In the concluding paragraph in part 2, I said
“technology doesn’t have a mind of it’s own”
But what exactly does it mean? What does
it mean? Perhaps this should also go into the range
of posts concerning ‘freedom’ as well?
Are you free to do what your want?
Is a dog free to do what it wants? or, yes, here
the little bastard is again, is the mosquito free to
do what it wants? Does the little bastard even
want to bite you? Or doesn’t it have a choice
to bite you?
As far as I can tell, the mosquito is purely driven
by instinct. It doesn’t have a mind, it doesn’t want
anything. It just acts on instinct.
And, concerning technology, if it were alive, as I
argued in previous post, it would be on the level
of the mosquito, something that purely acts on instinct.
Or perhaps even a lower level? What about a bacteria?
Does a bacteria have an instinct? Or does it just consume
nutrients and multiply? Does a bacteria just repeat “eat and
multiply” until there is nothing left to eat, and just die.
Maybe it’s more interesting to look at what’s above the
level of a mosquito then what’s below.
Now? Wait a moment? What is this level what I am talking about?
And is this level the thing, that, in part 1, makes the difference
if it’s ok to kill. However, we still have the mouse here.
Speaking about the mouse, it does have a higher level then
the mosquito. It can do things beyond basic instinct. You
can teach your pet mouse to do tricks…. but you can’t
teach a mosquito to do the same, can you? Yet I wouldn’t
say a mouse is intelligent yet. Neither a dog or a cat, or
any other pet for that matter. Even though they can
act beyond basic instinct, it takes more then that to be
intelligent.
So… what does make you different from that mouse?
Since you can teach the mouse to do tricks, the ability
to learn is not what makes you different. Then, what is
it, that what makes the difference. I think it’s the ability
to understand. Not just learning the ‘what’, but the ‘why’.