Today I came across an RT article where Slovenian philospher Slavov Zizek outlines his conviction that as humans and machines merge, people will lose their individual freedom. Here are some words…
“The fact that is what possible to break into, to hack a computer through a DNA, means that our identity, determined by DNA is nothing more than just another computer formula,” Zizek said.
“Our life, human life, our identity is reduced to a series of formulas. So we are effectively entering some kind of post human universe where everything, our inner most identity can be reduced to a formula.”
“I would not be afraid of this [particular experiment], that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Zizek said, emphasizing that there are a lot of much more disturbing scientific achievements
“What I’m afraid of is a possibility of a direct contact-link between our brain, what we are thinking, and a computer network, because there we lose our autonomy.”
He warned that soon computers will be able to control the human mind, misleading the individual to believe they are still in control of their thoughts and reality. Under this arrangement, Zizek argues, humans will lose their autonomy and will become indistinguishable from the machines.
“What is much more dangerous is… if our brains will be directly linked to computers so we will lose our inner freedom. Even in the worst of Nazism… those in power could not control what you are thinking. You can have your inner thoughts… Now with a direct link between our brain and the digital network, we lose our inner freedom,” the philosopher said.
It’s hard to think about the blending of humans and machines without thinking that we’ll have to wait until October to watch Blade Runner 2049. In anticipation of the new film let’s have another look back at the classic: here’s nearly an hour’s worth of outtakes from the original film which is celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2017…
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