WEBVTT - TechStuff's Spooky Halloween Spectacular! 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:13.960 stuff works dot com. M Hey the everybody, and welcome 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:18.280 to text Stuff. I am your host, Jonathan strictly executive 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:24.400 vampire here at how Stuff Works. Happy Halloween if you're 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:28.240 listening to this on Halloween. Otherwise, that was the worst 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.600 possible introduction I could have given for this episode, and 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:36.040 I I should feel badly about it, but I don't. Nope, 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:40.440 But in celebration of Halloween, we are going to take 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:44.960 a look at spooky thick or you know, scary tech, 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.320 or at least some technology that could at least be 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.320 kind of creepy. See here's the problem running into y'all. 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:56.120 I've already done an episode about tech in Haunted House Attraction, 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.920 so that's finished. I already did one on ghost hunting 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.760 technology years ago where I gave a skeptical view of 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:08.160 what all that was about. And sooner or later, after 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.120 you do a few years of a technology podcast, you 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:13.120 start to run out of the fun stuff like that. 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:17.280 So for this episode, I turned to the house Stuff 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.880 Works website and I pulled up a classic article, which 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.480 is also always a dangerous thing when you're talking technology. 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:29.760 But this article is titled ten scary modern technologies. It 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.240 was co written by David Ruse and my former editor 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:38.120 and Tech Stuff co host Chris Pallette. So get ready 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:42.800 for some tech that goes bump in the night, I guess. 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:48.560 And actually, to be more serious, the technology I'm listing 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:53.360 here does not fall into the supernatural or ghostly categories 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:58.000 at all. The technology represents stuff that could be unsettling 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:02.760 or at worst could call as massive enormous problems due 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:07.280 to overreach or unintended consequences. So there are some serious 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.000 entries in here, even though I'm having a little bit 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:13.560 of fun with the presentation. So let us get started. 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:18.520 Number ten on the list hollow Sonics and the Audio 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:22.960 Spotlight System. This is more in the creepy, unsettling vein 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:27.720 technology that focuses sound. That's what this is all about. 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:32.160 It's focusing sound into a narrow beam, which provides the 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:38.000 opportunity for ultra targeted sound for stuff like advertising. It's 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:42.040 not necessarily creepy, but not necessarily welcome either. But imagine 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.160 that you're walking through a store and just as you're 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:51.040 passing in front of a certain store item, let's say 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.520 it's cookie crisp cereal, and you start hearing a voice 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.919 whispering to you, Hey, that cookie crisp looks pretty good. 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.000 It might seem really weird, this little disembodied voice, and 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:04.000 as soon as you get past a certain point, you 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:07.120 can't hear it anymore. You just have this experience. As 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.160 you're going through the store, you keep hearing these targeted 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.760 sounds in very narrow spots, and as soon as you're 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:15.800 out of those spots, you can't hear it. That sounds 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.480 pretty creepy, right, Well, how does it work well? According 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:20.880 to the company, the secret is in the size of 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:25.280 the sound waves compared to the size of the sound source. 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.400 The company states that if you have a sound source 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.880 that is much larger than the comparable size of the 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:36.120 sound waves it's producing, you get more directionality out of 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:39.240 your sound, so you can focus it more like a beam. 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.600 So if you were to create loudspeakers that are much much, 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.000 much larger than the sound waves they're producing, and sound 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:49.000 waves can measure from a few inches up to several 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:52.640 feet in size, you could direct those sound waves in 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:56.520 a beam, more like a directional beam, rather than having 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.920 them propagate outward in all equal directions. But that would 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.200 not work very well for something like targeted advertising, because 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.400 you would have to have these enormous speakers perched behind 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:09.520 the cheerios, and that would be very distracting. So this 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:14.040 company has gone with an approach that has these devices 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:20.840 producing ultrasonic beams of sound. Ultrasonic sound ways are very 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:25.680 very tiny. They're also normally imperceptible, at least directly. They 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.240 are imperceptible to us. We cannot hear in this frequency. 