Techno-Primitivism

Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

Isaac Arthur

Spacecraft, Scifi, Engineering, Interstellar Travel, Civilizaiton, Space Station, Future, Future Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence, Technological Future, Cybernetics, Human Civilizaiton, Sci Fi, Space Megastructures, Astronomy, Megastructures, Energy Abundance, Physics, Space, Space Infrastructure, Technology, Futurism, Genetics, Starship, Post Scarcity, Transhumanism, Long Term Future, Space Colonization, Spaceship, Future Of Humanity, Space Industry, Science

4.9 • 781 Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2019

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fears about technology and it's impact on our civilization, or on individuals even when new tech is net benefit, are often shown to us in fiction as giving rise to technophobic cultures that abandon science. Today we'll take a look at such concerns and if they might be common or rare, rogue examples. Or if, counter-intuitively, they benefit us in settling the galaxy in the future. Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/5b-NXwLTMno Sign up with Skillshare for 2 months of Free classes: https://skl.sh/isaacarthur9 Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IsaacArthur SFIA Merchandise available: https://www.signil.com/sfia/ Social Media: Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583992725237264/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IsaacArthur/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_A_Arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: https://discord.gg/53GAShE Credits: Rogue Civilizations: Techno-Primitivism Episode 180, Season 5 E14 Written by: Isaac Arthur Editors: Darius Said Dillon Olander Gregory Leal Jerry Guern Keith Blockus Konstantin Sokerin Mark Warburton Matthew Campbell Phonetic Failure Cover Art: Jakub Grygier https://www.artstation.com/jakub_grygier Graphics by: Bryan Versteeg http://spacehabs.com Fishy Tree https://www.deviantart.com/fishytree/ Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Music Manager: Luca DeRosa - lucaderosa2@live.com Music: Scott Buckley, "Red" http://www.scottbuckley.com.au Ross Bugden, "Rapture" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQKGLOK2FqmVgVwYferltKQ Lombus, "Doppler Shores" https://lombus.bandcamp.com Kai Engel, "Moonlight Reprise" https://www.kai-engel.com/ AJ Prasad of Dark Future, "Staring Through (Part I)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA8-7qwaEPU Chris Zabriskie, "Itasca Its Glowing Red Hot" http://chriszabriskie.com Dan MacLeod, "Strike Vector" https://soundcloud.com/neptuneuk Markus Junnikkala, "The Men Would Love A Good Fight" https://www.markusjunnikkala.com/ Markus Junnikkala, "Always Tell Me the Odds" https://www.markusjunnikkala.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, SFIA audio listeners, in this month's Nebula exclusive, Big Alien Theory,
0:05.2	we're asking the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.
0:10.5	To hear it and every episode early and add free, plus hours of bonus content, check out
0:15.5	go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.
0:20.4	This episode is sponsored by Skillshare.
0:23.8	We often say that technology offers humanity a bright new future, but not everyone
0:29.1	sees it that way.
0:43.0	So today we are back to the Vogue Civilization series to look at techno-primitivism, both the general concept and how it might evolve into societies on other worlds.
0:48.7	This is a pretty common trope in science fiction, cultures losing their technology or intentionally limiting it,
0:55.4	and we'll see today that it's one that might turn out to be fairly common too.
1:00.2	Probably the most common fictional way of losing technologies unintentionally is after some sort
1:05.5	of cataclyism, but we covered that topic in the cyclic apocalypse's episode, so it won't be our main focus
1:11.6	today.
1:12.6	Rather, we'll focus more on examples like Frank Herbert's classic Dune series, where the
1:17.6	loss was intentional, as well as on some real-world examples and motivations for it.
1:23.6	Dune illustrates one of the most common reasons in science fiction for abandoning a technology,
1:29.3	concerns about artificial intelligence.
1:32.3	There we have the Butlerian Jihad, which has some rather contradictory portrayals from the original series
1:38.3	and the expanded universe novels written after Frank Herbert's death, and each version is examined a lot in science
1:45.6	fiction. Either artificial intelligence represents a direct physical threat to humans, becoming
1:51.2	sentient and attempting to wipe us out or enslave us, as we see with examples like Skynet
1:56.7	in the Terminator franchise, or a more existential one where the machines are either used
	...

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