SLATE PBS NewsHour Highlights Clash of Techno-Utopians, Techno-Pessimists By _Torie Bosch_ (http://www.slate.com/authors.torie_bosch.html) Posted Friday, April 27, 2012 As part of the series “Making Sense,” a guide to financial news, PBS NewsHour’s Paul Solman has recently filed two reports from _Singularity University_ (http://singularityu.org/) , the playground for extreme futurism founded by Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil. The two segments—one aired April 20, the other April 26—highlight the divide between the techno-utopians and the techno-pessimists.
In the _April 20 segment_ (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june12/makingsense_04-20.html) , Diamandis enthuses, “We have the potential during our lifetime, in the next 10 to 30 years, to slay water, energy shortage, hunger, health care, educational issues, where we can create a world of abundance, where we can meet the basic needs of every man, woman and child on this planet.” The report highlights germinating technologies that could change the world for the better, like artificial meat that both tastes good and provides superior nutrition, filtering technology to make toxic water potable, “printed” human organs for transplant—even sex robots to provide companionship to widowers. But in the _April 26 segment_ (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june12/makingsense_04-26.html) , Solman focuses on the dark side of innovation. What if teenage hackers break into personal medical devices like insulin pumps? Could 3-D printers create deadly weapons on demand? In discussing any new technology, it’s important to weigh pros and cons, to consider the ethical and societal implications. But as important as it is to have serious discussions about game-changing research, focusing just on the best- and worst-case scenarios can give the public the wrong impression before the technology even becomes viable. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
