Modern Technology

At the risk of repeating what others have already said, knowledge is not, nor can it be evil. I believe that evil exists only in the misuse of knowledge. Computer security is an excellent example of the distinction between the knowledge itself and the uses of that knowledge.

The specific knowledge in this case is the how a particular exploit works.

Pure knowledge: There are people and companies like Microsoft that would call that knowledge inherently evil, but I would say that the vast majority of people disagree.

Knowledge applied for good: In the hands of a system administrator, the information allows him or her to apply patches to their system or set up some sort of protection in front of the point of entry until a proper patch comes out.

Knowledge applied for evil: In the hands of a black hat or (God forbid) a script-kiddie, that same knowledge becomes significantly more dangerous.

Hmm,
I would say that modern technology will always be good. I say this only because technology will always have a good side to it, sort of the silver lining of a cloud type deal. But, I am not necessasirly usually an optimist in most of my views,
Another thing is with technology you have to remember, we are humans, when we are looking at technology far beyound our comprehension we are bound to make mistakes, especially considering, 'AI' and 'Cloning', we have to realize that we as we are currently do not have the ability to fully understand these things, including modern technology. {My point being, we are 5 years old and trying to understand relativity, and why we do not feel the earth moving nor the universe} With cloning in particular, we cannot even begin to fathom the millions upon millions of possible outcomes that will occur because of its further development. So I would think that it comes down to this, what do we do with technology that we do not understand? If we do not develop it we will be preventing the end, but we will also be constrainging the unimaginable wonders of human intilect. Now, the choice is to you.

The3ntropy -

Right on man...

I don't understand why so many people are afraid of technology and innovation. Things aren't evil, people are. You can be evil with a bucket of piss or a nuclear weapon, and not developing the nuclear weapon isn't going to make Bill Gates or Rupurt Murdoch or whomever any less evil...

It comes down to what it done with the item, in this case, technology.

Browsing through some of my thousands of quotes, this is in interesting idea:

Quote:

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

EndQuote.

-Shakespeare, Hamlit

Technology is neither good nor evil. Mankind cannot exist without technology. From the earliest man throwing stones to the modern man firing missiles technology is our survival.

As far as Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden of Eden because it was a setup from the beginning.

God is omniscient and therefore knew they were going to eat the apples. Therefore if God knew they were going to eat the apples then he wanted them to eat the apples. Therefore he was just looking for an excuse for man to acquire knowledge of good and evil.
An example from my own children. Take a child. Put them in a room with cookies on the shelf. Give them lots of snacks in the room. They will still go after the cookies they know they are not supposed to have. I know that this will happen. If I put them in the room then I know they are going to eat the cookies. Why should I get mad at them for eating them when I know they are going to anyway.

I actually think it's quite unfair to call Bill Gates Evil. I mean, that classes him alongside people like Hitler and Genghis Khan (and Iago from Othello)

As for technology, I think a device created specifically to destroy mankind would still not class as evil, because it has no choice in the matter. The person who uses it to destroy mankind though would be evil, but here's another problem. What if it was a computer who created the device (seriously advanced AI) and then used it to destroy mankind, that computer is technology, and it's then evil. (I think this ties in quite well with the "Will computers ever feel/show emotion" debate that was the Cosmos Games.)

I have to agree with many of the other posts here. In my opinion, technology itself is neither good nor evil. You cannot place this value on it. Rather, that our societal views and morals have not caught up with technological change. We often forget that moderation is the key to anything and if we get caught up in things to the point of obsession it is no longer good for us. The technology itself is not good or bad but rather we have abused the technology.

What I have seen in society of late is a couple of things. First, the concept of a quick fix. It seems that many people do not want to work for achievements. They want the "be-all, end-all pill" that will fix things. From weight loss to psychological issues to technology. I know we see this attitude in the IRC Chatroom here when "kiddies" come in asking how to hack Hotmail rather than asking how does TCP/IP work or where can I find info on how TCP/IP works.

As a professor I often see many students not wanting to do work and wanting the "easy way" out. Perhaps I am too much of the old school that to learn you must do yourself. *shrug* I will admit that as I've gotten older (No, I'm not THAT old) I enjoy learning far more than when I was in University. Part of it is perhaps that I finally found what I loved: technology.

The second issue that has cropped up is not really a new concept. When I first started participating on the Big I internet in 1992 I remember having a discussion with someone that as the Internet expands our contact with the person next door will lesson. We won't go outside as much. I laughed at this thought, thinking it along the lines of a joke from a cartoon where the wife comments how the husband is online yapping with someone on the other side of the world and ignoring the person right next to them. That discussion is becoming too much of a reality. It really hit me when I noticed that Grocery Gateway is now allowed to deliver alcohol as well as groceries. We don't have to go out shopping any more. We shop online. We bank online. We order groceries and alcohol online. We don't ever have to see another person.

It is not the technology that is at fault but rather how we use it. That is what is becoming evil. We are letting the obsession take over what we do. Rather than master our technology we are letting it control us.

Anyways, that's my opinion at this early hour of the morning for what it's worth.