The New Golden Age
It seems that the technology accelerationists are winning. The world is on the cusp of solving several hard problems — energy, climate, health and longevity with abundance of intelligence and safety. Humans have succeeded in creating “heaven” on earth, where the race rules supreme, completely forming the planet in its wake. World population is stabilising. Solar energy is rapidly taking up more and more share of energy generation. New battery technology is ensuring that it is uninterrupted. Electrified transport will make sure that the climate is spared from a major source of fossil emissions.
On the other hand, the rise of thinking machines will ensure that all future problems that require “science” as a solution will be solved very fast. The world will have infinite wealth and facilities for everyone. Those who don’t have capital will be provided capital by the state via universal income schemes so that they don’t have to work to survive. Yes, we are not there yet, but we can definitely see it coming on the horizon. Time, it seems, is the only constraint
The future is here, but just not evenly distributed. (William Gibson)
Some societies will experience the future faster than others. San Francisco already has autonomous vehicles zipping around, while the condition of roads in India continues to be precarious. Even in places where progress seems behind, are making great strides. Tall, gleaming skyscrapers are sprouting all over India along with metro trains and fancy airports. Indians, specially those living in cities, who are facing “growing up pains” will disagree with me. There seems to be no end to the apathy of the government in fixing urban issues. As the proverb goes, Delhi is far.
If we already have answers to most of civilisational problems, then why is it taking so long? In his (in)famous End of Civilisation essay, Francis Fukuyama observed that liberal democracies are the peak of civilisation and we can only regress from here. While in the current moment it seems that democracy is back-sliding, if you look at a longer time frame, it is only progressing. With (almost) unfiltered information available at the fingertips of most people via encrypted chat applications, most people know the arguments against their dominant form of life. Yet, religion with its faith based approach still dominates the philosophical lives of most people, in spite of obvious flaws. There is a big gap between knowing the answers and adopting the way of life that it proposes.
The Age of Discovery is mostly over for most people. Yes, space is the next frontier but that will still take a long time for most people to experience. For the rest of humanity, it will be about living up to the ideals that we have already discovered. Using the power of our innovation for the benefit of everyone. And not only via benevolence (charity) but true distribution of power and systems of collective governance.
The path to this Golden Age is a long one but which in my view, humanity is destined to forge. There are a lot of challenges on the way — how will we achieve a truly enlightened civilisation. Civilisation will truly be egalitarian not because of the benevolence of a few people, but when power will be more equally distributed. Giving a networked handheld computer in the hands of most people is the first step.
There will be a lot of hiccups and old feuds will continue to boil, but cast has been set. The role of our children will not be to discover new things or work from nine-to-five, but to learn the ways of the world and be its custodian. Their job is to ensure that we don’t fall prey to our worst impulses, and we continue to preserve the gains we have made, and to preserve the systems of knowledge and the liberal way of life. We must make sure that the world remains a wonderful home for future generations to come.
