In Terminator and other fiction I've seen/read where humans are threatened by robots, its always about some big AI computer defence network becoming self aware.
But what if the real threat comes from the PC, mobile or smart phone you are reading this on, or all the many other devices we take for granted? The control systems that run our factories, power stations and other infrastructure, your smart meter, your car's electronic control system, your granny's pacemaker, that chip you just had put in your dog?
You may say they have very limited functions but then so does a human brain cell or nerve ending. They can't do anything on their own but connect them together and it's different matter. Every time you become a friend with someone on Facebook, connect with them on LinkedIn, retweet a post on Twitter or even reply to a thread on CUK you are connecting your PC to theirs. A little of that connection will be retained in the cookies, your ISP's records and maybe in ways we don't yet understand. What if awareness is growing? If every connection is like adding to the connections of a human brain?
Be very afraid.
But what if the real threat comes from the PC, mobile or smart phone you are reading this on, or all the many other devices we take for granted? The control systems that run our factories, power stations and other infrastructure, your smart meter, your car's electronic control system, your granny's pacemaker, that chip you just had put in your dog?
You may say they have very limited functions but then so does a human brain cell or nerve ending. They can't do anything on their own but connect them together and it's different matter. Every time you become a friend with someone on Facebook, connect with them on LinkedIn, retweet a post on Twitter or even reply to a thread on CUK you are connecting your PC to theirs. A little of that connection will be retained in the cookies, your ISP's records and maybe in ways we don't yet understand. What if awareness is growing? If every connection is like adding to the connections of a human brain?
Be very afraid.
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