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I think this article completely misses the point. The technological revolution happening right now is unlike any other in history, and is escalating faster than

by bryans 11y ago

I think this article completely misses the point. The technological revolution happening right now is unlike any other in history, and is escalating faster than anyone realizes. We are really just entering the ascent of the S-curve, and things are already starting to advance dramatically on a yearly basis. Comparing the effects of technology between today and even 40 years ago (much less a century ago) is the epitome of apples-to-oranges. It is a meaningless comparison for all sorts of reasons. We're in a new and exponentially developing Renaissance, the likes of which we have no historical analogy for (not even the actual Renaissance or Industrial Revolution). It's incredibly exciting, but we're in for quite a ride over the next few decades, and our sociopolitical foundations are not prepared for it in the slightest. I think encouraging further procrastination of preparedness does a disservice to us all.

pixl97 11y ago
A rabbit in Australia, circa 1788. The biggest issue with our era of technological growth, is we really have no idea if it is sustainable socially or ecologically over periods of time. If we take human social structures out of current growth and look at the 'people like to work and create to survive issue as an individual' we can easily destroy the world around us. This occurs all the time in biological systems. The great oxygen catastrophe is a prime example. Each individual bacteria produced oxygen in order to survive. This worked fine for around a billion years. The bacteria had no means to realized that free iron and other rocks in the crust would absorb their byproduct only for so long. Once the saturation point was reached free oxygen filled the atmosphere and essentially poisoned the Earth for a time. The question is, 'is there a technological saturation point'? How quickly will technology continue to grow even if it is poisoning the social structures it was built on? Will people and society adapt quickly enough?

by bryans 11y ago

pixl97 11y ago

A rabbit in Australia, circa 1788. The biggest issue with our era of technological growth, is we really have no idea if it is sustainable socially or ecologically over periods of time. If we take human social structures out of current growth and look at the 'people like to work and create to survive issue as an individual' we can easily destroy the world around us. This occurs all the time in biological systems. The great oxygen catastrophe is a prime example. Each individual bacteria produced oxygen in order to survive. This worked fine for around a billion years. The bacteria had no means to realized that free iron and other rocks in the crust would absorb their byproduct only for so long. Once the saturation point was reached free oxygen filled the atmosphere and essentially poisoned the Earth for a time. The question is, 'is there a technological saturation point'? How quickly will technology continue to grow even if it is poisoning the social structures it was built on? Will people and society adapt quickly enough?