I guess I had a lot to say about this one! Hope you enjoy!
Modern society has become a set of strange paradigms. Each, class, race, gender, culture, society, country, religion, and economy creates a different paradigm for themselves or has it imposed on them by others, although we are all essentially the same, that is to say we have much more in common than that which is different. We have as many different realities as individuals on the planet.. Yet, we are all part of the same story, the same origin, the same genesis, this fascinates me. Why are we here? Where did we come from? What is our purpose? We are so close to unlocking many of these things, but are still caught in petty squabbles amongst each other, territorial disputes, religious conflict, social conflict and economic conflict. We are at a great crossroads in our civilization, a Utopian future (see previous article: Future By Design: A Revolutionary Way of Looking at the Future) is within reach, but we must change our ways of thinking in order to reach it.
“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
CArl Sagan
Human Knowledge is Doubling at an Exponential Rate
Unlike the past, we have the potential to reach new levels of knowledge and understanding in an astonishing amount of time. Our level of knowledge is doubling every 12 hours, which is pretty mind blowing. So that means every year, our combined knowledge or collective learning multiplies by a staggering factor of 730. What an incredible time to be alive, but alas, can our institutions keep up with this manic pace of change? Who will benefit, who will not? Will we use these newfound knowledge to reach our potential as a spacefaring civilization, stewards of the planet, or will we continue to use it to oppress, divide, and set apart. Will our economic system be able to handle this massively accelerating collective knowledge? I fear that unless something exceptionally jarring happens, this will not happen, or perhaps I should say when it happens.
“Two things are happening at the same time – the velocity of technology is increasing exponentially and yet it has never been as slow as it is today; and secondly, the volume of knowledge being generated boggles the mind. Volume of knowledge is doubling every 12 hours, the doubling rate used to be 25 years in 1945.”
Amitabh Ray
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence
As many of us in the blogging world are probably award, artificial intelligence is not some far out science fiction idea, it is here. Go hang out with Chat GPT if you have not yet and see what this amazing technology can do. Generative artificial intelligence is revolutionizing entire industries. It will continue to do this. Computer coding in particular will likely be the domain of A.I. almost exclusively in the near future enabling staggering amounts of coding to take place. Again, very exciting time to be alive, but there is always a but…who benefits, who does not? Workers will be replaced in the millions in the next ten years by A.I around the globe. A.I. will also create more opportunities, but how large will this shift be? Can we trust the companies that control this incredible technology to share it equitably with the world when they have spent billions and billions to develop it? Will they actually try to produce abundance instead of for cyclical consumption. Again, I am not too optimistic, until something truly catastrophic happens. Along with the relative improvements of government, due to technological progress, governments have also become much more intrusive in America and all other countries (Five Things To Know About the NSA). Will Artificial Intelligence be used to “police” us, to spy on us, or to help put out houses that catch on fire, or maybe both? We will need great wisdom to control this new technology and ensure it is used positively. Much like fire, it can burn a house down, or keep someone warm.
AI could raise productivity by automating certain cognitive tasks while giving rise to new higher-productivity tasks for humans to perform. With machines taking care of routine and repetitive tasks, humans could spend more time on what makes us unique: being creative innovators and problem- solvers.
International Monetary Fund
What Needs to Happen
Modern society needs to change very rapidly to adjust to the technology that is coming into our possession. We need to start looking across borders to help our fellow human beings, advocate for them, and recognize the circle we all make up as the human species. The expansion of our knowledge, rise of artificial intelligence, and massively increased productivity could solve most of humanities problems, or burn it to the ground.
Check out some of my other articles if you have a moment:
Thanks for reading, Confronting Capitalism: How the World Works and How to Change it, feel free to discuss below!
What are your thoughts on this?