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:32.120 They do have a very strong directionality as a result 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:36.120 of the way they are generated. Uh So, according to 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.400 the company, as the ultrasonic beam travels through the air, 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:43.120 the inherent properties of the air caused the ultrasound to 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.560 change shape in a predictable way. This gives rise to 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:50.640 frequency components in the audible band which can be accurately 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:56.080 predicted and therefore precisely controlled. By generating the correct ultrasonic signal, 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:01.200 we can create within the air itself any sound desired. So, 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.920 in other words, it's the interaction of these ultrasonic frequencies 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:09.880 with the air itself that causes the ultrasonic frequencies to change, 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:14.240 and then you produce these audible frequencies. And because this 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:19.320 is all very controllable in a predictable environment, you can 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.080 produce whatever sounds you want. This is based off the 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.240 work of an inventor named Woody Norris. He demonstrated this 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:28.200 technology at a TED talk in the early two thousands. 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.840 Rather than generating the audible sound on the face of 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:35.000 the speaker as a traditional speaker would, where the speakers 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:37.920 moving a diaphragm in and out and pushing air around, 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.000 the ultrasonic emitter creates a column of the air itself 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.360 to act like a speaker, which is pretty nifty. I'm sorry, 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:51.640 I meant spooky. Number nine DNA hacking. So back in 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.880 two thousand three, scientists finished mapping out the human genome. 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.920 But that was obviously just the beginning. That's just uh, 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:05.800 a long list of base pairs um. Next came the 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.320 work to examine the genome closely and determine which bait 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.400 base pairs in the more than three billion pairs that 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.839 make up the human genome are responsible for different stuff 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:22.359 like our uh possibility of developing a disease, for example, 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.120 Because if you could determine that, and if you could 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:29.080 determine a way of changing that part of the DNA 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:33.680 so that it's eliminated, maybe you could make someone not 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:37.920 develop that disease. You could potentially wipe out certain diseases. 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.120 And beyond that, what about hacking the human genome so 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:45.120 that we can create designer human beings, human beings who 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:49.000 have traits that we consider to be superior. Now that's 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:53.600 the stuff of lots of science fiction and horror cautionary tales, 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.640 stuff like Gattica saying, yeah, but who gets to decide 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.960 what is superior? And what happens to people who aren't 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.279 able to take advantage of that technology, and what happens 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:06.640 to the people who do take advantage of that technology. 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:10.360 There are a lot of ethical questions around it. However, 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:14.280 beyond that, there are other scary things to consider. DNA 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:19.120 hacking could allow for individually focused biological warfare. So imagine 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.280 that you're living in a world and someone can get 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:26.280 access to your DNA. Maybe they get a skin sample 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:28.720 or some hair or something. They're able to get something 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.280 from you that has traces of your DNA in it, 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:33.680 and they're able to analyze your DNA and see what 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:37.920 makes you you and look for any vulnerabilities. Maybe they 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.480 find out that you have a predisposed weakness to a 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:44.240 particular type of virus and then the engineer a virus 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:47.440 to attack you. Specifically. That was actually the premise of 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.320 a two thousand twelve article in The Atlantic, and that 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:52.680 article hypothesized the future in which the President of the 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:55.840 United States could be targeted and assassinated through the use 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.600 of a particularly nasty virus that was Taylor made for 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.600 the aden yikes. Or imagine more than that, maybe a 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:08.040 widespread plague unless Stephen King's the stand engineered through a 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:12.840 deep understanding of DNA paired with a really crappy containment strategy. 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.680 So how realistic is all of that? Well, in the 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:20.800 short term, it's probably not terribly realistic. It's certainly possible, 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.960 but not necessarily plausible. But it does require a deep 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:28.000 understanding of DNA and a means to manipulate it easily 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.880 in order to pay it off. We've seen some advances 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:33.400 in those areas. There are a lot more ways that 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:35.920 we can manipulate DNA than there used to be, but 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:41.080 not exactly easy to do. It's easy, year, but that's 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:43.560 that's a matter of degrees. However, you can make a 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.520 convincing argument that it would not require too deep and 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:51.840 understanding to cause real harm. Unintentionally, and that would be 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:55.200 a very difficult argument to counter. And while DNA hacking 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.840 could produce all sorts of different futuristic results, we do 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:03.280 already have a culture of bio hackers also sometimes known 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:08.120 as grinders, who have taken body alteration to new places. 