Philosophy

Today, the senior Philosophy majors had their capstone thesis presentations. In one of the lounges of Golisano, there were couches spread out encircling a podium and a white board. Emily and I went late after 2 o clock and they were in the middle of presenting. Each senior went up and read an excerpt from their thesis paper. Afterwards, the philosophy students and professors in the audience asked the presenter questions. It was so nice to sit and listen and think. Sam, a friend of mine, presented and spoke about how being able to identify one's emotions is beneficial in the work place (ideas influenced by Aristotle) because then the emotion can be rationalized. This other girl spoke about the development of technology and this thing called the Blue Brain. The Blue Brain is the development of the first brain on a hard drive (computer), which would be able to feel and rationalize as a human does. The ethical questions to be raised after this project is completed (estimated 2020) are outstanding. Do we treat a computer with the same ethical and legal values and laws that we have, because it will be able to feel emotion and be able to rationalize? How are we to say those emotions will be real? I think they'd still be artificial. I think we are capable of creating anything, so I do not doubt the existence of this technology, but I disagree that it should exist. With the way technology is expanding and improving, soon the machinery we made to initially help us build will be doing the building and designing. Physical labor will be turned into a formula; a computer input. What the hell is this? I want to be able to make my house, my schools, my cups, my bowls, my clothes, my gardening, my food, my writing, my creativity MYSELF. I want to manifest the knowledge I have as a human. Whose to say these computer-generated humans won't be the ones doing everything for us, eventually when there are enough of them? Whose to say that eventually the only form of humanity left will be contained in metal casing; not flesh?