The way Albert Wenger describes the way our world is changing through trends in macro technology is fascinating. Fascinating isn’t the way that everyone would describe it though, especially given the conclusion of his talk. Many people throughout the world are extremely opposed to “the robot era,” where, as Wenger puts it, “the right to represented by a bot.” People fear a world controlled by bots.
Wenger brilliantly hones his argument using examples throughout the video, starting with why technology is so rapidly expanding – the idea of 0 marginal cost in creating copies. The idea of 0 marginal cost applies to ideas he outlines leading up to his final statements. These ideas include:closed to open, the drastically changed range of power laws over the past decade, and finally the idea of atoms to bits.
The ideas Wenger talks about are certainly controversial. His fundamental ideas are not – increased technology is beneficial to the human race – however, he is not afraid to take this idea and apply it in a dramatic way to the big picture.
The technological world is expanding so quickly because of networks. More and more people all over the world are able to get on the internet and join networks such as Facebook, twitter, ect. that allow them to connect their ideas internationally at virtually no cost. At the same time, there has been a rapid increase in robot technology, to the extent that a robot can find a solution to most any problem much faster and more accurately than a human being. Tying everything together means that if we want the most advanced systems and technology for the human race, than inevitably we should put bots in control of these networks, instead of the humans who created them.