One point that Professor Avi Loeb made that I found intriguing was his assertion that technology would continue to grow exponentially in the future, eventually enabling machines and A.I. to replace humans. This is because I recently read an article in Scientific American that technological progress is slowing down in recent decades – there have been fewer and fewer paradigm-altering innovations like electricity which propel the world forward, and certain technologies that could potentially do so (such as nuclear fusion, flying cars, gene editing, etc.) have remained out of reach for now. I would actually disagree with Professor Loeb’s argument that cars today are very different from cars made several years ago – while certain innovations such as electric vehicles have definitely advanced car technology, there is nothing that has fundamentally changed how cars work recently: not their speed, exterior and interior design, or function in society. Cars produced in 2010 would certainly not be obsolete today. But if a technology like cars has seemingly hit a sort of plateau, I wonder if other technologies, such as space travel or AI, would also reach a point where small improvements can be made, but the changes are not enough to radically transform how we live.
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Dear Jaron, thank you for the insightful comment. I too was intrigued by Avi Loeb's statement that technology will be able to replace humans at some point in the future. While I theoretically comprehend this opinion, I immediately disagreed with it when I heard it. I then realized that one reason why I may have so quickly challenged Loeb's theory was because it is frightening to us humans (who I would like to think are irreplaceable). The casual nature in which Loeb discussed this issue surprised me, since this assertion was such a shock to me. I would love to see if he still agrees with this statement in five or ten years, as the advancements made in technology over the next ten years would presumably demonstrate vast differences from today's technology.