Posted: 3/2/2013
Will Humans Be Ready?
Given the exponential progress of science and technology since the inception of the computer, our world has the potential to be a very different place over the coming 50-300 years or so.
Many of the previous milestones or acmes of human civilization will pale compared to the potential, imminent transformations. Of course, lest we forget we are only standing on the shoulders of giants and other humans that came before us.
The Crystal Ball Is So Outdated
May I offer a few guesses about the future of humans:
1. Human intelligence and memory will be genetically altered to be much higher and better (what if the average human had an IQ of Einstein and a photographic memory? But ability to read human minds vs. will our minds be encrypted?)
2. Human health and longevity will be much better and longer (e.g. effective cures for most diseases, genetic and mental disorders; organ replacement/regrowth etc.)
3. Human education is already undergoing dramatic changes (e.g. venerated universities will become but a chapter in history)
4. Crime and punishment. Humans have not really gone far beyond than giving suspects and perpetrators more legal protections and defenses since ancient times. Conventional crimes at least have become much more detectable and more accurately solvable in less time. (This is a difficult one to make guesses about)
5. Food and beverages will not be a product of agriculture anymore, but will be designed and engineered for taste and optimal nutrients etc. (this process has been ongoing at least since humans brewed their first beer)
6. The human body will be modified to be much stronger, faster, less vulnerable to injuries etc. like no other creature of nature (e.g. how about eagle eyes and a dog’s nose?; will we still need clothing?; anti-doping is so obsolete, hail pro-doping)
7. Women will not have to give birth anymore. Intercourse will become a thing of the past. The sexes will disappear.
8. There will be a better substitute for euphoria, orgasm, adrenalin rushes through dangerous activities, drug induced highs etc., if we still need it. Negative addictions will be extinct or will be cured in an instant.
9. Computers will be part of our body or there will be some kind of close symbiosis between computer and human (I readily admit this is a difficult guess)
10. Robots will be everywhere in our lives assisting us in every imaginable way (e.g. no more chores or errands)
11. Better energy sources will be harnessed (e.g. nuclear fusion, or hydrogen, or photosynthesis, or solar power etc.)
12. I am sure, I am missing something J
If we are hit by a huge asteroid or engage in another world war these guesses are toast.
What About Individual Liberty?
The ever wider expansion and meddling of big government in every aspect of our lives for the past 150 years or so is a huge problem in particular in the Western world. Constitutions and democracy have not effectively prevented nor restrained nor even slowed down the growth of Leviathan. The beacon of freedom, i.e. the United States and the United Kingdom, has also embarked on this dangerous path for quite some time.
Big government with all its inherent contradictions and irrespective of ideology tends to turn human society into something like an ant colony if left unchecked. In the past it was superstition, dogmas, lack of knowledge, and illiteracy that prevented human liberty and progress, since the 19th century it is big government, which coincided with the emergence of nation states.
Given the current state of affairs, I am not very optimistic. Big government is toxic to and it suffocates individual liberty. Big government has the power to significantly impede human progress as it has amply demonstrated in the past.
In my estimation, more individual liberty and responsibility instead of bigger government will make these tremendous transformations we are potentially facing much more peaceful, beneficial, and acceptable to everyone.
Will the coming generations of human leaders reverse this trend of ever bigger government? We better hope so.
Last, But Not Least
I firmly believe, God will not mind and God is with us.
As King Solomon in Ecclesiastes is reported to have said about 900 BC, “what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” and “fear God, and keep His Commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone”! I don’t think these observations by Solomon express exclusively Judaic-Christian values, but they certainly emphasize individual liberty and responsibility as we are all children of God.
Maybe one day we living humans will truly discover the benevolence of God!
