Lanier vs. Schmidt and Cohen

Jaron Lanier has a very interesting take on how the advances in technology are going to impact the human race. He thinks that the advancement of technology is going to hurt us. In the beginning of You Are Not a Gadget Lanier tells a story about a speech he gave in which he dared the audience to put their phones down and not post anything he says on a social media website until after he is done with his lecture. This is because he believes that people are so quick to the draw in letting their emotions fly where it is available to the rest of the world. He suggests that eventually humans will just input all of their knowledge and personality into computers and basically just live through them. He brings up the point of when we are communicating to an individual online we are not sure if it is man or machine. He also brings up the even more horrifying thought of Singularity. This is basically the idea that one day robots will be able to recreate themselves. Not only will they be able to recreate themselves, but they will be able to generate a smarter version of themselves. After a few regenerations of these robots, they will be so intelligent that they will be able to take over.

Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen take a different perspective of the advancement of technology. They view it as being a beneficial way for people to connect, communicate, and learn. They believe that tools such as suggestive searching, voice recognition, robotics, and artificial intelligence will help to both save time and change how we think. They view the advancement as a way to create a level playing field for all countries across the world. They say that people in developed countries will then be able to see the ideas and geniuses of undeveloped countries that we would previously have no knowledge of.

I tend to agree with Lanier more, but I think his views go way to far into the extremes of possibility. Technology can be our greatest asset if it is used properly. However, people are becoming more interested in just stalking people they used to know or even people that they would like to know rather than using it to progress the human race. Schmidt and Cohen definitely have a optimistic view. If the human race does change how they want to use technology, then it will be our greatest ally, but until then it will just be a giant waste of opportunity.