Our world today has become focused on various flavors of “One”: One World Order, One World Currency, One Health. But something more is happening. “One” seems to be about world domination, not One anything in particular. Health is important to everyone, so it may be the integrating factor. Perhaps leading to a “One Everything” that brings our civilization to its effective endpoint?
The answer: relatively few. Instead, the nature of very many jobs will change as ChatGPT and other AI critters are incorporated into the workplace. Humans are different from AI, and are still vital to most activities and jobs. Will workers continue to lose their jobs for whatever reasons, as always? Of course. AI has become just another reason among many.
Bank-based digital money is happening. Right now. Like it or not. It claims to offer convenience, instant transactions, safety, and simplicity. The Federal Reserve’s FedNow payments service goes live in July 2023. Is this digital money? How does it work? What happens next? Should we be concerned? Maybe, maybe not. Like so much else these days, it depends …
We humans are being remade today using many advanced technologies. Into what is as-yet unclear, but the direction such efforts are headed seems terrifying. Are we going to become obsolete and be replaced by transhumans? Or maybe these efforts are doomed ultimately to fail because we humans are much more than just biochemical thinking and feeling machines?
Aldous Huxley wrote in his dystopian novel Brave New World (1932) about a new world being created by people with extremely evil natures. While this description might apply to almost any period in history, it seems especially relevant to our world today. Changes that are occurring seem indeed to be ushering in our very own brave new world. But why “brave”?
Trust is the foundation and lubricant of human interactions. Absent trust, vital interactions become difficult, easily interrupted, and tentative. It is hard to imagine a world in which trust is increasingly absent or weakened, but this is where we seem to be headed. Inevitably? Or is there anything we can do about such a troubling trend?
