Vazquez, Sergio

Period 3
Weekly Vocabulary Response

Lesson 27: Words Relating to Things of Little Importance or Value

1. Extraneous 2. Negligible 3. Frivolous 4. Peripheral 5. Incidental 6. Petty

7. Inconsequential 8. Superficial 9. Trifling 10. Irrelevant 11. Trivial

Elon Musk

Earlier in the week at the World Government Summit in Dubai, multi-billionaire Elon

Musk assured that humans must conjoin with technology to avoid becoming inconsequential7 or

even extinct. The Tesla CEO believes there will be a closer relationship between biological and

digital intelligence in the near future and that humanity is at risk of becoming negligible2 thanks

to artificial intelligence. Musk explained that computers work at speeds of up to a trillion bits per

second while petty6 earthlings can only do about 10 bits per second. Although Musks tone may

be quite shocking, he is not the first person to call into question whether or not civilization will

eventually become peripheral4. Futurists like Ray Kurzweil and Michio Kaku have also

purported that humans are frivolous3 compared to AI and that everyone is starting to become

dependent on technology. In a society where machines have become not irrelevant10 and a part of

everyones lives, it is hard to turn around and stop using technology. The way Musk perceives it,

technology organizes society and has become essential in everyday life. People have a fear of

missing out and becoming superficial8 so they constantly refresh their social media and cannot

live without their phones. Everyday activities like this are making AI less trivial11 and a thing of

the present.
 Elon Musk also argued that in addition to AI making humans more extraneous1, it is

taking jobs and will eventually cause unemployment to soar. He argues that before an incidental5

thing leads to a catastrophe, that people must find a solution and find a new role for these

people to do (Musk). Part of the solution he explains is for humans to evolve alongside

machines and in doing so they avoid becoming trifling9.

Sources:

1)http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/13/elon-musk-humans-merge-machines-cyborg-artificial-intelli

gence-robots.html

2) https://www.cnet.com/news/elon-musk-humans-cyborgs-dubai-world-government-summit/