A Summary of Radical Evolution by Joel Garreau
Elisha Angeles
English 102
2/2/13
Essay
Which Sounds Better, Heaven or Hell? Which is more Likely?
Radical Evolution by Joel Garreau has chapters on two scenarios of the future of humans. Both Heaven and Hell Scenarios have "The Curve" involved, but the dangers of the GRIN technologies make the Hell Scenario more likely. Rise of technology will lead to the downfall of humanity due to Bioengineered Disease Agents/Weapons. Supporting ideas for this topic are: threat of humans creating dangerous weapons such as pox with cobra venom, biotechnology such as the Australian mouse pox incident being dangerous, and the rise of technology may enhance a plague and kill more people than a natural plague. Garreau is worried about humans being changed so much we won 't be able to tell who is who. Also, we might end up missing "typical human characteristics." To Garreau, human nature is "the sum of the behavior and characteristics that are typical of the human species, arising from genetic rather than environmental factors (Garreau, 159)." A couple early warning signs we 're entering The Hell Scenario are: "Almost unimaginably bad things are happening, destroying large chunks of the human race or the biosphere, at an accelerating pace, and technologies continue to accelerate as individual nations, continents, tribes or movements jockey for position in a hostile world (Garreau, 184)." Chapter four mentions the GRIN technologies. Gregory Stock is the G, nanotechnology is the N, and computer intelligence is the I. Gregory Stock is the director of the Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society at the School of Medicine of the University of California at Los Angeles. According to Garreau, Stock thinks humans will transcend because of genetic engineering and not because of computers which is what Kurzweil thinks. There are two kinds of nanotechnology. The first "reduces big things to sizes so astonishingly little that their behavior changes dramatically (Garreau,
English 102
2/2/13
Essay
Which Sounds Better, Heaven or Hell? Which is more Likely?
Radical Evolution by Joel Garreau has chapters on two scenarios of the future of humans. Both Heaven and Hell Scenarios have "The Curve" involved, but the dangers of the GRIN technologies make the Hell Scenario more likely. Rise of technology will lead to the downfall of humanity due to Bioengineered Disease Agents/Weapons. Supporting ideas for this topic are: threat of humans creating dangerous weapons such as pox with cobra venom, biotechnology such as the Australian mouse pox incident being dangerous, and the rise of technology may enhance a plague and kill more people than a natural plague. Garreau is worried about humans being changed so much we won 't be able to tell who is who. Also, we might end up missing "typical human characteristics." To Garreau, human nature is "the sum of the behavior and characteristics that are typical of the human species, arising from genetic rather than environmental factors (Garreau, 159)." A couple early warning signs we 're entering The Hell Scenario are: "Almost unimaginably bad things are happening, destroying large chunks of the human race or the biosphere, at an accelerating pace, and technologies continue to accelerate as individual nations, continents, tribes or movements jockey for position in a hostile world (Garreau, 184)." Chapter four mentions the GRIN technologies. Gregory Stock is the G, nanotechnology is the N, and computer intelligence is the I. Gregory Stock is the director of the Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society at the School of Medicine of the University of California at Los Angeles. According to Garreau, Stock thinks humans will transcend because of genetic engineering and not because of computers which is what Kurzweil thinks. There are two kinds of nanotechnology. The first "reduces big things to sizes so astonishingly little that their behavior changes dramatically (Garreau,
Cited: Garreau, Joel. Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies-- and What It Means to Be Human. New York: Doubleday, 2005. Print. Ggrefeder. "Hd Movie Transcendent Man Part 1/7." YouTube. YouTube, 02 Oct. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. Joy, Bill. "Bill Joy: What I 'm Worried About, What I 'm Excited about." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. TED, 2008. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. "KurzweilAI | Accelerating Intelligence." KurzweilAI Ray Kurzweil Bio Comments. N.p., 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. Surviving Progress. Dir. Mathieu Roy. Perf. Stephen Hawking, David Suzuki, Jane Goodall. 2011. Netflix. Wade, Nicholas. "From 'End of History ' Author, a Look at the Beginning and Middle." The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Mar. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2013.