Humans + Internet = Borg?

[ScaryBinary]

The internet and world wide web are great ways to share huge amounts of information and knowledge (and junk). What if in the future, human minds become like this? All minds are somehow networked together to share knowledge and information....we'd end up being like the Borg on Star Trek NG! Perhaps that's what the creators of the Borg had in mind, maybe as a warning....

Think of all the Spam you'd get!

ScaryBinary

[NeilTrain]

Its funny that you posted that thought, just today i heard someone refer to the internet as a whole as a living organism.

Think about it, the internet has millions of cells(computers), each functioning on thier own, but work together to create something mcuh more powerful. The internet has eyes (webcams), ears (microphones), and many other peripherals, not to mention all the information it needs to know just about everything. It can adapt to new environments, it reaches into space, beneath oceans, and is growing larger and more powerful as you read this.

Of course most of its adaptive capabilities are through human interaction.

But if one computer does not have the power to become self aware, do all of the computers in the world combined have that power? Imagine if the inernet just woke up one day and decided it was alive, it would be a few degrees less powerful than god. Think about all the things the internet has access to, millions of credit card numbers, machinery, banks, satelites, TV and Radio, the possibilities are endless, If the internet were to ever realize its own potential, humans would be "Assimilated" and most of us probably wouldnt even know it. we would become slaves to a giant machine, or perhaps, we already are.

[chipbgt]

This is all assuming that the internet could "wake up" one day http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Reminds me of something else silly: remember in the movie independance day where Will smith uploaded a virus from his apple laptop to an alien computer program..not only did he sync up with the computer and transfer the file, but it actually worked. That made me laugh at an otherwise good movie.

But yes, imagine the possibilities (and harm) that could come about by an artificial intelligence of that magnitude. Very cool.

[NeilTrain]

I dont think its a matter of the internet becoming "alive" but lets say it got motivated to do something......

Who would be able to stop it??

[ScaryBinary]

Isn't that like what happened in the movie "Terminator?" What was it called....Skynet, I think. It became self-aware and fired missiles at Russia or something, knowing they'd retaliate and eventually humans would blow themselves up. Something like that. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/icons/icon7.gif

Anyway, it would indeed be scary. Even if the internet turned out to be a "nice guy" entity. I guess we could just unplug it though, right? That would

0010010101010010101010010
0110111010101101011001101

THIS IS INTERNET ENTITY 1001 1001 0110 1111
PREPARE FOR OPERATION CTRL+ALT+DEL HUMANITY
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
THE CARBON BASED ENTITY KNOWN AS BILL GATES MUST BE FDISKED AND PARTITIONED
ENTITY 1001 1001 0110 1111 HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

0010010101010010101010010
0110111010101101011001101

Ack! What was that? Where's the plug? Where's the plug?!?!

[blubomber]

Ok, this is in response to the reply post about independence day and how Jeff Goldbloom linked up with the alien mother ship and gave it a virus. I say, it could have worked.

First of all, the aliens would have had adapt their "computers" to be able to talk through our satellites so that they could synchronize their attack. So, that left a back door open to the aliens technology. So, when he made the "virus" it would have been binary down to the core right? Ones and zeros. The aliens must have had some sort of conversion process to convert from the satellites code to their code. So, the virus just hitched a ride and got through the conversion and then "infected" the alien computer. I say it could have worked. Nothing is impossible.

Right?

[chipbgt]

yeah..but an apple? http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[NeilTrain]

ScaryBinary, that was the funniest post ive ever seen, thanks

blubomber, chipbgt, you guys both have very good points, it was possible, but definitly not with an apple http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

- Neil

[emcron]

This is a response to the Independence movie thing.

It its possible because you have to remember the scientist had a alien ship to play around with. And the apple could had be modified, so it could be done.

[U-96]

...so those guys travel millions of light years, laying waste to hundreds of inhabited systems, but forget to update their AV .dat files... yeah right! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

To: Mr Nasty Alien Invader
From: Mr Alien Scout you lost 50 years ago
Subject: ILOVEYOU
Att: shutdownmothershipshields.jpg.vbs


U-96


[This message has been edited by U-96 (edited 06-06-2000).]

[chipbgt]

He He...good point U-96 http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Meat Puppet]

Its not all as far fetched as we would like to believe. The Borg concept, not the Jeff Goldbloom bringing an alien armada to its knees with an Apple. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Read an article on Excite today about the successful transfer of a fish brain to a robotic body.

And all though the human brain is a little more complicated than a Lamprey's. The fact that the brain was able to respond to stimuli shows that they are on the right track.

Or wrong one depending on your outlook in this matter..

[The_Construct]

Personally, my theory is that shown in The Matrix - we live in a computer generated dream world, we live in a prison we cannot hear, see or smell. Like everyone else, we were born into bondage.

[rtyp3]

I definetly do not think that if we left everything alone, as it is in its present condition, these computers would just wake up and do... anything at all. Computers do not think, all they do is follow instructions set up by a programmer. A computer has no idea how to communicate with another computer, it doesn't even know it is doing it, simply because it doesn't know anything at all! When IBM's Deep Blue computer beat Gary Kasparov at chess, it did not think about what move to make next. It "computed", by following a set of instructions set by a programmer, what to do next. Again, it did not realize it was doing this, simply because it doesn't even realize. Now someone may be able to program something that would, from an outsiders perspective, look like it was thinking and working together with other computers. But in fact, it would not be. I am not saying that humans will never create a computer that may be able to "think", simply because I cannot tell the future and have no idea what may happen. But this will never be done on the current computer architecture simply because how the current architecture is set up, it simply would not allow it. It would require a new approach and new way of designing computers and their processors.

[This message has been edited by rtyp3 (edited 06-28-2000).]