Kosmos ~ Chapter 16

Planet earth, amongst other things, is going straight to Hades. But it's not only approaching a quick and painful end. Nay, this nuked ball of rock is reaching Armageddon in a flaming ball of spit. Actually, I take that back. By the time earth reaches the fiery pits of Cerberus' lair, computers will have transformed the nuked ball of rock into a nuked ball of titanium and plastic. Translation: Computers are taking over the world.

-Jessica Ann Lee of Verde Magazine

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While reading Chapter 16 I found myself reminiscing about FOX's Sarah Connor Chronicles. I found that FOX’s show is like a remediation of Sumner’s argument, that we are making scientific and technological advancements today that could forever change tomorrow for the greater good or evil. In short, we are progressing towards a world where computers (like the computer created in Terminator and in Sarah Connor Chronicles that is stolen during a chess competition) will have the potential to become smarter than us.

Computers were initially created because unlike humans they were supposed to be without error. But what happens when the computer that is never wrong can actually process and learn things on its own? No longer will the computer be dependent on humans to input information. On the contrary, humans will become more dependent on computer technology than ever before. We are presently dependent on this technology for our mundane daily existence but in the future we will be dependent on it for our lives…for our existence has become forever interweaved in a scientific and technological “web” and consequently we are the prey rather than the predators.