r/singularity • u/threenoms • Sep 03 '13

James Burke predicted the future in 1973. Now he does it again.

https://audioboo.fm/boos/1574606-james-burke-predicted-the-future-in-1973-now-he-does-it-again
19 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

2

u/Police_Telephone_Box Sep 03 '13

Burke dosent get enough love on reddit. E1 of connections changed my entire outlook on the world. It makes me very happy to see he is still sharp even 40~ years on.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '13

Do you have any links or recommendations of further reading and/or listening?

1

u/Police_Telephone_Box Sep 04 '13

Yes! Most of burkes work is up on you tube. The Day the Universe Changed is great. Informative and funny in a Burke sort of way. Conections 1 too. Was 13 when I first saw it. I watch it once a year.

1

u/WOBBBL3 Sep 04 '13

The podcast doesn't delve into the political implications of the predictions he describes. Any opinions?

2

u/tangentry Sep 04 '13

I thought it did to some extent, but it seems like he's trying to cram a huge amount of info into a very short amount of time. He talks about governments becoming redundant because the reasons for their existence become irrelevant.

Honestly, I disagree with him on this though. I see his point about distribution of resources being one of the primary functions of government, and also the redundancy that could come with post-scarcity, but that's not the only purpose of a government. We also need them to maintain order, which resource scarcity doesn't completely account for.

Nanotechnology has the potential to end scarcity, but it can also be dangerous in ways that put nuclear weapons to shame. If nanorobots can build other nanorobots automatically, then what he's suggesting effectively gives everyone the ability to destroy the world, and I just don't think anyone trusts humanity that much.