12 Questions About Future

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12 questions about future, article, BBC, future, future of mankind, Magazine

BBC online version has interesting article here: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170328-12-questions-we-need-to-prioritise-in-2017, and below is my summary 🙂

1. HOW CAN WE AVOID RESISTANCE TO ANTIBIOTICS?
2. WHAT CAN WE DO TO CONSERVE WATER — ESPECIALLY IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND URBANISATION?
3. HOW DO WE FIGHT ‘FAKE NEWS’?

This is truly a very interesting question (not that the first two are not important). How do we tell the difference between real reality and the one made for us? Where there is a line between what we believe to be true because of whatever, and what is really true? Populism uses many tools today to make fake news and people believe in them…

4. IN AN INTERCONNECTED WORLD, HOW DO WE FIGHT GLOBAL DISEASE?

5. HOW WILL WE DEAL WITH OVERPOPULATION?

6. HOW WILL THE ERA OF BIG DATA AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SHAPE OUR HEALTH?

7. HOW CAN WE SAFELY USE GENE EDITING TECHNOLOGY IN HUMANS?

8. HOW DO WE MAKE CITIES MORE SUSTAINABLE AND PLEASANT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE ?

9. HOW CAN WE KEEP EXTENDING OUR LIFE EXPECTANCIES?

This one stands out too, especially now. Living longer is one thing, living productively and purposefully is another. I will get back to it below.

10. HOW CAN RAPIDLY DEVELOPING REGIONS GROW EFFECTIVELY?

11. HOW CAN WE BETTER INFORM PEOPLE ABOUT NATURAL DISASTERS?

12. CAR OWNERSHIP CONTINUES TO RISE WORLDWIDE — HOW WILL WE ACCOMMODATE THIS?

And that is the whole list. I am somewhat disappointed that one question is missing:

HOW DO WE GUARANTEE JOBS TO PEOPLE IN AGE OF AUTOMATION?

It ties in with getting older and somewhat touches on car ownership, as this is the first area with such a visible impact where automation is likely to displace millions of jobs within next 20 years or so. Truck drivers, taxis, post office vehicles all have humans behind a wheel. Soon not to be so. Of course many other jobs are in danger, jobs which do not require university diplomas to be executed. What are going to do with those people? Who will keep paying to support ageing population? This for me is one of the most pressing questions where time runs out for an answer… and it did not show up in BBC article.

Popular Demand

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AI, decisions, future, jobs, laws, populism, technology

Today world is full of populist pseudo-leaders using rhetoric people like to hear but offering no real solutions to problems. It is so easy to promise to build a wall, so easy to close borders. It is more difficult to fix the underlying causes of immigration. Politics became a game of thrones – who will get the seat to gain power, wealth, name in history. Reality though does not care, wheel of time moves unaffected by all this noise. There are issues out there not one of the leaders is even mentally ready to fix. World today changes because of technology and capitalism. Income gap is a reality pushing people for change, without really knowing what change they really want. They want different reality. But hey, it will not come by itself.

What needs to be done is not easy, involves tough choices and consequence. A lot of thinking and preparation. Technology threatens to remove a lot of jobs: driver-less cars will kill Uber, taxis, truck drivers and with it all mail or milk or post deliveries. This in itself represents great number of people. Robots replace manual labour. AI removes secretaries or assistants. Capitalism means producing goods cheaper and cheaper to beat competition, but that in assumption that someone is still out there to be able to buy those goods. If technology will remove jobs, who will buy those goods produced at near zero costs? Many of us will get by, but will have not enough to retire in comfort. We are, as humanity, getting older. Who will support us?

This is not to say that capitalism is bad. It drives a lot of inventions, if not all. But we need to come up with an idea how to share that additional value made without being communist about it. We need to divide income in a better way, without giving it away. We need to tackle those issues first. World is so interconnected today, that it moves like water. Rich economies attract poorer ones, as in nature trying to reach balance. We can either leave it to chaos, or try to control it using some measures. It is clear that some will gain without giving, but many more will gain and give, loosing at the same time reasons to emigrate. I don’t know what will work, simple giving money away may not be a solution. But this is what leaders should think about. The rest is just a circus and sometimes we laugh until we cry.

Big Data

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big data, consequences, development, era, future, K. Cukier, revolution, society, V. Mayer-Schönberger

I mentioned already that I am reading “Big Data” by V. Mayer-Schönberger and K. Cukier, now that I finished it, I wanted to share some thoughts.

The book itself should be read by all who have at least minimal interest in what surrounds us, or in direction where we, as humanity or as community, are going. The subject of the book is already reality for all, we cannot stop it anymore, same as we could not stop industrial age or progress in general. As in those previous revolutions, this one – although much quieter – will definitely affect us all, one way or the other. Authors try to present us with most of the good and bad things approach to big data may bring, they even try to present us with some legal frameworks to ensure that this new digital god will not become devil. Only time will tell if they will be right.

One thing is for sure: we, as individuals, will need to change with big data. If we will stop invasion of privacy of a single person, we will need to act in thousands, if not nations. If we will want to get cure for our particular genetic disease, or cancer, we will need to share our data with companies having necessary tools to provide us with cure. Right now, since we all don’t really know (or care) what happens with our “data exhaust”, we just create it merrily going about our lives clutching our smart phones or wearing sensors. The era of big data is already here – only we seem not to heave grasped its consequences yet.

Future Happens All The Time

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climate change, future, future of mankind, glacier meltdown, nature, Petermann Glacier

We are all funny animals – we are being easily distracted. Media today turn our heads and attention every each way they want. There is generally nothing wrong with that, this is why we have media. We should though keep our eyes on important issues and keep other information in perspective.

How do we judge important is, in itself, very important. Is American property market bubble important? Undoubtedly yes. Is a banking crisis important? Or European financial crisis? Of course those are important issues. Is change of the climate on the whole planet important? Yes. Now put it perspective – what is more important, is the planet, of course. Without it everything else does not matter. Now see those images:

In order to get the whole story and see where those images come from, read the article here. Then check this one out:

This drawing comes from here. I wonder where this line is going to be in 2012…

What those articles definitely say is that climate on Earth changes. It is not really relevant if it changes because of our actions, or if it changes because it is supposed to, because of nature cycle or whatever. Indisputable fact is, that it really does change. This is the big event, happening all the time, which will definitely dramatically affect our lives. It actually already does – just ask those poor people in Bangkok. Put it in perspective and realize how small things such as banking crisis or European financial meltdown really are. The future – the future of mankind – is happening now, while we are busy counting euros.