Are we really living in the best era? I think this is factual and not just a matter of perspective. Let’s be honest, we are just at the beginning of a new era, seeing the beginning of the advancement of AI technology. Let’s briefly look back at the last three eras and judge them based on what truly made the difference. Looking at the Industrial Era (1760s - 1900s), the Information / Digital Era (1900s - 2020s) and the Artificial Intelligence Era (2020s - Present). All these Era have different things that made them stand out, and as you can see they can even last for over a century which tells you that what you see now is only the beginning of something great, this might take another century to fully develop and we are yet to see the best of it. Our generation might not even live to witness the best of this Era so we can’t even begin to phantom everything the future holds for us. When we look at economic growth, quality of life, job opportunities, security, human freedom, family / society values, and access to technology. We will be able to clearly see which era offered humanity the best.
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The industrial era saw the discovery of industries and mineral resources, for most African countries this was doom as the discovery lead to exposure and later lead to the advancement of slave trades and the colonization of African nations. This Era also saw a lot of revolution and independence which led to stability in economic development. The ordinary citizens were safe in the latter part of this era and there was peace for a while even though it was hard fought. Nigeria for example had a really stable economy, but even in that peace there was restriction in our fundamental human rights. The military rule made it difficult for a lot of countries, especially in Africa. There were a lot of coup, and power was unstable. It also led to an autocratic system of government which still exists in some African countries and this was where the Information / digital era met the industrial era.
The information and digital era saw the rise of the internet, mobile phones, global communication and social media, but it made the issues the industrial era had to be worse. It brought rise to internet fraud, corruption in government, fake news but most of all, destabilization in our economy. People saw smarter ways to do things and used them for evil 90% of the time especially in government and this affected our economy. In Nigeria, a lot of things became better. The industrial era brought about education in the latter part, and the Information Era made it better. But this came at a cost, they had lots of information through education, but very little jobs for the educated due to corruption. Now the AI era has come, it seems like it would open more doors, but we also know that with a lot of doors open, we can’t tell how much damage it will also cause. But at least one of the problems the past eras had would be fixed in this era, for peace however, no one can really guarantee.
THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S
PROMPT FOR WEEK 217 EPISODE 2