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.200 These folks are not working on a DNA level, They're 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:16.560 not changing themselves fundamentally in that way. Instead, they're doing alterations, 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:20.280 you know, upgrades. So one example would be there are 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:24.240 people who have chosen to have small magnets implanted under 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:28.840 the skin of their fingertips. Say, these little nubby magnets 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:34.000 sticking out on their fingertips kind of weird, right, Well, 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.440 what's the purpose of that. Well, because of the effects 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.960 of magnetism and electromagnetism, they would actually be able to 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:43.600 sense when they were near magnetic or electromagnetic fields. So 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.440 it'd be kind of like Spider Man's spiky sense. They'd 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:49.600 feel tugging on their fingertips as they passed through it. 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:53.640 So instead of detecting danger like Spider Man would, you'd 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.320 be able to tell like whether or not electricity was 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.000 flowing through a conductor, for example, because you could bring 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:01.600 your fingers close to that conductor. Maybe it's some wires. 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.360 You bring your fingers close and if you start feeling 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:11.120 the pulses from an alternating magnetic field of fluctuating magnetic field, 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.040 that would tell you, oh, electricity, alternating current is flowing 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.320 through here, because I can feel it in my fingertips. 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:18.800 That would be something you normally would not be able 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.080 to feel. So you kind of have a sixth sense 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.440 due to having these magnets implanted in your fingertips. And 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.320 people have actually done this, however, a word of caution. 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:32.520 From what I understand, these operations are pretty painful. They 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:37.040 usually are not done with an esthetic. There's not really 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:42.880 a place you can go that's medically you know, license 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:45.479 to do this because it's not a it's not a 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.680 standard medical procedure. As far as I know, there are 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.240 no accredited medical facilities that do it. I think any 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.080 doctor who did practice this would have uh the danger 0:10:56.240 --> 0:11:00.480 of being barred from practice. So you're usually talk about 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:05.920 entrepreneuring body modification specialists, you know, like piercers, who will 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:08.920 do this kind of operation. And anytime you're talking about 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:13.080 introducing something foreign to the body, you're also raising other 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.400 risks like infection. So you've got to be super duper 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:19.680 careful about that kind of thing. In other words, you're 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:23.160 not gonna find me putting magnets under my fingertips anytime soon. 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:30.280 Number eight on the list cyber war Oh boy. Well, 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.000 the scenario the article specifically lays out is an all 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:39.760 out cyber warfare attack where one nation targets another nation's infrastructure, 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:43.800 like it's power grid system or water system. And sure enough, 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.120 the U. S Department of Homeland Security has reported that 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.880 there's lots of evidence to show that various hackers have 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:54.960 infiltrated critical infrastructure with such tactics like Russian hackers and 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:59.760 the things like power plants and gas pipelines. And that's terrifying. 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.280 And before that report had even made the news that 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:06.800 was in security experts have for years been warning that 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:11.160 Chinese hackers have been infiltrating American infrastructure. CNN reported on 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:13.560 that back in two thousand and fourteen. So this is 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:17.040 not exactly a new story. It's a continuing story that 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:23.040 continues to be really problematic and concerning. So the infiltration 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.360 part is a reality. We know for a fact hackers 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:30.000 from other countries have infiltrated various systems there have been 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:34.720 traces found of their activities, so we know that there 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.160 have at least been people snooping around our systems. Whether 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.360 or not they've installed anything to help shut stuff down 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.560 as another matter, but they've definitely been there, and they 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.240 appeared to have been there from places like Russia and China. 