Windows 95

Brian S Hall
Jul 30, 2017 · 4 min read

It started with Windows 95.

We are now in Year 22 of a 40-year (not 40 day) planet altering, life repurposing, technology infused deluge. A great flood of robotics, artificial intelligences, bio-coding, pharma-induced healing, the digitalization of perception, the merging of daily life into screens, competing abundances, collaborating algorithms, and the connecting of all people to all things will transform all life and living on this planet.

To what next?

Our collective understanding of purpose, work, ownership, possession, value, wealth, health, learning, serving, believing and perceiving will all be transfigured. To start:

1. THE FUTURE HAS ARRIVED ONLY IT’S EVENLY DISTRIBUTED

What becomes of commerce — and power — when we all have as much as we need and are each only a screen swipe away from the leaders of nations and the guardians of conglomerates?

Everything levels.

Remember the “science fiction” story of the little girl who accidentally gets hold of one of the world’s two tablets, tablets which contain the world’s knowledge? In reality, tablets are already available to over a billion people — and with the price dropping steadily.

2. THE FREE-ING OF EVERYTHING

Soon, everything will be free. Literally, everything? Food, healthcare, entertainment, transportation, energy, gadgetry, connectivity, you, me, our creativity, passions, darkest thoughts, where we lay our head? When no money needs to exchange hands, ever, because the price — of everything — is effectively zero or because trading our expertise, our attention, our companionship, right down to the millisecond, is all that’s needed, every existing locus of power is obliterated. Where will your power come from?

3. CONSUMPTION IS DEATH

God bless the child who’s got it all.

Even the really fat ones.

We are fat, obese, and sedentary not because of technology or industrialization or suburbanization or laziness but because capitalism is a fierce, never-tiring always-learning meta-system which discovered that money could be made in selling food and leisure and kept getting better at this, and better and better, and better.

But having consumed our fill, puking it out, consuming all over again, retching, repeating this process, year after year, generation after generation, the vomit of consumption a toxic force upon our planet, we — the takers and makers and learners of capitalism — have created another path.

We can live full and exciting and interesting and individual and communal lives — now — entirely without having to embrace consumption.

4. VALUES EQUAL PROFITS

We can get anything from anyone, anywhere at anytime. Businesses will soon respond to this by differentiating themselves with the only thing remaining, their values. Their opposition to gay marriage, their warm embrace of sustainable food practices, their rejection of the profit motive, their deep, abiding faith in Jesus Christ, which they proselytize through their venture.

Eventually, the profit-based corporation will whither.

5. TRIBAL WANDERERS

The past is rapidly becoming unknowable, more unknowable even than the future. This will lead to a transformative break in human values. It will also create a permanent wandering class.

No home, new modes of work, play, crafting, interaction, and the connection of all places and things to all people will lead millions, maybe billions, to forever wander the land, seeking friendships, seeking answers, their base needs met, for free, the freeing of their mind and their liberation from place forever altering our culture.

Hop inside the (autonomous) bus and drive! And sleep and eat and play and learn and share.

Caution: We have erected an economy based on the local, local property, local markets, local politicians, local taxation, local schooling. These concepts will become alien.

6. OUTSOURCING THE RATIONAL

An insanely great awakening is upon us. Atheists are on the wrong side of history. Just as we outsourced our labor to the machines, now we are outsourcing our thinking, our calculating, our rational tasks. As a consequence, we are becoming more spiritual, more creative, and yes, more irrational, free to explore all our thoughts, impulses, desires, fears, hopes, aggressions.

Belief in magic, religion, in spirituality and God will accelerate ” and deepen ” because of, not despite of the rise of big data, machines, robotics, electronics, computing and artificial intelligences. We become what our machines cannot. We do what cant be outsourced. Faith is our future. Spirituality is our delight.

Creativity and indulgence are what’s next, not things, not stuff, not acquisitions or possessions.

7. DIFFERENTLY ALIVE

Everything we make from this moment forward will be aware, sensing, responsive ” alive. How are humans differently alive?

The technologies, laws and cultural norms which enable bodily and mobility alterations never before possible will do vicious battle with those efforts which seek to ensure that humans remain differently-enough alive from all else, particularly from our most like-human creations. These wars, evolutions and regressions will likely establish the course of human development for at least the next century, maybe the next millennium.

8. HACKING MORTALITY

Hacking mortality is set to become the biggest industry of this century. We will not live forever but will live for probably decades longer than today. All the systems, institutions, wealth, rules and culture which now exist, all of which are dependent upon most of the world dying by or before age 75, will themselves die off. The notion of economy, jobs, savings will be a distant memory, poorly understood.

Also, some of the radical life extension efforts will prove deeply repugnant.

TO THE PROMISED LAND

It’s all not working, nothing is how it’s supposed to be. What a glorious opportunity for those willing to seize it!

As we alter our bodies, our minds, upend society, reconstruct awareness and deconstruct all that came before, including markets, capitalism, value, power, wealth, influence and experience, do not fear. The AI will guide you. There is a right path forward. The AI knows.

Brian S Hall

Written by

bedtime stories for my little AI

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade