The question posed in regards to “The Machine Stops” was,
“Does becoming transhuman make you less human?” This is an incredibly difficult
question. To really answer this question, you have to analyze what it means to
be human. Philosophers, theologists, and scientists have been struggling with
this question for centuries and haven’t really found a concrete answer. I
initially posited in class that we were differentiated from other species by
our propensity for tool use. It was quickly brought to my attention that many
other animals could use tools as well. While humans are definitely more famous
for this, chimps and even ravens definitely use tools. Other animals also
demonstrate problem-solving skills like humans. As I began to reflect on what
it means to be human, I started to realize it was more of a philosophy. In
fact, philosophy is a distinctly human idea. It is then that I began to realize
that it isn’t necessarily the use of tools or problem solving that makes
humanity very different, but more our imagination.
Our advanced technology is really
only a reality because someone along the line dared to believe it could exist.
The reason we are able to launch satellites and men and women into space is
because our ancestors looked to the stars and said, “I want to go THERE.”
People usually strive to be something better than themselves, and this behavior
only exists because people can imagine that they truly CAN be something better,
something greater. Now, saying imagination is the reason we are different from
other animals is a very difficult point to prove. After all, we can create
tests to determine the different ways chimps and other reasonably intelligent
animals can think about things, and we might be able to take brain scans and
all that stuff, but we’ll never know for sure what a chimp is thinking. For all
I know, many animals have imaginations… but they definitely haven’t acted on
them on the scale that we have.
This concept of imagination being
what separates humanity from other animals ties in very well with the story in
that a lack of imagination was the downfall of the humans in “The Machine
Stops.” The Machine was, presumably, born from human imagination, specifically
the idea that people could create and live in a society free of scarcity. This
seemingly accomplished the idea of instant communication across all walks of
life too. The humans before the Machine seemed to be much like the humans
today; they were filled with imagination and pride, constantly trying to become
better than nature itself. Then, they became slaves to the Machine. This
happened, however, not because of the Machine itself, but rather the pervasive
apathy that began to rule their lives after living removed from a challenging
life and removed from each other. They
lost their imaginations, their drives to be more than a lump of flesh, and
thusly they were unable to imagine a world where the Machine didn’t exist. They
were unable to imagine that the Machine could fail, and THAT is why they met
such a catastrophic end. In that way, I suppose becoming a transhuman
correlated to a loss of humanity, but I don’t think one can necessarily blame
the technology for this. The humans in the Machine made a choice to abandon imagination
and ambition.
Much like with other science fiction stories, it was the peoples’ own shortcomings – their complacency and close-mindedness in this case – and not the technology itself that led to their downfall. In this fictional world, some humans made the choice to surrender their autonomy and their imagination to the comforting womb of the Machine. I suppose then that this story isn’t necessarily an anti-technology story, but rather a parable about the human condition, specifically the worst parts of it. It could also be seen as a cautionary tale about taking the "easy way out"of life and other situations, especially because of how nonchalantly people in the story made the decision to be euthanized. In this way, I don’t believe that this story necessarily suggests that transhumanity equates to a lack of humanity. Putting it rather crudely, making the choice to abandon what made the humans in the story human is what made them less human. I remain unconvinced that technology and humanity are opposed, and continue to support the idea that to be human is to use technology in some way or at least dream about it.
Much like with other science fiction stories, it was the peoples’ own shortcomings – their complacency and close-mindedness in this case – and not the technology itself that led to their downfall. In this fictional world, some humans made the choice to surrender their autonomy and their imagination to the comforting womb of the Machine. I suppose then that this story isn’t necessarily an anti-technology story, but rather a parable about the human condition, specifically the worst parts of it. It could also be seen as a cautionary tale about taking the "easy way out"of life and other situations, especially because of how nonchalantly people in the story made the decision to be euthanized. In this way, I don’t believe that this story necessarily suggests that transhumanity equates to a lack of humanity. Putting it rather crudely, making the choice to abandon what made the humans in the story human is what made them less human. I remain unconvinced that technology and humanity are opposed, and continue to support the idea that to be human is to use technology in some way or at least dream about it.
Questions-
1. In “The Machine Stops,” it was insinuated that
the Machine was using the humans. This is a fairly prophetic statement, as it
also appeared in The Matrix several
years later. In what way are the technologies of today using us? Do we have a
symbiotic relationship with technology or a parasitic one?
2.
The machine that caused all the trouble in this
story was known simply as the Machine, but the airships played a prominent role
as well. Are the ways humanity used to use airships fundamentally different
from the ways it uses the Machine, or are they one in the same?
Links-
This is a Wired article containing several different
reactions to the question, “What does it mean to be human.” This provides some
very interesting viewpoints of credentialed individuals on the very topic we
discussed in class.
As further proof that humans aren’t the only tool-using
animal (or even primates for that matter) here is a video of a crow using 3
tools in sequence. I’m not sure how long it took for this bird to figure out
how to do this, but the fact that he can shows a much higher level of
intelligence than we give birds credit for.
3.
http://books.google.com/books/about/LSD_spirituality_and_the_creative_proces.html?id=BSLGKvZpe8QC
Seeing as we talked about LSD a bit in class, I checked out
the first few pages of this book and did some digging on LSD and spirituality.
There’s quite a lot of research on it out there, too. I didn’t read the whole
book, but a 40-some-odd page preview should be enough to pique your interest.
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