Re: recent trends in SF

:: As technology increases, we get to the point where a single
:: individual will have the power to destroy a large fraction of the
:: human race.

: "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
: And will have the power to save a large fraction of the human race,
: presumably. Offense and defense, running neck and neck since the dawn
: of time.

Consider the Morris worm. Brings the internet to its knees,
just about accidentally. Now we watch for such things, and we update
hardware, software, and social wetware to avoid such things. But it's
still possible today for a clever (or even dunderheaded brute force)
hack to cause noticeable disruption.

Now, consider when things get to the point where genes and the human mind
is as hackable as the internet protocols. How do you update the hardware
and software of all humans? The ability to deploy fixes is falling
behind the ability to deploy faults. I mean... look how long AIDS has
remained only semi-solvable. And that's not (near as I can tell) even
malicious.

Yes, it's *possible* that benignware/malware arms race (when extended to
arbitrary fab plants and biolocial agents) will remain balanced. But there's
reasonably good rationale for supposing that it *won't* (or even can't).

Mind you, something capable of killing *all* humans, or *completely*
bringing civilization to its knees, probably remains beyond individual
or small group capability. But I think it's plausible that fear of such
will tend to drive governments (or cause governments to have to bright
Idea to exploit the fear) to develop totalitarian controls.

It is depressingly plausible that the most likely version
of the Singularity is space nazis of one flavor or another.


Wayne Throop throopw@xxxxxxxxx http://sheol.org/throopw
.

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