although the astonishing growth of the World
Wide Web -- and the search engines which index it -- may soon restore the
capability to have all of human knowledge at our fingertips. And with
increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence, there will be "autonomous
agents" capable of gathering and summarizing information for our own
individual purposes -- and perhaps their own purposes as well.
Vinge's take on all this exponential growth is that it leads, inevitably, to a
Page 127
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
point where all the growth curves go vertical, where all of our assumptions
break down --in mathematical terms, a "singularity." On the far side of this
event, the style and substance of human life will have undergone a
transformation so dramatic that we can scarcely comprehend it.
And for all we know, quantum dots may be the straw which breaks that
particular camel's back. If programmable matter can be made to work, not only
is it a powerful technology in its own right, providing hypercomputers and
dazzling optics and an unimaginable wealth of new materials -- it also has an
"instant gratification" quality which eliminates many of the inconveniences of
today's world. New materials can be invented and examined at any time,
without the need to mine or manufacture or calculate anything. New devices
can simply be specified and tried -- eliminating the pesky steps of design
iteration, parts and materials acquisition, prototyping and production.
Matter becomes something akin to software --
infinitely malleable and precisely obedient. In the future, manufacturing may
join mathematics and software as an enterprise where true, literal perfection
is not only possible, but easy and quick. This makes the technology of
programmable matter a huge enabler and catalyst for technology development in
other areas.
Hacking Matter Afterword: Accidental Demigods?
172
Perhaps more importantly, wellstone provides ready access to the quantum
world. Without specialized equipment of any kind, even home hobbyists will
have the means to explore and manipulate infinitessimal particles and waves
and energies, as easily as backyard astronomers examine the heavens today.
Maybe nothing significant will come of this, other than a general increase in
the understanding of quantum mechanics. It's far more likely, though, that
this will drive scientific and technological progress even further and faster
than before.
The classic Promethean warnings apply: new technology brings new dangers. In
Greek mythology Prometheus was a Titan, or demigod, who stole fire from the
forge of the gods and delivered it to human beings. Humans abused the gift,
though, falling out of harmony with nature and creating a scientific
civilization which rivaled -- and therefore offended -- the gods. Prometheus
was chained to a rock as punishment, and sentenced to be pecked at forever by
a patient and sharp-taloned eagle. Those Olympian dieties guard their power
jealously.
Is the human race collectively ready for point-and-click power over matter
itself? Certainly, any abuses which are possible are also very likely to be
attempted. Still, as with most other technologies, it seems unlikely that the
potential evils of programmable matter outweigh the benefits. Indeed, on the
whole our civilization will be greatly improved. There will be much less need
to harvest and squander the natural resources of our planet -- other than
silicon and sunlight, which can be found literally everywhere. Mines and
factories will give way to vast software libraries and home workshops. Our
newer, cleaner industries will produce superior products at much lower cost,
with vastly less waste and pollution. We will have efficient ways to capture
and store and re-use energy, possibly including the long-term storage of
antimatter.
By the end of the 1950s, most Americans expected the 21st century to be a time
of conquest and exploration, as humanity spread to the planets, and perhaps
Page 128
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
even the stars. That dream has faltered, owing mainly to the staggering cost
of conventional rockets, which are as large and heavy and complex as office
buildings, yet as disposable as paper napkins.
Technologically, they've changed very little since the earliest days of the
space program. But with programmable matter at our command, we may find it
trivial to construct much lighter and more capable spacecraft, even as we
wallow in an energy glut of
Hacking Matter Afterword: Accidental Demigods? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]