Raymond,
Reading this was very interesting, i enjoyed your title and how it refers to a famous movie. here is an article i read about the pros and cons of developing advanced AI that I think you’d like https://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/

I am researching the future AI will have on the human workforce. Many people agree that AI will completely take over some industries, like you said. Human intelligence is still required for many jobs, something that AI is not close to replicating. One article I read interestingly said that humans and AI will work together in a “symbiotic” union. While it is far away, the the sentient robots are an ominous thought. I agree to look on the optimistic side of things. I look forward to further research.

The article I mentioned: (https://via.hypothes.is/http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/gic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&currPage=&scanId=&query=&docIndex=&source=&prodId=GIC&search_within_results=&productShortName=GIC&mode=view&catId=&u=pioneer&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE|A520980263&windowstate=normal&activityType=BasicSearch&failOverType=&commentary=)

Raymond, I found your article very interesting. This issue is very interesting and in many ways scary. I did some research and found that people with lower rating scores will likely receive low internet speeds as well as travel implications. I believe this system is an invasion of privacy and agree on your stance. Here is an intriguing article I found: http://www.wired.co.uk/article/chinese-government-social-credit-score-privacy-invasion

Raymond,
This is a very interesting topic, the mere idea of a system like that baffles me. How would they even determine a “worth” could we even trust that system even if it was perfectly fine and there was no implications? I feel like if they were to implement this system that the public would revolt and overthrow the government.

Raymond, I just read through your source and article. This is all a very fascinating and worrisome move towards the dystopia depicted in 1984 by George Orwell. If I didn’t know you’ve read the book already, that would be my recommendation, but since you have, please make do with looking through https://via.hypothes.is/http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/15/what-could-chinas-social-credit-system-mean-for-its-citizens/ and my annotations to it. Enjoy, and thanks for your fascinating post and topic!

Your question is fascinating: how much of your life is determined for you? Does free will exist, or is it but an illusion of our internal narrative? As you mentioned, religious denominations (including Calvinism – see https://carm.org/what-is-calvinism) take the omniscient, timeless God as to mean everything is preset. On the other hand, Catholics take a more delicate approach, describing predestination as more of a “roadmap” of choices: many paths to take, and choices at intersections; while all paths are known by God looking at the map from above, the actual path chosen may vary from person to person according to his free will.

Neuroscience, on the other hand, has done some interesting experiments (https://www.wired.com/2008/04/mind-decision/) to prove that, at least in some cases, decisions are made for conscious thought.

Your discussion of more corporeal impacts on one’s future, like race, gender, and socioeconomic background, and then your corollary about a few “lucky tosses of the dice” is interesting. I found a fascinating post by the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/18/poor-kids-who-do-everything-right-dont-do-better-than-rich-kids-who-do-everything-wrong/?utm_term=.2c305be36da9) that corroborates your claim that children from wealthy families have an accumulated advantage that still puts them farther ahead than even the hardest workers from poor families.

I’m interested to see what you post next!

This is very interesting Raymond! Many people, including myself at one point, interpret Robert Frost’s poem to be a call to individualism and nothing more. I love how you used your interpretation of the poem to introduce your central question of predestination. Obviously, there are variables that shape our personality from the start, “factors that influence”, but is there something else that leads us towards a certain end? An article that I find helpful in understanding the factors with which we begin is (http://www.psychologydiscussion.net/personality-development-2/top-3-factors-influencing-personality-development/1934). I can’t wait to see where you go from here!

Dear Raymond,
I am satisfied with your post. You explained the facts well and gave excellent examples. It is hard to explain why one believes that humans will move to other planets due to whatever reason it be, with actual facts because of how many sceptics there are in this society.
One thing you mentioned in your post is “All of this would not be possible, if we did not have a certain resource: humans.”, when mentioning resources, many only explain the natural resources that are found here on Earth, such has water, metals and food. But I like how you mentioned we wouldn’t be able to move our people to Mars without something as simple as using our power as humans.
Regards,
Emily

Dear Raymond,

I agree that Mars is the next step for human expedition and science. Simply getting to the moon was an enormous feat for human kind and now that we posses all the technology to reach Mars, I think that it would be foolish to not capitalize on such an immense opportunity. In terms of cost, the amount of money it would take to go to Mars is surprisingly small. If your figure is correct, then going to Mars would be half the price of creating the latest and greatest aircraft carrier. According to an article by Cnet, the USA’s newest aircraft carrier costs $13 billion.

Keaton Yoshinaga

link to article: https://www.cnet.com/pictures/meet-the-navys-new-13-billion-aircraft-carrier/

Dear Raymond, I thought your post was well said and I enjoyed reading it. I thought you talking about how we have the technology to move to another planet was very interesting, but I have to disagree with you on that. None the less your post was well researched and put together eloquently.

Raymond, this is quite an interesting post. However, you focused on the technology, and money needed – I’m interested to think how you would imagine a society would develop, as you say, ” almost completely independent of the home planet for long durations”. Would it be militaristic? Exploitation-oriented? A vacation resort for the wealthiest or a planet-sized industrial sector?

I would really like to read what further thoughts you have about exploring planets like these, and what form the colonization may take. Thanks for your post!

Dear Raymond,
I am intrigued by your post because terraforming Mars can be viewed as an escape route or plan B in case our own planet can no longer sustain life. One thing you said that stands out for me is: “As of right now, we have the capability to offer people a one-way trip to Mars, the closest, possibly habitable planet.” I disagree with this sentence because it has been scientifically proven that Venus is closer to Earth and that Venus offers a more sustainable and feasible option in terms of terraforming for human colonization.Venus’ atmosphere is thicker and therefore we can create a magnetic field whereas Mars barely has an atmosphere which will cost more to create and sustain one. Also, Venus is considered our sister planet due to its similar mass and surface gravity which makes it the perfect candidate for human colonization.
Regards,
Huong Nguyen