EPTMy university requires its students to take a writing test called the Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE) which is a mandatory test required for graduation, regardless of one's major.
I took the test late May and just got my grade back: I didn't pass it.
The worst thing is that I was asked to write about computers, which is my field of study (Computer Science major). To me that was a piece of cake and I was the first guy to leave the room that day, with five pages worth of my mind to turn in.
This is what I wrote, if you're interested:
+ Show Spoiler [MY PAPER] +
Write about the possible effects of AI (Artificial Intelligence) systems in the future.
What will be the future of human civilization? That's a question worth pondering over.
Fifty years ago, the notion that daily human life would be greatly defined by the extensive usage of a world-wide communications web, namely the World Wide Web and associated telecommunication entities, was something that didn’t once cross our ancestors’ minds, and if it did, it most likely didn’t go beyond the epoch’s science-fiction notion; what the children back then thought the year 3,000 would look like, yet little did they know these changes were right over the horizon.
Morse code, expensive phone calls, trains, ferries, horses and cars for the upper-middle class were commonplace. Traveling to a different country was a slow, expensive and tedious process; not something you saw very often. International communication was a luxury restricted to certain individuals. It was more often than not performed using Morse code and a noticeable amount of time was needed to get a sentence over to the other end.
To us right now this is a process we aren’t even conscious of anymore; we expect it to be that way and to happen whenever and however we want it to. Instant messaging with a person on the other end of the globe happens in a matter of milliseconds, and if for any reason it starts to bug out, we will find ourselves startled and annoyed on the fact; we expect these things to work flawlessly. Furthermore, international travel happens on a daily basis by the thousands and it has become very possible to visit a different continent over the weekend and be back for class in time the following day.
Humanity has been changing dramatically over time and the most beautiful reality about it is that we’re not even conscious of it.
To your ancestors back in the day, the notion of having an artificial or replacement organ to be surgically embedded into a human being was something worth a big controversy on, whether it being on moral or ethical issues, it was something an enormous number of people considered outrageous. Nowadays, this is common trend and a widely accepted practice all over the world.
The idea of us having artificially “alive” creatures made out of silicon and metal living amongst us in the near future and possibly having their own set of rights, may be something that irks you on the back of the head, yet it will be something that will become part of your everyday life and an accepted norm whether it is against your will or not. This being a current ideology, it is something that is already forming world-wide controversy, much like transplants and artificial organs once were.
But sadly, robots with an artificial intelligence at the human level should be the least of our concerns.
Modern science is currently aiming towards the creation, or “growing” of artificial organs for medical use in the near future; an “organ farm” per se, and they have already been successful in the growing of certain, simple muscles from a single cell, and feeding them sugars.
Science is also aiming towards the creation of various implants, such as the already-common cochlea implant for deaf patients. Work is also being done in the progress of retinal implants for blind patients. But ultimately, implant research will be focusing in the making and development of neural implants, which will allow us to “attach” external, artificial members to our own body much the same way we buy accessories for our computers or cars. We will soon be having extra arms or more powerful legs. Maybe a set of additional eyes and will be able to project ourselves into a robot, or “avatar” on the other side of the world, being able to control them and “feel” them the same way we do when we drive our cars and feel them as being an extension of ourselves.
The future of human life doesn’t revolve around the simple and happy fact that we will be having more stuff to help us do things faster and easier, but it centers itself on the reality that we will, eventually, become the robots themselves.
It is just a matter of time before we start decomposing and formalizing the entire universe we live in whilst using our own, self-made models (such as mathematics and physics). The human drive to fulfill its internal curiosity about how everything around it works will slowly overtake us and get us to a point where we will become omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.
Possibly leading us to our own end.
What will be the future of human civilization? That's a question worth pondering over.
