“How to Boil a Frog”

While reading through the first part of this article, a series of thoughts kept running through my head.  This sounds vaguely like the story of cooking a live frog.  I have never, and do not intend to ever cook, boil, or eat a frog.  But just about everyone knows the theory that if you drop a frog into a boiling pot of water it will simply jump right out.  If, on the other hand, you set the frog in a pan of tepid, or even cool water it will feel comfortable.  As you slowly and gradually raise the heat by small increments the frog will not notice the change, supposedly, and will eventually be boiled to death.  Now the reason I bring this up is the similarity between the poor frog’s predicament and our own.  When faced with the daunting reality that technology may very well be on the verge of taking control, the author’s friend Danny Hillis said simply and calmly that “the changes would come gradually, and that we would get used to them.” 

The frog does not recognize the imminent danger posed to it because the changes are so miniscule it escapes attention.  Are we, as a society, really all that different?  If we look back even a mere decade, can we not see that the temperature in our pot has been in a continuous incline?  If a huge leap had been made we might have had to pause and say, “Wait a minute, is this REALLY a good idea?”  But small, step by step actions allow us time to adjust, and again become comfortable with the surroundings, just like the about-to-be-boiled-to-death frog.

Bill Joy states in his article, “Perhaps it is always hard to see the bigger impact while you are in the vortex of a change.  Failing to understand the consequences of our inventions while we are in the rapture of discovery and innovation seems to be a common fault of scientists and technologists; we have long been driven by the overarching desire to know, that is the nature of science’s quest, not stopping to notice that the progress to newer and more powerful technologies can take on a life of its own.”  In other words, like the frog in the pot, if we enjoy the water and the temperature that it is at right now, just imagine how much more we would enjoy it if it was just the tiniest bit warmer! But the important point that is being overlooked is, who is controlling the heat?

As a society we often get so caught up in whether or not we CAN do something that no one ever stops to ask if we SHOULD.  New and amazing scientific breakthroughs have almost become a mind numbing everyday occurrence.  I am also reminded of the article from a couple weeks back called “A Logic Named Joe”.  I can almost guarantee that this interesting and creative writing was met with harsh skepticism about the crazy idea of computers having a mind of their own.  Just as easily, we can write Joy’s fears off as being the fodder of science fiction movies.  The scary truth that many do not want to face is that technology is, in fact, increasing at a rate so rapid I believe it is a legitimate possibility in the very near future the hypothetical “point of no return” will be crossed.

Who are we to look to as a moral compass?  Who will draw the line in the sand that cannot ethically be crossed?  Without clearly defined limitations, we are all just sitting frogs.