What the hell was this lecture about? It has got to be the worst lecture I've been to so far since being at Uni. I had nooooo idea what the lecturer was on about. The lecturer didn't happen to be that hippie guy again, nor was it Josh or Jules. It happened to be this skinny white dude who goes by the name of.............. Sorry I actually forgot his name because I was too busy being in la la land since the speaker made no sense on what he was say and was boring. All I know what that the topic of the lecture was Virtual Philosophy and we watch a small snippet of a scene from The Matrix. I even asked the person who was sitting next to me if she had any clue to what he was on about, and not to my surprise she didn't either. In fact most people around the room looking they were sleeping, staring at the ceiling or just plain confused with what he was on about. From what I tried to gather from the information that I could comprehend was whether things created by the brain was real or not. Was it virtual reality and is it real? That’s what I believe he was trying to say. Josh & Jules, if you’re reading this, please please PLEASE don't ever have a lecture like that again!! Sooooooo boring.
Something we did learn in the lectur is William Gibson. Who is here you ask?
William Gibson, born in 1948, is perhaps the best known cyberpunk fiction writer out there and his books have solder of 10 million copies world wide. Gibson coined the term "Cyber Punk" is one of his short story "Burning Chrome". His books have become critically acclaimed and have inspired many other authors and writers alike.
Week 8 Task -
Cyberpunk -
What is "Cyberpunk"? Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre that deals with the advancement of technology and the negative effects it has on it's human society. This genre deals with all sorts of issue from powerful corporate companies that control the society to divided social order and even to man and machine. This genre is usually set in cluttered, super-urban cities with a strong dystopian feel (Mahalo 2010).
I have chosen to study and write about this certain topic as it is one that I feel will tremendously impact us later on in life, its even starting to affect us now with computer and gadgets doing everything for us now -
"Negative Impact of technology on humanity: In a cyberpunked near-future, technology runs rampant, and usually manipulates most societal interactions. Dystopian near futures are very common, but so are futures where the impacts of specific technologies are played out in a world only slightly different from the present. Sacred societal boundaries are often crossed with regularity. Often the earth is severely damaged. Crime and drug use are often key supporting themes."
I have found an artice that relates back to the Negative Impact of Technology in the Future and will incorporate the movie I-Robot into it.
Here is the news article that I have chosen to change -
Stop the war bots before they decide to kill us all, British scientist warns
AN Australian lecturer has warned of dangers to humanity if we continue further developing military robots. Dr Robert Sparrow, senior lecturer for the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University, says that unmanned weapons systems encourage war and can give the "illusion of a god-like power". Dr Sparrow is part of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC), a group dedicated to halting the development of robot weapons. Their online mission statement states: "Machines should not be allowed to make the decision to kill people." The committee held an "Expert Workshop" conference last month in Berlin to discuss the issues surrounding armed tele-operated and autonomous robot systems. It's headed by controversial British scientist Professor Noel Sharkey, a professor of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Public Engagement at Sheffield University Professor Sharkey has previously written about the dangers of autonomous war robots and their increasing decision-making capabilities, imagining "a little girl being zapped because she points her ice cream at a robot to share". A press release on the ICRAC website says the meeting was attended by government officials, representatives of human rights organizations, arms control experts, philosophers, scientists and engineers. The committee calls for restrictions on research and use of robotic weapons in their Statement of the 2010 Expert Workshop. They hope that these parameters will help "to prevent the nightmare, so often foretold, of the loss of human control over the maintenance of security, the use of lethal force and the conduct of war, and of its surrender to an armed, autonomous technology". However, the committee is not yet as concerned about Skynet waging war on the planet as they are about current robotic weapons. Dr Sparrow told news.com.au that they would obviously be concerned if someone created and armed an Artificial Intelligence, but that the committee's main concern is with existing systems and "the way in which they have lowered the threshold of conflict". He said the current robotic weapons "encourage governments to go to war where they otherwise wouldn’t be willing to because they think they can do it without incurring casualties in their own services". "It gives an illusion of a god-like power that they can kill all the ‘bad’ people and there are few if any political problems that can be solved that way." Citing Predator and Reaper drones used by the US military and the CIA against targets in Pakistan, Dr Sparrow said that the psychological separation provided by robot weapons between the attacker and their target is "complicated". "In some ways, the people flying the Predator or the Reaper (the main drones), they see more of the consequences of their actions than someone who’s firing a cruise missile or dropping a bomb," he said. "They actually see footage of the mangled corpses they leave behind. "At the same time what they’re doing looks perilously close to playing a video game." Robot weapons systems such as the drones have a reputation for deadly accuracy, but Dr Sparrow disputes this, saying that they cause significant rates of civilian casualties. "If someone thinks these are really discriminate weapons systems, the question I ask is 'would you be happy to have them operating over the city of Melbourne?'" The ICRAC's central members are Dr Sparrow, Professor Sharkey, German physicist and peace researcher Jürgen Altmann and American Professor Peter Asaro (News.com.au 2010).
