MIT Technology Review
04.21
Weekend Reads: Divisive technologies
The world faces many challenges—from food shortages and debilitating illness, to stagnant economies and the threat of terrorism. In many cases, technology could help us solve those issues, but often people can’t agree on whether or not it should. In other situations, people can’t decide how best to develop new technologies in order to best tackle those problems.
From the MIT Technology Review archive, here are six stories about divisive technologies that could change the way the world works. If we agreed on the answers, that is.
Engineering the perfect baby
Scientists are developing ways to edit the DNA of tomorrow’s children. That could help us ensure that our offspring are born without certain illnesses—or, taken to extremes, define their looks or intelligence. Should researchers stop before it’s too late?
What if Apple is wrong?
In the blue corner: law enforcers, who want to be able to beat encryption in order to fight crime. In the red corner: tech firms, who want to preserve the privacy of their users. The problem is, it’s not clear who’s right.
These are not your father’s GMOs
A new wave of gene-edited crops are dodging regulators, and they’re about to reach stores. But there still remains staunch resistance to eating crops that have been engineered to grow better, bigger, and stronger. Who’s right?
Is AI riding a one-trick pony?
Just about every AI advance you’ve heard of depends on a breakthrough that’s three decades old. Some experts think that the pace of progress, on which our economy currently appears to rest, won’t last unless we develop totally new ways of giving machines intelligence.
Basic income: A sellout of the American Dream
Many members of the Silicon Valley elite, now flush with cash, think that giving everybody a small but guaranteed paycheck should solve many of the problems that automation is about to inflict on society. Sounds reasonable enough. Look closely, though, and you may start to question it.
Do you want to live forever?
Finding that elusive pill that helps your live tens, or maybe even hundreds, of years longer has always excited a small band of scientists. Among them is Aubrey de Grey, who thinks he knows how to defeat aging. Is he nuts?
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