Fifty years ago, the notion that daily human life would be greatly defined by the extensive usage of a world-wide communications web, namely the World Wide Web and associated telecommunication entities, was something that didn’t once cross our ancestors’ minds, and if it did, it most likely didn’t go beyond the epoch’s science-fiction notion; what the children back then thought the year 3,000 would look like, yet little did they know these changes were right over the horizon.
Morse code, expensive phone calls, trains, ferries, horses and cars for the upper-middle class were commonplace. Traveling to a different country was a slow, expensive and tedious process; not something you saw very often. International communication was a luxury restricted to certain individuals. It was more often than not performed using Morse code and a noticeable amount of time was needed to get a sentence over to the other end.
To us right now this is a process we aren’t even conscious of anymore; we expect it to be that way and to happen whenever and however we want it to. Instant messaging with a person on the other end of the globe happens in a matter of milliseconds, and if for any reason it starts to bug out, we will find ourselves startled and annoyed on the fact; we expect these things to work flawlessly. Furthermore, international travel happens on a daily basis by the thousands and it has become very possible to visit a different continent over the weekend and be back for class in time the following day.
Humanity has been changing dramatically over time and the most beautiful reality about it is that we’re not even conscious of it.
To your ancestors back in the day, the notion of having an artificial or replacement organ to be surgically embedded into a human being was something worth a big controversy on, whether it being on moral or ethical issues, it was something an enormous number of people considered outrageous. Nowadays, this is common trend and a widely accepted practice all over the world.
The idea of us having artificially “alive” creatures made out of silicon and metal living amongst us in the near future and possibly having their own set of rights, may be something that irks you on the back of the head, yet it will be something that will become part of your everyday life and an accepted norm whether it is against your will or not. This being a current ideology, it is something that is already forming world-wide controversy, much like transplants and artificial organs once were.
But sadly, robots with an artificial intelligence at the human level should be the least of our concerns.
Modern science is currently aiming towards the creation, or “growing” of artificial organs for medical use in the near future; an “organ farm” per se, and they have already been successful in the growing of certain, simple muscles from a single cell, and feeding them sugars.
Science is also aiming towards the creation of various implants, such as the already-common cochlea implant for deaf patients. Work is also being done in the progress of retinal implants for blind patients. But ultimately, implant research will be focusing in the making and development of neural implants, which will allow us to “attach” external, artificial members to our own body much the same way we buy accessories for our computers or cars. We will soon be having extra arms or more powerful legs. Maybe a set of additional eyes and will be able to project ourselves into a robot, or “avatar” on the other side of the world, being able to control them and “feel” them the same way we do when we drive our cars and feel them as being an extension of ourselves.
The future of human life doesn’t revolve around the simple and happy fact that we will be having more stuff to help us do things faster and easier, but it centers itself on the reality that we will, eventually, become the robots themselves.
It is just a matter of time before we start decomposing and formalizing the entire universe we live in whilst using our own, self-made models (such as mathematics and physics). The human drive to fulfill its internal curiosity about how everything around it works will slowly overtake us and get us to a point where we will become omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.
Possibly leading us to our own end.
I did not know how to stand in front of my parents and tell them that I had failed an exam they were convinced would make it into The Dateline (School's newspaper). I did not know where to run to if it ever happened that my Phy Kappa Phy Honor's Society mentor found out about this idiocy. For the first time in many years, I felt like a total failure. No, let me rephrase: I was made feel like a total failure.
Down the drain go my graduation plans for this Fall as well as the invitations I sent to my relatives in South America to come to my graduation. Especially that of my ninety-four year old grandfather, whom I haven't seen for almost seven years. I now have to put up with the thought of me taking one class during the Spring semester of 2011 to finally get out of this place. All of this, of course, courtesy of my university's useless WPE piece of shit.
/rant
Poll: Did I write a "proficient" paper?
No (75)
93%
Yes (6)
7%
81 total votes
Yes (6)
81 total votes
Your vote: Did I write a "proficient" paper?
Edit: I fucked up the question they asked me.
