I think, in all probability, the opposite is true. I believe we are on the verge of ushering in a new era, and that the next 50 years will see the world change beyond recognition.
Conventional politics cannot continue as it is - increasingly technology will render the status quo redundant as power continues to be concentrated in the hands of the tech giants, and the innovators in this sphere. I think the seismic change in this will come at the point where robotics and GAI becomes generally affordable. Such an event would render the vast majority of the adult population redundant. If that happens these people will need to be appeased, and be able to provide for their families. I suspect, given their unsuitability to the world as it may become, they will receive this income in exchange for some kind of voluntary sterilization procedure.
If you aren't smart enough or tech savvy enough to train computer systems, then within 50 years or so I suspect there will be no place for you in the economic system. Because of this, I think very soon it will be seen as the ethical choice to start manipulating the genes of unborn babies to make them smarter, to ensure that enough of the population can keep up with the rate of progress and keep up the pace of innovation.
Ultimately all of this will, I believe, happen in the west. We are still a long way ahead, and there is already tremendous established wealth here. Take Apple as an example - they are literally so rich that they've had to become a bank to find some way of using their money efficiently. Where do you think the Apple CEOs and their comrades are going to want to live? It certainly isn't going to be Lahore... I think there is such an established monopoly on technology, knowledge, and applicable ability here in the west that it will not be overcome. All the doomsday fear mongering seems, respectfully, to be motivated in part by a lack of understanding and fear of technological progress. People think everything is going to fall to pieces, but it isn't the case. Systems are 'anti-fragile', for want of a better word - they exist precisely because they are adaptable and offer a framework which can be extrapolated from to account for new variables. Life in the West may change radically in the next 50 years. There is likely to be a good degree of chaos surrounding the change. But fundamentally I am confident that progress will continue, and perhaps even accelerate.
It is a wonderfully exciting and interesting time to be alive. Far from being doomed, I think those of us in the West are ideally poised to usher in the next phase of human advancement.
Conventional politics cannot continue as it is - increasingly technology will render the status quo redundant as power continues to be concentrated in the hands of the tech giants, and the innovators in this sphere. I think the seismic change in this will come at the point where robotics and GAI becomes generally affordable. Such an event would render the vast majority of the adult population redundant. If that happens these people will need to be appeased, and be able to provide for their families. I suspect, given their unsuitability to the world as it may become, they will receive this income in exchange for some kind of voluntary sterilization procedure.
If you aren't smart enough or tech savvy enough to train computer systems, then within 50 years or so I suspect there will be no place for you in the economic system. Because of this, I think very soon it will be seen as the ethical choice to start manipulating the genes of unborn babies to make them smarter, to ensure that enough of the population can keep up with the rate of progress and keep up the pace of innovation.
Ultimately all of this will, I believe, happen in the west. We are still a long way ahead, and there is already tremendous established wealth here. Take Apple as an example - they are literally so rich that they've had to become a bank to find some way of using their money efficiently. Where do you think the Apple CEOs and their comrades are going to want to live? It certainly isn't going to be Lahore... I think there is such an established monopoly on technology, knowledge, and applicable ability here in the west that it will not be overcome. All the doomsday fear mongering seems, respectfully, to be motivated in part by a lack of understanding and fear of technological progress. People think everything is going to fall to pieces, but it isn't the case. Systems are 'anti-fragile', for want of a better word - they exist precisely because they are adaptable and offer a framework which can be extrapolated from to account for new variables. Life in the West may change radically in the next 50 years. There is likely to be a good degree of chaos surrounding the change. But fundamentally I am confident that progress will continue, and perhaps even accelerate.
It is a wonderfully exciting and interesting time to be alive. Far from being doomed, I think those of us in the West are ideally poised to usher in the next phase of human advancement.