Tech has become the talk of the town. When I was younger, the big cultural topic was music and celebrities. Now that same social influence has fallen into the hands of the tech oligarchs, and AI CEOs are seen as enigmatic as the artists of decades ago. Makes me feel like maybe I made the right choice studying computer science at university and downplaying my musical aspirations (cries). Or maybe not, since the AIs will take all the computer-based jobs anyway. Despite being a professional software developer for over 10 years, I coded this entire site with AI tooling because it's so much faster than coding by hand.
Love-hate
I've always had a love-hate relationship with tech, despite being in the biz. I adamantly believe humans need a connection with nature, and that a lot of what tech has "solved" were never problems in the first place in a world where we truly embraced our oneness with nature and with god. Though maybe I'm being an idealist. I have this idea that ancient humans lived in a vastly different state of mind to modern humans, where the predominant spiritual and "religious" practices were based on shamanism and gnosis (knowledge of the true divinity beyond conception).
Phones
It's no bad thing to have absolute time to yourself.
Take mobile phones. We can now connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime, which brings several advantages and several disadvantages. The objective advantages include being able to do work that requires communication from a distance, like working from home in a team. Another is simply being able to talk to loved ones far away. That makes sense in a world where we've come to expect everything we think we want. I would, however, make the case that this capability has brought some real downsides to our way of being...
I had a friend I got along with just fine in person, but when we texted we'd each say small things that triggered the other until it blew out of proportion. That's because this technology has largely lost the energy exchange we'd normally share face to face. This, I'd argue, is part of the reason that despite being a more "connected" society, people face appalling online bullying, and people of different factions are portrayed as enemies rather than fellow people.
Before mobile phones, being out of touch with loved ones for stretches while travelling was simply accepted. It's no bad thing to have absolute time to yourself. I never liked feeling, in long-distance relationships, that I had to "maintain" things out of obligation, or that I'd get called out for not replying to someone potentially thousands of miles away. To touch back on my earlier point about ancient shamanistic societies, the owner of an Ayahuasca retreat I went to told me that the tribal Amazonians communicated at a distance in altered states of consciousness catalysed by plants like tobacco. It would have been a long-distance "energy" communication, where you could feel whether someone was doing okay, more than an actual spoken conversation.
The wrong era?
As for which era would have been best to be born in, it's hard to say. The second half of the last century (the 60s to the 90s) sounds like a pretty good time: great culture and decent infrastructure, without the toxicity of the internet. Before that came the great wars, and going further back it's really hard to imagine what society was like. I was watching some videos about medieval execution techniques on YouTube the other day and felt genuinely relieved to exist in this era, despite all the AI fears.
Going back further still, beyond recorded history, to these so-called ancient humans with their shamanistic practices, is purely conjecture. How can I possibly know the state of consciousness of an ancient human? I'm merely extrapolating from extended periods I've spent in nature, where I felt a deeper sense of peace and respect for the world. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that would go a lot further for a pre-agricultural society living in the wilds. Even if it was a mystical, one-with-nature paradise, I'm not sure we'd call it a "utopia", a term that seems to me reserved for a society where both the outer natural world and the human ego world are truly unified.
Up and out
We're at the cusp of what could be a utopia. We just need to break through that glass ceiling.
In the words of Willy Wonka, the only way through this is "up and out!" What do I mean? The development of these powerful technologies isn't going to stop anytime soon, whatever protestors may like. And yes, we may go through a period of great discomfort as AI changes society beyond recognition. I don't believe AI will "wipe out humans", but I do think it will be a change on the scale of the Industrial Revolution, or greater. Chances are the wealth gap will widen as people lose their jobs, and those harnessing or creating AI will grow richer and richer without any accountability to provide for the fellow humans they've displaced. I do think, however, that we're at the cusp of what could be a utopia. We just need to break through that glass ceiling.
Given enough time, I think we'll start directing AI with far more holistic intention than we did with previous iterations of our tech. AI will be so powerful that many of our hardest intellectual puzzles will be solved. We'll see massive improvements in every sector that relies on research and development, and with that better healthcare, energy generation, food production and environmental protection; you get the idea. In such an advanced world, maybe it wouldn't be a big deal if not everyone had a job. With those optimisations, living costs could come down, and with enough time it could become accepted that humans don't have to work anymore. The AI companies would of course remain insanely powerful, so we'd have to count on them to give back to the society they changed so much, whether through a universal basic income or by being trusted to act with benevolence towards humanity and the planet.
What AI did for me
On a more personal note, as a guy who trained as a software developer: AI has actually increased my ability to be creative. I no longer need to get hung up on the technical details of how my code is implemented or spend entire days debugging; I can just imagine what I want to create and create it. When things are so easy and cheap to make, the only blocker is the limit of your imagination, not your technical prowess, your finances or the time on your hands.
Riding the wave
Things change, and that often comes with discomfort.
It's surely a raw deal for the guys who've been completely replaced by AI, but my underlying point is twofold. First, things change, and that often comes with discomfort, but we usually end up looking back and thinking "man, I can't believe we used to live like that." Picture a future human looking back at us office workers hunched over screens all day, all complaining about how much we hate our jobs. If AI really does take all those jobs, then in the grand scheme of things that could be deemed a good thing.
Second, if you want to ride the wave of AI, you can! Instead of being afraid of its power, why not harness it for yourself and create? Be even more productive than before? That's something I've realised while building this site: outside all the fear you hear in the news, AI mostly seems to have benefited me, even though in an in-person conversation on AI I'd mostly be lamenting it with existential dread. One thing is for sure: I wouldn't have thought to start my own software business before AI, and working for yourself is, I think, the hallmark of self-actualisation for this era of humans.