
AI, Robots & Hyperloops — What Are We Even After?
At the click of a button I can summon a car to pick me up, order my favorite food or buy a TV. If I wanted to, I could survive without ever leaving my apartment. Sure, I might go crazy, but it could be done. A mere 100 years ago, the necessities we enjoy today would have been considered miracles.
Imagine if someone from the 1900s learned about our ability to send instantaneous messages or they found out we could travel cross-country in just 6 hours. They would surely think … “what do you do all day? “ or “You must have so much leisure time.”
But we don’t, somehow we’re busier than ever. Isn’t that odd?
We’re more efficient than we’ve ever been but we still don’t have enough time.
I recently finished Yuval Noah Harari’s bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. As he begins to dig into the agricultural revolution, something struck me that is still true in today’s world. The agricultural revolution was intended to make life easier; create a surplus to cut down your hunting and gathering time. It’s simple really — becoming efficient gives you time for other things.
Oddly enough, it had the complete opposite effect.
While this revolution enabled humans to grow more food per unit area, the overall population multiplied exponentially. To solve the burgeoning food demands, people had more children who would grow up to keep the food growing. This kicked off a cycle that continues to this very day. While these advancements ultimately made our lives easier, the new industries required new workforces to keep them afloat.
This kicked off a cycle that continues to this very day.
Advancements in “efficiencies” have given us more time but we’ve become really good at filling that extra time. Take airplanes for example. We now have the ability to travel across the US in just 6 hours. Gone are the days when we’d forge the Oregon Trail, having only a 50/50 shot at even making it to the West coast alive, and if we did make the journey, it would take months.
This doesn’t mean when we now arrive in San Francisco, sit there for months and just hang out because that’s how long it used to take us. No, we find new things to do with that newly found time; build new technologies, make our lives more efficient. But as we build the next wave of technology, we need more people to help run and support our new found luxuries. This leads to population growth and larger workforces to keep them going.
No, we find new things to do with that newly found time; build new technologies, make our lives more efficient.
As we progress through our current technological revolution, it’s hard to go a few days without hearing of advancements in artificial intelligence, the good and the bad. A common fear is that robots are on the verge of taking over the world.
Some think we’re fast approaching a day when we will have created sophisticated enough technology to run the world. At which point we can all put our feet up and we’ll never have to lift a finger again. We’ll be able to say, “we did it, we’ve arrived.”
However, if history continues to repeat itself, this prediction won’t hold true. In fact, the opposite will happen. The more advancements we create, the busier we will become. The more we create, the busier we stay.
If this is true it begs the question, if we’re creating technology to save us time, but history has proven more technology equals less time— then aren’t we chasing the wrong thing?
Let’s get back to what makes us human. I see we are not just our capacity to reason, work and survive, but also our capacity to imagine. Seeing beyond what we can solve and do better brings us deeper into what we create and brings us a glimpse of what this is all for. Maybe time isn’t the enemy after all.
Until next time,
Nate
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