Curtis Silver, better known as Wired’s “GeekDad,” looks at our current level of technological progress, where we’re set to go in the near future, and can’t help but ask when humanity is going to face Judgment Day (well, almost).
While that computer was built for a particular function and with the best intentions in mind, so are other computers built with the best intentions. We currently have computers that are armed with missiles flying over foreign countries. While these are of course controlled by a human, and rely on a system of at least four control planes to provide radar support, it’s only a matter of time before they are autonomous.
Advancements in robotics are taking major leaps every day, soon we will see completely independent robots and androids. Similar to the science fiction we read, they will start out as our slaves. History has taught us the slavery lesson pretty well. I know it’s hard to fathom, robots rising up against their human masters and demanding equal rights and freedom, but with how inundated we are with science fiction is it really that hard to imagine?