Response to Last Off Ramp

In this article, Mark Sumner proposes a jarring idea. To put his idea in context, he explains that in prehistoric times, most of the hunter-gatherers were wiped out by extreme weather change. However, "humans living in the Fertile crescent passed through a tight spot and came out different than when they went in" (226). They had become farmers instead of hunter-gatherers, and this drastically changed the course that humankind would take. Instead of wandering, humans now had permanent homes. Cities arose, and eventually our own modern way of life emerged.

Sumner reports that Ray Kurzweil thinks that humanity is once again at the threshold of making a change in our way of life that will shape the future. Some people think that with the cheap energy that we use, we have poisoned our world. Others go on to say that we are incapable of fixing the damage we have done to it. Kurzweil seems to think that the only way for our planet to be saved is for someone or something smarter than humans will save it. Due to the rise in informational technology, genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics, he thinks that humans will soon meld with computers, creating a new type of being. Sumner says that although this could save the Earth if it comes to pass, we would lose our humanity in the process. Seems like a no-win situation.