Benjamin Schmaus

Good Computer, Bad Computer

What if, as technology is improving the quality of life for humans in many ways, it is also, insidiously, acting as a force threatening the stability of the social and economic structures of the United States and other nations?  Imagine a future where increasingly pervasive intelligent machinery, more capable and better at doing things than humans, leads to growing unemployment and subsequently civil unrest.  Policies for non-proliferation of bigger, more destructive weapons might be less important than non-proliferation policies for smarter computers.  This is great fodder for speculation, especially for people with a proclivity towards dystopian thinking.