Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ucbvax!PINE.CIRCA.UFL.EDU!basicstud%oak.DECnet From: basicstud%oak.DECnet@PINE.CIRCA.UFL.EDU ("OAK::BASICSTUD") Newsgroups: comp.society.futures Subject: Knowledge Gap? More like Fear gap Message-ID: <8712161659.AA25561@bu-cs.bu.edu> Date: 16 Dec 87 16:04:00 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: "OAK::BASICSTUD"Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 22 I think the real problem is not a gap in knowledge, but the fear so many people have of technology. That fear has been around a long time. And when technology starts to advance more rapidly, you just get more people afraid of it faster. Fortunately, not everyone is afraid, or allows themselves to be dominated by the fear. An interesting example is a discussion some BBS users had locally, about AI. The question was whether or not an AI could have a soul. But most everyone (except those fairly experienced in programming) seemed to think that an AI could never be any more than a machine, and thus couldn't even be called intelligent. During the discussion, at least several people seemed to show some kind of general dislike towards machines (complaining about robots used in car manufacture, etc.) That sort of state of mind about technology is the real problem. What is probably going to happen is that over a period of time, when the new generation starts to become more dominate in society, the gap will start to close. But, at the same time, new technological developments will occur that will form a new gap, etc etc etc. (Jeff Mercer) ------