Future as ever remains unpredictable. In words of Peter Thiel, in today's world "all prophets are false prophets". Let the thought sink in. There's a massive industrialization going on. Entire streams have been automated and there had been calls and referendums for Basic Income. People are legitimately scared about
- Work getting automated to an extent that they will be left of no use.
- Will be stuck in unwanted jobs.
- Won't be able to add any real value to the world
Let's talk about Basic Income
Idea of Basic Income, although humane is flawed. Distributing money like that will serve as running a perpetual welfare state. That money has to come from somewhere. It will either
- Be printed
- Taken as taxes from workers
Both the situations will lead to economic hazards in the long run. People do not have a fixed lifestyle and expenses. A new iPhone, or a gadget, a car, a medicine will simply dry out any country who is not producing anything of value in return. Their currency will simply be worthless in a short time if their economic engine is not churning out goods which other countries are interested in buying.
People are wrong, world is improving
People are afraid of future. And that's a flaw and crux of the problem. World has been getting better over last centuries, decades and years at an unprecedented pace. Poverty rates have tanked, literacy rison. Infant mortality has sunk, average life span has increased. This is a worldwide trend. And is getting faster. Only the people with dubious political interests try to oppose this progress. They talk about need of big government as job creator, defunding research. All those reasons are political tools to gain power at the expense of long term harm towards the people.
Some changes on the horizon
If you are on this site, you may already noticing the rapid change all around us. There are entire countries running on solar power. Price of oil has been tanking. Ozone layer is healing. Some upcoming technologies can give us an idea of what's coming
- SpaceX is making rapid strides in space travel and pushing all boundaries forward. There are infinite amount of resources in space and we haven't even considered them. Technological progress, challenges and opportunities here are unparalleled. Companies like Planetary Resources will be big winners. This is also a time for political change. Space has by far remained peaceful and left for entire mankind. But when for-profit private enterprises will be operating in this domain, that understanding can come to a challenge
- Google (23andMe, Calico) are investing heavily in biomedicine, devices and science. We are heading into a completely uncharted territory. We can predict early on chances of getting certain diseases. And targeting beating old age and death itself. Challenge here is once again political and social in nature. There's a real danger that these gains would get limited to certain faction of society based on their economic reach. There are already calls to avoid such a scenario.
- Facebook and other tech giants (IBM Watson) are investing heavily in Artificial Intelligence and corresponding research. Need recommendations for medicine, learn a new technique or art. Forecasts for sales to act of war. All seems possible. Entire cities turned into smart cities. Utilizing less energy but being more productive, social and better integrated with nature.
The danger
The danger to a bright and illustrious future lies in our own weakness of fear, greed and ignorance. If we elect leaders who push us into another war for pushing forward their own agenda, to gain power or settle scores. All will be lost. Ultimately, we will pay for our sins.
References
- World Poverty Rate Plummets - https://www.aei.org/publication/world-poverty-rate-plummets/
- How global poverty rates have halved since 1981 - https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/how-global-poverty-rates-have-halved-since-1981/
- Calico - https://www.calicolabs.com/
- Who Owns the Moon? | Space Law & Outer Space Treaties - http://www.space.com/33440-space-law.html