I am reluctant to use the phrase "tipping point" because it's been so overused, however what we are discussing here are the critical points in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place. (Which is the definition of a tipping point).
In physics, this type of transformation can be visualized as rolling a round stone up a steep hill, at a certain point that stone will reach the summit; and if we continue to push it we will reach another point where it will roll down the hill. And there's not much we can do to stop it.
The engine that drives human development is knowledge...and it has been throughout history.
In the hunter-gatherer days, knowledge of fire transformed the human experience.
In those days, humans obtained food by foraging.
Although the source of food did not change, fire allowed humans to cook food and consume more calories. The human brain expanded with this caloric increase,
Language comes along and knowledge expands.
Agriculture was invented on the strength of this growth – and humanity experienced its first true transformation: a fundamental change in the nature of being human.
We shifted from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural society.
This was a significant change.
Hunter-gatherers were nomads in constant search of food;
with the shift to agriculture, humans settled and cities were born.
Soon, humanity had the means to create wealth,
and with wealth came oppression by withholding food, to own land, to create a ruling class, and to divide labor.
For the first time in human history, inequality was introduced to human society.
The lack of property had made ancient hunter-gatherers far more egalitarian than any subsequent society. As property multiplied, inequality grew.
With ownership of land, animals, plants, and tools,
rigid hierarchical societies emerged, and small elites monopolized most wealth and power for generations. Along the way, money, the wheel, and writing were invented.
With the invention of writing, our knowledge expanded once again.
This new-found ability to capture and share knowledge ushered in another period of innovation; including what some have called the most influential invention in human history: the printing press in the 15th century.
By ushering in the age of mass communication and enabling a scientific revolution, the structure of society was permanently altered. The age of Enlightenment followed: an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century and threatened the power of political and religious authorities.
When the steam engine was invented in the 18th century, knowledge scaled rapidly.
Beyond the impact on transport and production, perhaps the bigger impact was on the massive knowledge-fueled innovation that followed.
An MIT study found the steam engine to be the most Impactful Innovation in human history.
When it combined with the printing press, the world experienced its most prolific period of knowledge development and sharing.
A steam-powered printing press revolutionized the print industry and improved the literacy rate throughout the western hemisphere.
As a result, the world went through a second metamorphosis - the Industrial Age.
The inventions of this period established the modern era
and set the current standard of living in the western world.
Electricity, running water, sanitation, antibiotics, refrigeration,
advances in the social contract, and many more innovations
were at the heart of this special time in history.
In the late stages of the industrial revolution, the Internet connected society.
Up to this point, the world had not experienced the ability to seamlessly share knowledge, ideas, capabilities and more. Globalization emerged from a reduction in the cost of transport, Globalization 2.0 resulted from a reduction in the cost of sharing knowledge.
This is where the seeds of the next transformation were sown.
Artificial intelligence takes the knowledge explosion to its logical pinnacle.
The combination of machines and biotechnology will alter yet again what it means to be human.
The world is on the precipice of becoming an automated and transhuman society.
This emerging radical change is driven by the overwhelming automation of labor, the requisite reinvention of traditional wage-earning employment, and the convergence of humans with their machines.
Automation-enabling infusions of capital over the next 10 to 20 years will displace much of conventional labor. Once the first companies automate, history indicates the others are likely to follow to stay competitive.
This coming transformation is nearly inevitable.
(barring some possibility that we may experience some sort of Sisyphus Effect)
Will we simply allow the same old greed driven hierarchies,
created in the last 2 transformations, to flourish and expand exponentially?
Or will we exercise some degree of control over the fate of mankind, to the extent we can?
The underlying promise of civilization is a means of providing prosperity,
not just for a few...but the many.
Even in the interest of their own greed, those who've set themselves at the top of the human social hierarchy must be made to understand that their ability to continue
acquiring wealth rests ultimately on some type of consumption.
If vast swaths of humanity have no viable income, no way to buy the goods or services being sold; it all economically grinds to a halt.
A completely new economic paradigm is required.
It's not an option.
At the far end of this spectrum is the potential for conscious machines and radical human life extension. Biologists continue to unlock the mysteries of the brain. At the same time technology gives us unprecedented capability. When these two phenomenon merge, the possibility exists for machines to monitor and understand human brains better than we can ourselves. Authority could then shift from humans to machines, and biological inequality might just stand alongside economic inequality.
The coming metamorphosis in biotechnology and AI information technology require fresh visions.
We must be architects this advancement, and ethics must increasingly dominate our discourse over the next two decades.
We need an accelerated learning and dialog.
We shoulder the responsibility of taking part in creating our emerging future.
It is incumbent upon us.
 |
Unless we act fast, the economic future is bleak. Wealth has been used to corrupt public policies which have been responsible for a stagnant or declining standard of living. Without pressure from many sources, this will only become much worse. |
