Thoughts about the future — part 1
16 years ago, I was wondering about the future. I started thinking about different scenarios, and how our society and each of us might end up in each of these cases.
While doing so, I realized that some scenarios have very reasonable pathways towards them from where we are now, while others don’t.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that some of the unlikely pathways were actually impossible; and that some of the very likely ones were inevitable.
I started to realize that the future is not some random reality that happens to us, but one that is created by the choices we collectively make; and that the way we make our choices is not arbitrary, but can be predicted.
After testing these circumstances on some issues I cared about — among them education, electric cars, the internet, gamification, medicine and others — I realized that I was able to systematically increase my predictive accuracy by training myself in a certain way of thinking.
In lack of a better word, I called it the wisdom method: I was able to predict aspects of the future because new options became available which would always lead to better outcomes for everyone. In other words: they are the best options for humanity. Whenever a better option becomes possible, an inconsistency is created: we think and behave in a way that is less efficiency for all of us than a possible alternative. These inconsistencies cannot last, because over time humans gravitate to the option that’s best for them. The future is simply a reality in that the inconsistency has been removed.
This means that by cultivating our ability to identify the best possible option, we can predict the future, because over time humans tend to do what’s best for them.
It turned out to be a lot of fun. It was fun to predict that everything in our lives will get gamified; that education will move online; and my new-found predictive ability was very helpful in my role as a biotech entrepreneur in cancer diagnostics.
But I wanted to take it one step further. What if we could apply the wisdom method not just to specific fields like education, personal life and cancer, but to… everything? Wouldn’t it be nice to know how the future as a whole will look like?
How the human universe will evolve on the most fundamental level?
I began to work on this project and after a long time was able to bring it to a first preliminary finish.
The results have changed my perception of everything.
By thinking about our best available options and going through a large set of scenarios, mechanisms and possible designs of reality, I came to a conclusion that was truly unexpected. A conclusion that is beyond breathtaking.
I can’t explain this conclusion in one word or sentence. Instead, I will try to lay it out in a series of Log Entries. Each Log Entry adds one component to the bigger picture: a comprehensive model of the human future.
I think the best approach to these Log Entries for you is to view them as science fiction. That way, you won’t let your set of assumptions get into the way.
If you remain skeptical in the end, you will have had an interesting fictional experience and can return to your everyday life.
And if not?
Then you can join the pioneers.
Go to next part (2)
