The first and final frontier (USP essay written by Sandeep)

THE FIRST AND FINAL FRONTIER

Did man evolve essentially as a tool maker, or as a seer tormented by visions? I paraphrase Joseph Campbell (Masks of God – Primitive Mythology) to indicate something that has always fascinated me- machines (or any automata) and their effects on our lives.

Campbell’s insight implies almost every argument and thought that is contingent on any discussion about automata and man. Should we see ourselves as building contrivances that supposedly make life easier for us, or do we see ourselves as people receiving constant hints about a different world?

Machines as such permeate our life now. They are everywhere and are accused of reducing what is left of the seer that Campbell sees us as. The irony is that machines themselves are the finest evolved product of our dreams and visions, I need only mention the curious and mystic Nikola Tesla, visionary (in all senses of the dictionary definition – both mystic and a brilliant innovator and inventor). Tesla is said to have got the structure of the Alternating Current generator in a momentary vision.

Technology is often considered a Faustian exchange that man makes with reality, ultimately leading to some sort of apocalypse. Greater dependence on automata is seen as sapping his moral fibre, or I need only reiterate, destroying any remnant of spiritual or mystic sensitivity. Most processes nowadays are automated anyways, a manufacturing company’s prime achievement is to automate all its processes. This is supposed to leave plenty of time for man to explore his complexities, but this promise is seen as illusory, with the very automated processes requiring massive intellectual effort to control and manipulate. However, can we discard the idea that this very expense of the intellect is sharpening our mind and making it more receptive to understanding more profound concepts?

Such an abstract play of ideas does manifest itself in our greatest invention so far, the internet. It is a ‘thoughtscape’, a ‘mindspace’ , the product of a machine that mirrors, or can mirror the workings of our individual and collective minds. We can no longer think of Campbell’s tools as mechanical contrivances achieving physical goals, but as powerful, almost inspired creations that lead us to greater confusions and fascinations. It is easy to characterise the internet as a collective stream of consciousness, that we nurture, and which nurtures in return. It is an almost eerie sort of symbiosis, between one’s creation and oneself.

Cyberspace is so nascent that it is quixotic to attempt an analysis in this short note. However I can allude to several auteurs who have attempted to cast an outline on its myriad subtleties – the whole subgenre of cyberpunk fiction is indicative: like William Gibson’s Neuromancer (the foundational cyberpunk text), Isaac Asimov’s monumental Robot series, and the Matrix Trilogy appear to exhaust the theoretical and imaginative possibilities of technology, but this is clearly illusory. As of now, there are researches into biomimesis (the imitation, in materials engineering and other fields, of the features of living organisms). Also, one of the declared purposes of creating an artificial intelligence, is to study our own.

In the end, I merely allude to the aeroplane as an inspiring example of how automata satisfies a long lived, almost childish dream of ours: to fly. Such inventions always give us the fleeting impression that technology, is after all, a great thing. Only time can tell and man can decide, where he will soar or plunge to.