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:53.200 That does not automatically mean that the infiltration was state directed, 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:57.199 in other words, that it was a government backed project, 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.080 but that seems to be the general role. Consensus is 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:05.240 that these were likely the activities of a state back 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:10.440 group of hackers. What about shutting everything down? Is that realistic? Well, 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:14.320 it could be more challenging to do, but not necessarily impossible. 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:19.800 Many utilities have started installing self healing systems. Self healing 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:22.480 system isn't quite as cool as it sounds like. It's 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:26.040 not like it's Wolverine and infrastructure form, but it does 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:31.520 involve having a system that when it detects problems, automatically 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.840 tries to reroute services to get around those problems. So 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.680 with a power grid, it might be if a smart 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.760 power grid system detects that there's a short that some reason, 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:45.160 or there's a a break in connectivity at some point, 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:47.880 it may try to reroute power to work around that 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:51.560 as much as possible. That could help confound a cyber 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.920 warfare attack a little bit. At least it might mitigate 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:59.560 the impact of an attack, um though preventing one entirely 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:03.199 maybe not. But then there are also attacks on other systems, 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:06.079 not just power grids and and water and gas, which 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.680 are all scary enough. But there's the evidence that showed 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.920 Russian hackers were targeting election systems in the United States 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:15.480 leading up to the twenty sixteen elections. I talked about 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:17.160 this in a recent episode of Tech Stuff, so I'm 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:19.240 not gonna go all the way through it again. But 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.440 the really insidious thing about those attacks is they don't 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.800 even have to be super successful to be effective. If 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:29.000 you can so doubt in the minds of a nation's 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:33.120 citizens as to the validity of any given election, you 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.400 have undermined the very foundation of that nation's government. A 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:39.440 government that doesn't have the confidence of its population is 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.520 on shaky ground and has to move more and more 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:46.800 towards totalitarianism in order to maintain power. If you don't 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:51.200 have any confidence that your system works, then you don't 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.840 have any confidence in your government at all. So cyber 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.200 war is something that is continuing right now. It is 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:02.240 actually happening. It is already in place. And obviously I've 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:04.440 given examples of how the US has been the target 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:08.240 of cyber warfare, but don't forget the US has engaged 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.600 in it too. We're not, you know, the United States 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.600 has not been just the poor victim in all these cases. 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:17.480 The United States has certainly played a hand in cyber 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.360 warfare activities. One example would be stuck s net, the 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:25.760 computer virus that was designed to sabotage uranium enrichment facilities 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.440 in Iran. So this is not something that everyone else 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:31.720 is doing and the United States is the victim. This 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:33.760 is something that everyone is doing as much as they 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:37.240 can and stepping it up as much as they can. Well, 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:39.800 we have a lot more scary technology to talk about, 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.280 but I need to have a sip of tea to 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.320 comfort myself. Let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:58.120 Number seven is the technological singularity. Now, out of all 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.000 the science fiction ideas I find particular liarly interesting, this 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.760 one ranks near the top of them. The singularity refers 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.480 to a general concept that could be brought about in 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.360 several different ways, but from a very high level. The 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:14.400 idea goes something like this. Imagine that technology has advanced 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.800 to the point that the newest stuff coming out is 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:22.520 already designing the next generation of stuff. And imagine that 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.520 the gaps between these generations are getting smaller and smaller, 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.320 and eventually you reach a point where the present is 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.240 defined by constant change, and that's the only way you 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:35.200 can define it. Because things change so quickly it is 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:39.040 almost impossible to describe the present in any coherent way. 