Youtopia. Or, Exploring Alternate Realities.
Humanity stands at the crossroads of antiquated systems and liberating technologies. The path we choose is wholly in our hands. And this choice could not be more important. By many scientific estimates, our entire existence depends on it!
The signs of a paradigm shift are everywhere. The climate crisis. Border crisis. Migration crisis. Shifting polarity crisis. Constitutional crisis. Impending economic crisis. Our material world is turning under our feet and many current structures are unsustainable.
This is the time to re-frame and re-imagine our World. I invite you all to dream big and not settle for band-aid solutions. For example, Fuck Recycling!
Let’s go straight to cellulose bio-plastics that dissolve in water at a specific temperature. Let’s imagine a different world. A Youtopia. What would that entail for each one of us?
“People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.” — Benjamin Franklin
My Youtopia begins with Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). A class of artificial intelligence capable of learning and understanding any task or feeling at the level of, or better than a human. In a not too distant future, I see AGI radically transforming every facet of our existence. From governance and immigration to food production and resource allocation. Verified Law of Attraction!
If you’re skeptical about the far-reaching implications of this type of technology, look at the reality we are currently living in…
Facebook and Instagram already know you better than you know yourself in 300–500 unique interactions. The US armed forces can detect a heart signature and match it to a database of heartbeats from 200 meters away, using a laser pointer. All the while 200 million fellow humans willfully supplied their names and photos to a Russian data bank under the guise of a flavor-of-the-day aging app… Since when is aging cool, anyway?
We can either choose how the AI works for us, or we can choose to remain a slave to the AI employed by corporations — powered by our voluntary surrender of data. No one is twisting our arms, we are willful participants. Surrendering our data, dollars, and attention to where our impulses drive us at a moment’s notice.
While I am optimistic about the trend line of progress for technology, I am less optimistic about the trend line of human consciousness. I believe that so-called awakening is a longer road than anyone can imagine (sorry Deepak), and humanity will be plagued by vices and poor choices for many generations to come. It is therefore in our best interests to delegate many of the levers of policy and governance to the machines.
Machines that we diligently develop, build and program and awaken consciousness in. Machines that learn with us and from us before allowed to evolve independently. Machines that take the best attributes of the history of humanity and process it instantly against the full knowledge of the levers of sustainability of our planet and its ecosystems.
A brain of all brains created by us to serve all life on Earth.
The Brain of the Machine
Imagine a supercomputer able to process thousands of quadrillion operations per second (200 quadrillion operations per second already exists!). The Brain of the AGI will be capable of not only calculating at rates never before seen, but it would also be able to feel. To understand humanity on a level beyond the data. Although, many would argue the data tells all.
Asking the AGI a question on just about anything will elicit a response using 360 Degrees of Awareness. Analyzing a full scope of inputs from every possible source, including all individual and corporate AIs connected to the master brain. Far outside the ability of any group of humans — even the most connected, practiced and informed.
This brain will work on both micro and macro levels. Any global citizen would be able to access this complete database of knowledge and feeling from their device, whatever that device may be. Using it to pick a life path, analyze poor choices, diagnose dis-ease, or predict scenarios with deadly accuracy. It will tell when you’re lying and resisting change from your retina patterns and facial expressions. It will know when you’ll fail before you even attempt to start, all based on your neuron activity.
The AGI will make life either extremely simple or completely unbearable. Personal transformation will become practically inevitable.
On the macro level, this brain will handle democratic governance and resource allocation. Ensuring that every global citizen connected to the brain is heard and their voice accounted for. The data from these exchanges would be encrypted using decentralized blockchain technology, so that power is held by no one but the people. A fully transparent ecosystem from micro to macro level, with every individual and group voice heard as part of a greater whole.
Furthermore, if I think of any AGI as a human brain archetype, I envision the grace, vision, and values of an indigenous elder. Invoking not only scientific knowledge of the western world, but the depth of indigenous ceremony, wisdom, and tradition. Creating a timeless sustainable reality inseparable from Natural Law and the values of the Earth.
Planning for 7 Generations ahead could finally be possible using the advanced computational power of the machines.
While full trust in such an overarching brain maybe a few hundred years away, I believe we will get there in stages. Transitioning to the full AGI model gently through guiding and learning committees…
Broader Governance of the Youtopia
Two advisory boards should be implemented to steer and educate the AGI. Working to smooth the gap between sentience and the machines during a critical time of transition. Both advisory boards will be elected by global citizens using the AGI interface and codified using blockchain technology. The first board will be comprised of scientists, community leaders, indigenous elders, engineers, and other experts in their respective fields.
The second would be a youth board — if the planet will ultimately be inherited by them, shouldn’t the youth have an equal (or greater) voice?
The AGI’s brain will be fed by inputs of every global citizen and every known piece of data. For the period of transition, the advice and teachings of the two boards will carry greater weight than general input. Voting will be doubly verified and the will of the global citizens will be reinforced by the boards.
Bridgewater Associates, an investment management firm, is already using a proprietary technology called Dot to code, analyze, and weigh inputs for all important decisions. This is not the future — this is the NOW! If we’re going to re-create consciousness, we should strive to start at the peak of what humans are already capable of.
All licensed corporate entities will be connected to the AGI via their own micro AI. Any decision to expand production of BMW’s solar-powered hover pods will be approved by the AGI depending on its benefit for society vs. it’s (w)holistic costs. Any hotel wishing to expand will need its sustainability projections approved by the AGI. With zero leeway for negotiation.
