Session 9

Session 9

During last week’s session, prof had already told us that today’s session was going to be one of the most interesting sessions in the entire semester. Indeed, today’s session is really interesting and engaging. Many eye-opening videos broadened our imagination.

My key take away from this session is that nothing is impossible to be invented and when we say something is impossible to happen, it merely means that we are not imaginative enough. For example, prof showed us a video on the 3D printer, which said that scientist had successfully printed out a well-functioned organ. Honestly speaking this idea never even cross my mind before and this further shows that our imagination is very limited and thus when we see or hear some interesting ideas, do not reject it instantly.

There is something I would like to address here. It is the topic discussed by one of the presenter. She talked about virtual world, which I think is a double-edged sword technology. It is true that this development has many advantages such as stress relief. However, the underlying social impact is something we cannot ignore. In the current days, computer game addiction among teenagers is following an increasing trend. More and more kids get drown in the virtual world where they can do almost anything they want. From a psychological point of view, it is true that the virtual world will provide us a place where we can relieve ourselves and do things that we cannot do in the real world. Many people also found their confidence through playing computer game. However, these factors contribute to the increasing trend of gaming addiction, which should be stopped. Therefore, if this technology becomes available, it will worsen the current situation by many folds. More and more kids will drop out from school and facing more serious problems than just addiction to computer game. They may refuse to live in the real world, as there are just too many things that are not going the way they want. Hence if government allows the development of this technology, a strict set of rule should be implemented to prevent these social problems from worsening.

Regarding the issue whether AI will overthrow human one day, I think that at least in the near future it is still something only happening in the science fiction. Of course I will not deny that one day this may happen to us. To me the problem is not whether this will happen or not but what are we going to do to prevent it from happening. Maybe a set of law should be implement on how much development the scientist can go in terms of AI technology. Maybe it is not feasible but it is just my opinion as it will be too late to regret when one day we are living in the once science fiction world.

Overall I rate this session 9.5 out of 10 as the session involves many interesting discussions and sharing.