Ball 1 Region Ball Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1103 Nov. 8, 2012 Will Humanity Become Obsolete?

Technology is something the population utilizes without ever knowing how much it is affecting society. Responding to a simple text message is using this same technology and the fact that we have become so dependent upon it has made people question whether or not that it should continue to advance. The people who oppose advancements are worried about where the laws, such as the privacy act, will come into affect while scientists are trying to look into better machines in order to keep human lives lost to a minimal. Protecting lives is a high concern that technology could help us achieve or it could be the tool to slowly chip away at humanity. Does technology need to slow down or should we keep pushing the idea of a more machine-based society? Regina Dugan argues that society needs to depend upon technology in order to bring mankind into the future. Having a doctorate in engineering and running the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) requires such strenuous use of technology and to Regina this is how society should be progressing. Regina Dugan states Weve had to believe in impossible things and weve had to refuse to fear failure (Dugan). She uses the hummingbird drone to fortify her stance by explaining how technology has become user-friendly instead of having to risk billions of dollars worth of equipment. Hummingbird prototypes was capable of
Comment [C4]: What is the humminbird drone. Just kind of state what it is. Say something like she uses a flying camera called a hummingbird drone or whatever it does. Comment [C3]: Good question Comment [C2]: The same technology as what? Comment [C1]: Good question. Makes the reader curious

Ball 2 running three minutes with no camera but Regina and her engineers were able to expand the drones technology to last eleven minutes with full video surveillance. Aircraft advancement is brought up to show the significant change that has been made over the recent years. The early 1900s had no expectations of aircrafts being able to fly at the speed of sound or being used for military purposes but both was proven wrong within 40 years. Regina follows these ideas by giving facts about our aircrafts history. In 1927 there was no record faster than Mach 0.85 but today we are looking into flying at Mach 20. Mach 20 goes so fast that in turns the air into a furnace that can melt steel. Regina Dugan supports the creative ideas to help advance society in her eyes because it reflects the work of the engineer and how much dedication that it took to achieve their goal (Dugan). A person majoring in a technological department or simply a person who is intrigued by what technology can accomplish might see all the benefits but they lack the dedication to look at their inventions and ask how will this hurt society at the same time. The hummingbird mentioned by Regina Dugan is a piece of technology that will be forgotten about and never used due to aircrafts advancing to a point where they could spy on a area without human casualties. She explains how this hummingbird drone will be capable of exploring smaller hostile environments and finding information that larger aircrafts cannot access: The limits of this same technology would be the short timeframe and fairly big body. Hummingbird technology can only be used for eleven minutes with full camera footage. Developing a drone that might be used on occasions is a waste of time and money. Engineers should look toward helping society more instead of building machines that will
Comment [C6]: Freakin awesome Comment [C5]: Were? maybe

Ball 3 never serve a real purpose. Realizing the potential of technology does not mean we should stretch the limits and create more expensive devices that could potential hurt humanity down the road. Thomas Rix views technology as used only for profit and has made society into a place where business governs the roles of this technology. Thomas Rix has written many articles on recognized websites such as helium and gives detailed examples on how our society is being affected. Rix agrees with Regina Dugan on our need for technology but he disagrees on the speed of its advancement. The fine line that uses technology appropriately is impossible to see but Thomas Rix gives a resourceful idea of using technology. To clarify what some people mean by fear of advancing technology he explains that it is how technology is being implemented. Thomas Rix adamantly states Technology could bring water to the desert and put an end to hunger (if there were any profit in it) (Rix). This shows a bigger aspect of the advancement of technology due to the businesses taking over. Technology is an incredible help to many whether it is medical emergencies or if its simple communication but Thomas Rix wants us to think of the possibilities of this technology if we used it to better society instead of thinking about who can make the biggest profit (Rix). Unfortunately businesses are not going to go after the best solution for society but what is going to give them a fatter wallet. Misusing technology is what mankind has done since day one. Humanity searches for solutions in technology by building weaponry and this encourages countries to race to see who has the smarter weapons. Devoting the same money and time to build these military advancements
Comment [C9]: Good sentence Comment [C8]: It's Comment [C7]: Big word. May want to dumb it down a little haha

Ball 4 can be used to save society from problems such as world hunger. Progressing farther into weapons research can cause us to fall prey to our own creations. Instead of fearing failure or the misuse of technology, David Wallace suggests that we should fear success in his recent academic journal, Practitioner Accountability And Decision-Making Technology. Technology has been improving at an alarming rate and this causes issues due to the intellect that machines are capable of retaining. David Wallace is concerned about practitioner accountability and when it becomes an issue with machines making their own decisions. Minor decisions such as locking a door or starting a car will not affect accountability but scientists are starting to build brains for machines in order for it to calculate the probable solution. Once these machines begin to make life or death decisions then you cannot hold the inventor responsible because human guidance will no longer be necessary (Wallace 292). Machines are already capable of following a task without any need for a human to supervise and this frightens some and encourages others. Humans have taken technology to new heights and along with these new heights come higher expectations. The evolution of bombs is a perfect example due to the rapid development in a short period of time. Atomic bombs was the first to be introduced by the United States and after the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima it has created the race of who can create the biggest bomb. Hydrogen bombs were shorty created by the Russians and this made atomic bombs appear inferior. Nuclear bombs are now at the top of the bomb chain and the level of destruction that could follow would be catastrophic. Advancing technology beyond necessity is what humanity is
Comment [C11]: Shortly after Comment [C10]: Crazy fact. good

