Why the future doesn't need us

"Why the future doesn't need us" is an article written by Bill Joy, Chief Scientist at Sun Microsystems. In this article, he argues (quoting the sub title) that "Our most powerful 21st-century technologies — robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech — are threatening to make humans an endangered species." The article was published in the April 2000 issue of Wired Magazine. Joy warns:

"The experiences of the atomic scientists clearly show the need to take personal responsibility, the danger that things will move too fast, and the way in which a process can take on a life of its own. We can, as they did, create insurmountable problems in almost no time flat. We must do more thinking up front if we are not to be similarly surprised and shocked by the consequences of our inventions."

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The essay has been compared by The Times to Albert Einstein's 1939 letter to then-US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning him of the possibility of the Nazis inventing the atomic bomb. While some critics have characterized Joy's stance as obscurantism or neo-Luddism, others share his concerns about the consequences of rapidly expanding technology.

The full text of the article is available online.