RiboCalypse

Over the last few weeks I've been trying to comprehend a somewhat clearer vision of what the future might look like. I'm not so much interested in the exact capabilities of these technologies as how their integration into our lives will affect us, and how our culture will respond. I wonder too what form they might take, digital? biological?...

Which brings me to Technopalypse and Ribofunk. Both film and book offer striking views of the future, yet differing on important points. Yet I was most interested in how the material differed on the importance of how our lives would change through the technology of the future. Many of the speakers in Techopalypse seem to be exitedly awaiting 'the future,' and considering it in a parallel way to the coming of the Messiah in Judeo-Christian lore. I thought it was so ludicrous how most of these futurists who had most likely rejected any sort of mainstream religion, could talk about the 'singularity' in this way. At least the last interviewee actually quoted the Old Testament to legitimise his point, other wise it would have been ridiculous(insert irony point here) Those in Technopalypse seem to think that with the 'singularity' will come god or god like capabilities.

I much preferred Ribofunk's take on the future.

The idea that the future is not mechanical but biological is vastly different than what I am used to, but more than that, I appreciated Di Filippo's vision of what impact this conception of the future would have on the culture and day to day routines of future individuals. The notion that the future's benefits would be restricted by who could pay for them is not only a cutting critique of today, but also a realistic viewpoint of how the future might look.

What I liked most about Ribofunk was that the idea of the man made evolutionary adaptations which both the book as well as Technopalypse foresee, are treated in a way that is both eerie and original. What would change if we were so integrated with our technology that it overwhelmed us? Ribofunk's super organism is the closest conception to the omnicient, god-like creature of the singularity, yet it is an abomination.

I feel that the class materials thus far have made me think a lot about the future. But they have not made me reach the fatalism of either fearing technology like the end of the world, or awaiting it like the messiah. I am simply becoming aware of the fact that we as a culture need to prepare for these innovations in a way which will allow us to make the correct decisions about how to use them.