DESPITE the noise and fury in politics, which oftentimes signifying nothing but "pogi" points, it is still science, that silent stream, that signifies everything. Science is still by far the most pervasive, persistent, and evolutionary influence in history.
The dawn of the 21st century has transformed our interactions with relatives, friends, and even enemies. The internet highway has changed our greetings to "smileys" and "emoticons" instead of the warm handshake, or a hug, or a buzz in the cheek.
We used to go out our houses to mingle with friends, reconnect with relatives. Courting a girl meant visiting her house, under the prying eyes of her parents, including grandmas. Playing for kids meant calling out the neighbors for a game of "patintero."
Now, the millennials go inside their rooms, lock themselves, and voila, they connect to their friends, and woe their crushes in their notepads or even smartphones. Sex even has taken a cyber shape.
Though internet faces a myriad of ethical issues, it is still a tool of humanity. The internet does not threaten human survival, it enhances instead.
Science has always been a tool, a means of inventing technologies, starting from the primitive man to the modern man. Science, in its crude forms, was apparent in the invention of bows and arrows, axes and sickles. Machines and engines ushered in the 18th century. The 20th century created the nuclear weapon, the singular weapon that can wipe out humanity.
Hidden from the glare of the present debates, there lies the eminent threats to humanity: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Bio-technology.
AI and bio-technology advances carry with them paradoxical ethical dilemmas. The AI researchers aim not only for your ordinary robotics in the manufacturing plants but towards inventing and producing robots that are not only intelligent but also sentient.
The rush of research now is towards the creation of intelligent robot that is sentient, capable of feeling and perceiving as humans do. Intelligent, feeling, and perceiving robots are just the perfect mix for virtual humanoids that may one day, realize their need for their own survival, at the expense of their inventors.
The self-perceiving robots, if the research continues without check, one day, we will be at war with them much like in Star Wars where robots are fighting against human beings. These robots will cease to be tools. They will be our competitors for survival in the fast-depleting earth's resources.
Science by then will have reached a crossroad. It does not only create tools for human progress but create harbingers for human destruction. These humanoids will make humans their tools.
Looks like this is science fiction? Paranoia?
Hold your breathe. With the advances of bio-technology, science has come to point where the DNA can be manipulated to produce and regenerate human body parts. The embryonic and undifferentiated cells can now be manipulated to become a kidney, a heart, or a liver. Already, scientists have found that deep within the mitochondria of every cell lies the compound that causes aging, and has found ways to reverse the process.
Human cloning research has been on-going. Imagine a human clone with the intelligence of "Deep Blue" robot?
The progress in AI and Bio-technology are still in their crude stages. But history has proven that our scientific progress has not been linear but exponential. There is no stopping the scientists to perfect AI and bio-technology.
While our politicians, with their fire and fury, are hugging the headlines, the airwaves and the social media, their effect on the future of humanity is not as pervasive and persistent as science does. Science is defining humanity.
Perhaps, more than the debates about Duterte and Trump, we need to put the ethical issues on AI and bio-tech researches in the mainstream of our discussion.