Bill Joy: "Why the future doesn't need us."

Several years back I read one of the most interesting and important articles I've ever come across. Bill Joy, Chief Scientist at Sun Microsystems, takes a concerned look at several technological developments that threaten human existance. Even more importantly, he considers the disturbing core of the problem - a scientific free-for-all in which things are done simply because they are possible, experiments are conducted before there is any public debate on the ethical questions they pose, and developments move at such a pace that society as a whole - much less the individual - has little to no control over their direction any longer.

This, coming from one of the most important technological innovators of the last few decades, makes for a powerful and scary discussion. Readers' comments in the following issue of Wired compared the importance of Joy's article to Albert Einstein's letter of warning to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt about the imminent threat of nuclear weapons. The prescience both authors show, and their eminence, make their voices ones that must not be ignored.

Einstein was right about the nuclear threat. What if Bill Joy is right about artificial intelligence, bioengineering and nanotechnology - that they threaten to make the human race an endangered species? This is a conversation we must have now, before it is too late to change course. Please read this essential article, and share it with others. I would be glad for your thoughts on it - please leave them in the comments section below.