Ball 5 good at and refusing to slow down causes more and more controversy. Whether technology will cause more trouble than promise was a topic up for debate on the National Public Radio and its host, Ira Flatow, was eager to learn what his guests had to say. Dr. Missy Cummings has experience flying F-18 hornets then technology began to take over and now few aircrafts are sent out with a human in the pilot seat. Being an officer for the Office of Naval Research Dr. Missy Cummings new the day of pilots going out on daily assignments was at a lost. Dr. Peter Singer reinforces Dr. Missy Cummings argument by explaining how nearly 7500 drones are in use by the military and plenty are still in production. Dr. Peter Singer is the director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative and he was impressed that drones went from abnormal to the new normal (Drone Technology). Ira Flatow was curious about any issues that could arise from drone technology and this led him to ask Chris Anderson, founder of Do-It-Yourself Drones and 3D Robotics, about the price and availability of drones. Chris Anderson stated that the FAA restrictions limited drones fly area and that the privacy law had a major impact on future developments (Drone Technology). The privacy law indicates that you should not be allowed to intrude on someones privacy unless you have a warrant but with this technology it eliminates privacy for everyone. Having technology that allows you to peek over the fence means that congress will have to either alter privacy laws or get rid of them all together in order to accommodate drones. Does the need for drone technology exceed the privacy of the public? Drone technology should never advance past the control of humans. Machines that require human interaction to achieve success are much safer than
Comment [C12]: Knew?

Ball 6 producing drones that accept assignments without the need of a pilot. Pilots in control of machines rely on their emotions to determine a right or wrong act but machines solely rely on the most efficient path. A drone could choose to eliminate a group of hostiles and disregard civilian casualties based on simple calculations. Advancing down the path of technology does not have to be harmful to humanity but once we begin to give the technology the ability to make life and death decisions then we will be a society that no longer needs humans. Advancing and using technology to our advantage is argued in Philip K. Dicks The Dangers of Individualism and the Human Relationship to Technology academic journal. Technology is not as complex as society wants you to see it as. We have the idea that technology has to be high dollar and very intelligent but Christopher A. Sims explains At the most basic level is not exclusive to humanity (Sims 67-86). He then goes onto talking about how animals use this same concept to use technology to have an advantage in the wild. Beavers use technology to build dams and primates use technology to use items as tools or weapons. Technology also consists of language and the only major difference for humanity and animals is that humans can make changes to language while animals are hardwired to understand their language. Everything can use technology according to Christopher A. Sims and advancing technology to make us better adaptable is a common goal that everything shares. Although Christopher understands when critics assume that technology would be our downfall he still does not give up on the fact that humans must keep advancing in order to survive (Sims 67-86). Advancing technology is something that happens in the world on a daily

Ball 7 basis and it is beginning to expand rapidly. Humanity should not be obsessed with trying to become a futuristic society within hundreds of years, instead it should focus on what technology it does have and use it to better society while slowly advancing its processes. Issues within our own society can be solved through technology if we took the time to fully understand what we build before moving onto the next project. Advancing with technology is better than falling behind technology. Technology has showed us great promise and great flaws to fully understand if improving it will affect humanity in a positive or negative way. Drones may help us gain a military advantage or it may cause countries to build more unique weaponry, but the one certain thing is that technology is going to keep advancing no matter how many people think otherwise. Thomas Rix and many others would be satisfied if we just used technology to help better society, but this realistic goal is blocked because of businesses trying to increase their income. Futuristic advancement is not in the future but instead its become the present. Society used to talk about vehicles breaking thirty miles per hour but now we are learning how to build intelligent machines that can learn to make their own decisions. Humanity can only sit back and watch machines increase our knowledge, as a whole, or watch this technology become our downfall by letting it take over. Building futuristic machines are always in the making due to humanities desire for conflict, but we can never know if we need the technology to further our own development or if we have become completely dependent on an unreliable resource.
Comment [C13]: Good point

Ball 8 Good stuff. The only thing is that I feel like in your paper you are talking mostly about military or some type of armed force but your title has almost nothing to do with your topic. Maybe it does and I am just missing it, but I think you might should change your title to something like will technology in the armed forces be humanity's downfall. maybe put some extra interesting facts to get the reader really thinking about humans becoming obsolete. Overall decent paper though.0

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Works Cited Anderson, Chris. Cummings, Missy. Singer, Peter. Interview by Ira Flatow. Drone Technology Reaches New Heights. Natl. Public Radio, 3 Feb. 2012. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. Dugan, Regina. Regina Dugan: From Mach-20 Glider To Humming Bird Drone. TED Conference March 2012. Lecture. TED: TED, March 2012. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. Rix, Thomas. When Science And Technology Does More Harm Than Good. Helium. n.p. 11 May. 2007. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. Sims, Christopher A. "The Dangers Of Individualism And The Human Relationship To Technology In Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?." Science Fiction Studies 36.1 (2009): 67-86. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. Wallace, D. "Practitioner Accountability And Decision-Making Technology." 2010 IEEE International Symposium On Technology & Society (ISTAS) (2010): 292. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.

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