Hello friends,
There seems to be a lot of doom and gloom thinking going on these days, I wish to redress this with a whole bunch of positive happy projecting about what the future really holds for our species, rather then adding to the big pile of failure that we have built. So, the future, yeah, great!
What is so good about the future then? - Well, firstly, it's coming, it's always coming, and it's always coming faster then it was before. I've been caught in several future bubbles that have burst into the everyday world like it had always been there. The smartphone is a good example, I knew about the smartphone years ago, hell, I even remember making jokes about how 'the phone might be smart, but it will make its users dumber with every click'. I jest of course, for today many people have smart phones, I am one of the few surviving old style mobile phones with buttons users, still not quite ready to move to touch screen technology, this makes me old enough to recognise that we are already living in the future.
Already in the future? That doesn't make any sense - It does, it makes sense, all of them words are normal everyday vocabulary friendly words that you might find on a bus stop or hovercar depot. We are already in the future in the sense that our past selves have already dreamt of what would be happening today, and now we are here living it, the future of our dreams. Sure, things don't look like they do in the movies, but that's ultimately a good thing, we are building our own interconnected societies free of the conservative demands for sameness and roots. The human species of the future has evolved above the petty disputes and wars that currently keep us no better then the humble ape with a machine gun. Monkeys shouldn't be playing with weaponry, especially not automatic weaponry. If you see a monkey with a machine gun please turn and run the opposite direction, they aren't very good shots.
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| You better not be that 'bloke' that stole my Bananas... |
Alright, enough with the monkey stuff, get on with it - Okay, let's get onto technology, and more importantly, the way technology is allowing humans to evolve. There are several ways that technology has helped humanity develop its communication and interaction skills. It might seem that this isn't the case given the way the smart phone has zombiefied people, but really it is the next step towards human technology integration. On a personal level, we all currently can access massive streams of information about any topic imaginable. It was only a few years ago that people would have to go to a library to get information, now we all have it all at our fingertips.
But is this helping us? - Yes, we are developing stronger connections to the information around us, and being allowed to explore parts of the human mind previously suppressed. The interactivity allows us to overcome self imposed barriers and the instant ability to share discoveries with the hive mind builds connections with others. The majority of us can remain completely passive in this evolution, there are already more then enough people working diligently on future technologies, and they are much closer then you think they are.
Give me something concrete, an example of what you mean - Well, Virtual Reality is the one that gets me buzzing the most. I am super excited about the possibilities with it. When I was a young boy, maybe 10 or 11, I had a go on a VR unit in London, it was very primitive, but the experience had a lasting effect on me. I was running around a Tron like world shooting blobs at other players, and it was really immersive. Given the way computer graphics have been going and the upcoming Cloud and Quantum computing, I am certain that VR tech will evolve the human race. Once we are able to program and simulate parts of our brain in virtual environments we will overcome the crippling problems of our species. Once examined, any dangerous areas of the mind can be harmonised, and dealt with. We will be able to 'grow up' aided by ourselves. VR tech will revolutionise the mental health industry, I am sure of it.
That's weird, you are weird - It might seem weird, but really it isn't. One of the never ending quests for humanity is to find a way to express our inner experiences, we all engage in this all the time. If you play sport for example, you are exchanging energy with the universe, in friendly competition, and in doing so you are harmonising parts of your mind to the world around you. The bits of information that stick to your brain and resonate with you help you to build up your information store and connect to other people for either confirmation of said information or new (possibly conflicting) information or no new information. The internet has allowed us to let chunks of information remain on the net rather then in our heads, we are being freed of the burden of memory and being allowed to explore creativity.
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| The future in the palm of your photoshop |
New technologies allow creativity to go further, the industry of music has been changed so many times by technologies that it is barely recognisable as the same industry from decade to decade, the same for all other forms of entertainment. This trend of change towards a single platform for all forms of interaction is building the hive brain. Currently there are
2,802,478,934 people around the world who can access the internet, the current world population is
7,181,858,619, which means that currently 39% of the world can get online. That's lots of voices interacting with the massive information brain we have created, and that percentage is changing everyday. In the next few years we will pass the 50% mark and then half of the planet will be online. This is an exciting time.
You haven't told me anything about cool robots and stuff - That's right, I haven't. There are plenty of places around the internet where you can find videos and blogs dedicated to them, also it's worth searching for hidden technologies and amazing advancements. The energy race ranks as the current number one issue this planet is facing. Our dependence on fossil fuels will need to end, and renewable green energy will take over, it really is only a matter of time, even the idiots in charge will eventually give in and accept the future. Solar is the way, mark my words, in the end, the sun will always win (it is a massive nuclear furnace that already powers all life on this planet, we just need to bottle up that energy). It comes round each day to remind us, and in my whole life I have never seen the sun phone in sick or go astray (sometimes clouds hide it from me though).
Should I check out this video link you've posted? - Of course you should, it is truly an enlightening video about how the world has changed over the last hundred years, as well as a look to the future for humanity. It is presented by a statistician named Prof Hans Rosling and it is a BBC programme aimed at the Open University, but don't be put off by that, it is some hard hitting and interesting facts wrapped up in a quirky Swedish professor and some awesome holographic graph technology.
Thanks, I enjoyed that. - Good, now go and watch some clips of old cartoons on youtube.
No Conclusion? - Na, I'll write it in the future
Peace and infinite love
Andy Jackson
You can listen to some of my music I make if you like, the player is right here :)