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.680 That's how quickly everything is evolving. The thing that would 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:47.400 fuel this would be the emergence of superhuman intelligence in 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:52.600 most of the scenarios that involve the technological singularity. However, 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:58.000 that would not necessarily require just, uh, you know, a 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:02.640 computer AI. That's one possible version is pure artificial intelligence 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.120 that has superhuman capabilities and processing information. This is your 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:09.280 basic deep thought from the Hitchecker's Guide to the Galaxy 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.560 or sky Net from the terminator that scenario. This would 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:15.760 be a scenario in which we humans have created an 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:19.399 AI so powerful we are unable to control it, and 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:21.879 then it goes on to redefine our world in ways 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.879 that we could not anticipate because we cannot operate on 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:28.080 the same level as this superhuman intelligence, but that is 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:32.240 not necessarily the only pathway to the technological singularity. Another 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:35.359 way might be that humans find a way to boost 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.720 our own intelligence and thus we evolve beyond what we 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:42.000 traditionally think of as being human. We might do this 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.919 through a deeper understanding of biology. We could boost our 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.639 intelligence that way, going back to the concept of d 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.280 n A hacking and things related to that. Or it 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:54.720 might involve using technology to create cyborg like beings where 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:58.840 we merge with technology on some level, and with tech 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.840 and biology working to get other we boost our intelligence 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:05.080 to new levels and achieve superhuman intelligence that way. So 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.800 bottom line, is this a possibility, Well, it beats me. 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.080 But there are a lot of super smart people who 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.720 are on either side of this issue. So some people 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:19.000 say the singularity is essentially a foregone conclusion. It will happen. 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.119 The only question is when will it happen. But there 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.040 are other people who say there might be some fundamental 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:29.160 barriers that were not likely to get over and those 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:33.199 barriers will block the singularity from ever happening. One of 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:39.360 the frequent criticisms of various UH singularity scenarios is that 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.200 a lot of it rests on the belief that we're 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.159 gonna see progress continue on a pace that's similar to 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:50.640 what Moore's law has observed with computer processing power. And 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:53.520 the thing is that pace may not be realistic or 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:57.720 sustainable or even applicable to some technologies. So Moore's law 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:02.760 applies to uh to the processing power of computers generally speaking, 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.359 but they may not apply to other elements that would 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.800 be necessary to bring about superhuman intelligence, because processing power 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.320 by itself is not intelligence. You also have to have 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:14.640 the software side. You've got a lot of other pieces 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.760 that have to be in place. However, if it is possible, 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:20.720 it could very well mean the end of the human 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:24.679 race as we know it today. Now that doesn't necessarily 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.120 mean it's the end of humanity entirely. It just may 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.720 mean that humanity will transition into something different, So it 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.560 could be a new beginning. It's not necessarily the end 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:44.040 of everything, but still spooky. Number six Google Glass, I 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:48.160 mean that was the number on the on the article Google. 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:52.800 You remember Google glass, the augmented reality glasses. Back when 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:55.840 Chris and Dave were working on this article, Google glass 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.359 was still a real thing. It was it was poised 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.960 to become an actual, a consumer product outside of the 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:06.360 relatively small sample of bleeding edge adopters a k a. 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:09.720 Glass holes. We were sometimes called that because I was 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.240 one of them. I had a pair of Google glass 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:16.720 The glasses were part augmented reality headset, part user interface 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.680 for the world around you. They included a camera which 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.240 could pull in information, and a Bluetooth chips so the 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:26.000 glasses could communicate with a paired mobile device, and through 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:29.439 that mobile device, the glasses could also pair information like 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:33.639 GPS coordinates. So these glasses, while giving you potentially incredible 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.840 access to information about the world around you, could also 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.919 gather information about the world around you for the benefit 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:44.240 of Google. And suddenly this company could potentially access information 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:47.240 from cameras mounted on faces all over the world. And 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:51.080 the glasses also had microphones, because you know, you could 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:54.879 use voice