Now after with the story of I-Robot incorporated into this article. The chosen words from I-Robot will be highlighted in Orange -
Stop the war bots before they decide to kill us all, British scientist warns
AN Australian lecturer has warned of dangers rogue robots killing humanity if we continue to further develop robots for military use. Dr Del Spooner, senior lecturer for the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University, says that robots created for military use encourage war and can give the "illusion of a god-like power". Dr Del Spooner, who dislikes the rapid advancement of technology, including robots, is part of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC), a group dedicated to halting the development of weapons. Their online mission statement states: "Machines should not be allowed to make the decision to kill people." The committee held an "Expert Workshop" conference last month in Berlin to discuss the issues surrounding armed tele-operated and autonomous robot systems. It's headed by controversial robotic USR (U.S. Robotics) robopsychologist, Dr Susan Calvin, a professor of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Public Engagement at Chicago University. Dr Del Spooner has previously written about the dangers of autonomous war robots and their increasing decision-making capabilities, imagining "a little girl being zapped because she points her ice cream at a robot or an old lady being stabbed to death because her robot refused to help her in the kitchen ". "We need to get rid of robots once and for all. They're becoming way to advance for their time and the rate we are going for robots to do everything for us, in the end they WILL KILL US" states Dr Del Spooner. The committee calls for restrictions on research and the use of robotic for military and the real world use. They hope that these parameters will help "to prevent the nightmare, so often foretold, of the loss of human control over the maintenance of security, the use of lethal force and the conduct of war, and of its surrender to an armed, autonomous technology". However, the committee is not yet as concerned about Skynet waging war on the planet as they are about current robotic weapons. Dr Del Spooner told news.com.au that they would obviously be concerned if someone created and armed an Artificial Intelligence, but that the committee's main concern is with existing systems that have started to make up their mind, own their own, and do thing without human input such as turning on a car and driving by itself. Dr Del Spooner said the current robotic weapons "encourage governments to go to war where they otherwise wouldn’t be willing to because they think they can do it without incurring casualties in their own services". "It gives an illusion of a god-like power that they can kill any people, good or bad, and robotic weapons between the attacker and their target is "complicated". However, Dr Susan Calvin disputes this, saying that they (robots) can never hurt anyone, They just can't, it's impossible for them as their only pieces of equipment with no brains. Dr Del Spooner disputes this, stating that "If someone thinks these are really discriminate weapons systems, the question I ask is 'would you be happy to have them operating over the city of Melbourne?" (News.com.au 2010).
OK again before I head off I just want to let you guys know how my groups culture jam project is coming along. All I can say is "YEAH BABY" haha. It is going fantastically. My group and I have just created a Facebook page and a Facebook group on this Griffith parking rumor (check the pictures at the bottom). We have all started to invite our friends and we are trying to get them to pass the invitation along to other people. There is another Facebook group on Griffith parking that has 75 friends on it which is what we need to beat first. Hopefully someone from the media comes along and picks up this topic!!!
Here is the link -
http://www.facebook.com/#%21/group.php?gid=153480694680777&ref=ts
Enjoy and get ALL your friends to join and support us. Who knows this rumor could even be real !!
Screen Shots Of Culture Jam Facebook Project - 
References -
News.com.au (2010)
Retrieved at: http://www.news.com.au/technology/australian-bioethicist-warns-of-robopocalypse/story-e6frfro0-1225934861279
(Online), 8th October 2010
Mahalo (2010), Cyberpunk
Retrieved at: http://www.mahalo.com/cyberpunk
(Online), 15th September 2010
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