We’re training and conditioning a whole new generation of people that when we are uncomfortable or lonely or uncertain or afraid we have a digital pacifier for ourselves that is kind of atrophying our own ability to deal with that.
— Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google
Episode Summary
It’s amazing how many things in old science fiction books and movies are now commonplace IN OUR ACTUAL WORLD. There’s almost no parallel in any field of study, science, medicine, or even military technology that has grown as exponentially as computing power. As advanced, adaptable, and evolutionary as humans have been, it pales in comparison to the technology we’ve created (or have WE actually created it).
In the eye opening essay, “The Law of Accelerating Returns” by Ray Kurzweil, written all the way back in 2001 he states:
An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense ‘intuitive linear’ view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century—it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate). The ‘returns,’ such as chip speed and cost-effectiveness, also increase exponentially. There’s even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth. Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to the Singularity—technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and nonbiological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light.
In Episode 94, we discuss the thought provoking Netflix Documentary, The Social Dilemma. It’s a compelling discussion about how Social Media, Artificial Intelligence, and the ability of humans to coexist may be at a crossroads.