commands to make your glasses do stuff. But 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:57.760 that also meant that in very Google could listen in 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:00.760 as well, not just see everything, but here thing, which 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:03.560 raises some big privacy concerns, not just for the people 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:07.320 wearing the glasses, but for everyone around those people. And 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:10.919 Google makes money with information, so you would effectively be 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:14.399 generating product for Google to sell. By wearing a pair 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:17.320 of those glasses and walking around everywhere, Google would be 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.800 the head of a big surveillance state, far more invasive 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:25.160 than a network of closed circuit cameras if such technology 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:29.440 was used on ethically. And while Google Glass is now 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:32.320 far more limited in its rollout, you know you only 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.760 see it in a few industries. At this point, the 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:38.199 company Google is still very much in the business of 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:41.440 knowing where it's customers are. In August two thousand eighteen, 0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:45.080 numerous tech journals reported on a study that was conducted 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:49.040 by Douglas C. Schmidt of Vanderbilt University. That's say said 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:52.480 that a stationary Android phone running Chrome in the background 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:57.040 would ping Google servers with location data three forty times 0:21:57.080 --> 0:21:59.640 in a twenty four hour period. Even if you turn 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.600 the low in history feature off of the phone, the 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.560 phones were still sending location data back to Google, according 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.000 to the study. Google, by the way, has disputed the 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:11.720 findings of the study. Then there are the numerous personal 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:15.760 assistant devices that are out there, including Google Home, that 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:18.880 also are always listening for commands. And of course that's 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:21.560 just Google. There are other companies out there, like Apple 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:25.200 and Amazon that also have technologies similar to these. All 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:28.720 of these could be monitoring users and sending data back 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:32.600 so that the companies might later exploit that information for profit, 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:36.040 usually to sell you stuff to advertise directly to you. 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:38.880 But that's still pretty creepy, right. Even if the companies 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:43.280 are not actively exploiting that information, the fact that the 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.520 data could be transmitted and recorded at all is problematic. 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:49.680 Though again I should say the companies generally say they 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:52.640 do not record user data in that way, so that's 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:57.719 a relief right. Number five drones. Drones are legit creepy. 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:01.320 Many drones have cameras mounted on them. That does allow 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:06.600 potential filmmakers unprecedented access and capabilities. Now, a low budget 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:09.880 film can have the equivalent of an expensive crane shot. 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:12.880 It's a fraction of what it would cost to rent 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:16.320 and operate a film crane with all the associated personnel, 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:18.560 the safety features, all that kind of stuff. You could 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:21.879 reduce all that down to an operator and a drone 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:24.200 and it would be much less expensive. But it also 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:27.400 means a drone operator who's using one of these devices 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:31.000 could use it to do stuff like peeping. Super darn 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:34.520 creepy to be spying on neighbors and stuff. That's just 0:23:34.680 --> 0:23:40.360 the consumer technology version of drones that is already troubling. 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:43.480 But then you have to remember there's also tons of 0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:46.960 military grade drones, and they're being used to do everything 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:52.840 from surveillance work to active strikes on military targets. Weaponized drones. 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:56.480 These drones may be semi autonomous or completely under the 0:23:56.480 --> 0:23:59.800 control of an operator who's potentially hundreds of miles away. 0:24:00.320 --> 0:24:04.960 They greatly extend the surveillance capabilities of various government agencies 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:08.560 and divisions, from military to law enforcement. In the United States, 0:24:08.560 --> 0:24:11.280 Congress passed a bill in two thousand twelve giving the 0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:15.000 Federal Aviation Administration or f a A, the authority to 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:18.879 drop rules for commercial and police drones in US airspace. 0:24:19.560 --> 0:24:23.000 The FAA hasn't been super fast to share that information. 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:26.639 That prompted the Electronic Frontier Foundation or e f F 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:30.159 to sue the f a A under the Freedom of 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:33.159 Information Act to at least share a list of the 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:36.960 public entities and private drone manufacturers that applied to flight 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:39.520 drones in the United States, as well as thousands of 0:24:39.560 --> 0:24:43.359 pages related to license applications. But the f a A didn't, 0:24:43.560 --> 0:24:48.199 you know, explain how those entities were planning on using 0:24:48.560 --> 0:24:53.280 the drones. So that's a problem. Number four three D printers. Well, 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:56.280