SWA #2

John Morin

English 102-111
January 18, 2012

SWA#2, Draft 1

Short Writing Assignment #2

            In Jamais Cascio’s article, “Get Smarter,” Cascio discusses the history of the development of human intelligence and what the future might hold. In early human history, humans developed various abilities, such as long-term planning and formal language structures, to cope with a rapidly changing environment and global climate. While humans in the B.C.E. through the first millennium of the C.E. era relied upon natural evolution to develop sophisticated mental prowess, Cascio argues that in modern times, to survive as our ancestors have done, we cannot rely on evolution alone: we met develop ourselves. In the face of rapid climate changes, low food supplies, disease pandemics all around the world, and other dangerous threats to our race, we must constantly focus on improving our ability to solve problems and issues using not only our own brain power, but that of machines. “Get Smarter” heavily discusses the future of Artificial Intelligence, where computers with the mental capacity and speed of a fully developed human brain (and possibly even better) will be able to use simulations, data, and other tools to solve problems. In the face of new technology like this (which won’t be out for another few decades), humankind will develop itself using various tools so that we can have the ability to become a more mentally powerful race. For example, drugs that can keep someone more focused and alert are used in great amounts by the youth of today to keep up with the demands of a rapidly changing economy. By the time one graduates from high school or college, the number of people who will be taking advanced classes and lectures beyond the expected level of their age will surely have increased, simply because of the increasingly higher need for technological prowess in many industries, such as business, medicine, agriculture, and other important fields. In the face of progression at staggering rates like these, mankind has little choice but to keep moving forward.