Right in front of our noses

As I was reading "The Coming Superbrain", by John Markoff I laughed out loud. I laughed because it remembered me to a story I heard during the weekend that perfectly relates to the Op-Ed. Basically, what Markoff tries to do in the Op-Ed is to evaluate the different possibilities and consequences of a future in which we create machines, or computers that become smarter than us

I believe that this will happen in a not so distant future. Although Markoff said that we wouldn't live to see any examples of this anomaly. There are many machines that have certain control over us, and we don't even know it.

As "La Inolvidable Penny", one of my grandmother's friends said, "Yo nunca escribo en esas maquinas porque no me gusta que nadie me este diciendo que hacer" when we were talking about computers. She hated computers because if you didn't press the button that "they" wanted, then they would simply not do what you wanted them to do and in many cases, just freeze for a while, until "THEY FELT" that you were ready for them.

Why would you have to press those exact buttons to open the explorer? After all, you own the computer and it is meant to serve you, not the other way around.

She also hated Microsoft Word. The exact translation of her words would be, "What the fuck do I care if my fragment needs revising?, I don't want any fucking advice on my grammar."

Penny also despised cellphones, ipods, and even A.I. chess machines. One would say that it is a very childish attitude towards techonolohy, and it is indeed, but we must consider the fact that she is reaching her last days on this planet, and she is much more amused by the amount of progress that has occurred during the past century. Anyways, she is right in the fact that we don't realize that we are enslaved by our machines.

That day shall come. The day in which the computer will tell us what to eat, what to think, and what to do. The day in which robots will have us as pets and We'll never notice. We'll never know because they will control us, and we'll have no way of knowing as they will be hiding right in front of our noses. As it is happening right now.

And by the way, if that day shall come, then the insatiable ego of the computer geeks shall be blamed. Because they are innovating in the daily bases, without knowing the chaos that we'll face in the future. And I bet that they will not feel as proud as they do in these days, when they show their discoveries in front of thousands, just for the sake of the money. How selfish are these geeks. I bet that they are too, ignorant of what hides in front of their noses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/weekinreview/24markoff.html?em