Our Rich Robot Overlords Will Leave Us All Behind
American "futurologist" Paul Saffo is getting a lot of buzz for an interview he did with Britain's Sunday Times in which he mused that the upper classes will use their vast fortunes to provide themselves with the bounties of emerging technologies.
I sometimes wonder if the very rich will become a completely separate species. Imagine if the very rich can live, on average, 20 years longer than the poor. That's 20 more years of earning and saving. Think what that means about wealth and power and the advantages that you pass on to your children.
A harrowing and plausible vision of our future? Possibly. But he also suggests that "You can tell what's hip by who is getting the hottest dates. In the 1950s it was 'Why, yes, I'm a rocket scientist'. In the early 1990s it was the web entrepreneurs. These days it's biotech and geneticists. That's the hot field." So who knows?
"Hi, my names Greg, I can split atoms between my ass cheeks. Can I buy you a drink?"
"I'm looking for a place to insert for my spent fuel rod, want to come up for coffee?"
"That was great. I'd love to stay over, really, but I've got to convert enriched uranium into bio-fuel in the morning."
It, was my reactor wasn't it? Don't lie, I know it's small.
It's all right, I'm still developing the ability to feel.
(http://news.stv.tv/scotland/east-central/132701-robots-to-learn-sense-of-touch/)
The guys (and probably gals) that are really IN biotech (not just selling the wares) are not getting the hottest dates. I promise.
Outside sales reps are genetically modified smile machines.
Rock stars and models. Still. Really.
I was about to say, How could you forget Gattica? (for shame!), but then the critics did call it "forgettable."
Or, you know, HG Wells, who posited pretty much the same thing in 1895.
It's GattAca. Great movie, though I did wonder why all these genetically superior beings were smoking like chimneys.
This explains why Google turned up nothing when I repeatedly queried Gattican Ephebophila Hellenic Ethan Hawke.
Becoming a new species requires not fucking poors for a long time, so doubtful.
Wait, are you telling me the rich don't live 20 years long than the poor on average now? If you look at global lifespans, the gap may not be that wide, but I'm willing to bet it's significant.
I was going to say the same exact thing. here's a link to back it up http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/thirty-years-difference-in-life-expectancy-between-the-worlds-rich-and-poor-peoples-401623.html
Oh, boy! Twenty more years of driving to the early-bird buffet in my golf cart. Twenty more years of yelling at kids to get off my lawn. Twenty more years of wondering aloud why CBS isn't making new episodes of Matlock.
I'm gonna git myself a little druid army.
"Think what that means about wealth and power and the advantages that you pass on to your children."
For them to snort up their nose.