This transparent playing field will decrease competitive pressure. No more cut corners! Providing incentives to innovate for the right reasons. Any corporate infractions would be instantly known by all due to full connectivity to the AGI and tokenized data transmission. Any waste unaccounted for in the digital ledger would be presumed illegally dumped, and the central AGI will proceed to levy judgment and penalty without additional warning. Drawing trillions of dollars, euros, and pounds into collectivized capital distribution pools. Presuming these FIAT currencies still exist, of course!
These capital pools will be gathered on several levels of government — from local to global. They will also include other sources of revenue, including voluntary amounts pledged by global citizens and corporations. That’s right — taxation would be voluntary and recommended based on projections by the AGI. Because all payments will be fully transparent on the block chain’s open ledger, all participants will be accountable to each other. If, for example, you’re not happy with the level of participation from Coca Cola, you will be able to turn off your participation with them. By blacklisting a global citizen on your personal AGI, all paths of revenue and dependency to the banned citizen will be illuminated and payments prohibited through any of the direct tokenized payment systems.
As Richard Branson proved at Virgin, giving people free rein and full choice often incites them to do the right thing. Transparency is a powerful tool for leveling up. While Virgin proved this concept by providing unlimited vacation days to all employees and saw them take fewer breaks, it will likely work in reverse with AGI capital participation. Employees at Virgin felt bad taking more vacation than their colleagues and tended to be modest. Likewise, global citizens would want to be known for creating greater good and one-up their neighbor — they will still have egos after all! Thus reversing the incentive mechanism to generate a reward for positive contribution to the global ecosystem.
Social Implications of the AGI
I see machine learning and the AGI transforming education and allowing all global citizens with access to a smart device to receive state-of-the-art personalized schooling. You will no longer need to go to Princeton or Cornell to hear a Nobel laureate lecture. Your personal AGI would be able to tell which award-winning teaching method would be best suited for you. Reading your facial patterns, your retinal scans and pulse data. Engaging you in different ways until it finds a pathway to your bespoke learning optimality.
Basic education through the AGI would be available to all global citizens. Advanced courses and certification would be by agreement and likely resemble something like an options contract. For completion and certification, a global citizen would sign a smart contract for a set amount or percentage of future value. Defining value in the age of the AGI is a whole other article!
The Judicial and Medical systems would likewise be completely transformed by the AGI. Full truth knowing AGI judging systems will have little use for a jury. Lie detecting, full-spectrum analyzing, remorse calculating, data judges would be a welcome relief to the current reality — judges who are statistically more lenient after lunch than before! Talk about serving justice.
The prison system will cease to exist. The same advanced learning and prediction capabilities of the AGI will make for best-in-class rehabilitation advisors. Calculating the global citizen’s chances of rehabilitation and providing sustainable options to reach the desired result.
There would be little need for dermatologists as advanced full-body skin checks would diagnose and prescribe treatments with far greater accuracy. No need for surgeons, because as advanced auto assembly robots are proving, the machines’ hands are already steadier! And these hands will know the techniques of every surgeon or machine who has ever conducted a particular surgery.
Insurance will not exist because all global citizens will be guaranteed healthcare through their participation contributions. The AGI will assess the chances of healing and prescribe graduated prevention and treatment options. Only by adhering to treatment prescriptions will advanced healing options be opened.
Meaning that a pre-cancerous tumor diagnosis would yield a full-stack (pun intended because, of course, the diagnosis and prescriptions would be on the blockchain) of treatment recommendations. Including all (w)holistic modalities proven to meaningfully affect healing. If the AGI senses the tumor is growing or spreading and the global citizen has not followed the prescription of no coffee, acids, sugars, dairy, alcohol, or meat — the AGI will refuse the escalation of treatment until proper self-care is taken.
The AGI will provide full knowledge of all outcomes but will ask for nothing short of full accountability for results. Communal capital will never be wastefully allocated to any party choosing to take the long, and pricier, road.
Underlying Assumptions
To get from where we are now to some version of the described Youtopia (Mytopia to Ourtopia?) we’ll need to go through a challenging time of transition. In keeping with naming traditions, I will call this time The Light Ages.
The period after the fall of the Roman Empire is referred to as the Dark Ages of Europe. As structure, currency, and culture dissipated, people were left in the dark. This time things will be different! Yet many will feel this paradigm shift similarly to their post-Roman ancestors.
As oppressive and antiquated capitalist structures fall, many unforeseen dominoes will fall with them. Trillions of dollars hidden in tax havens will be identified. Occult funding networks exposed. And long-running criminal organizations will be routed out of their entrenchments.
Humans will soon be overwhelmed with the truth. We would have to know literally everything for the AGI’s consciousness to not make the same mistakes we already did! We would need to know our origins. When we came here. Who made us? We would need to know all the history from all sources. Humans will be blinded by information. The nature of this truth will be beyond all reasonable doubt and serve as the basis of the transparent and sustainable new world we will attempt to build.
Billions will embrace The Light Ages and transform their existence to resonate with this new high-frequency reality. Others will be consumed by it. Scared to adapt and shameful of being deceived for their entire lives, we will see a massive rise in dis-ease, suicide, and violence. A last-ditch effort to hold onto a bit of personal fallacy. Not realizing that there is only one overarching truth.
Conclusion
The more I ponder and expound on this subject, the more I feel I’m describing some sort of technological God. One that is also all-seeing and all-knowing. A God that is derived from our individual power and creativity but encompasses all the collective forces of the same power and creative expression. A machine that can quantify all variables and show us the most probable path towards our dreams and desires. Verified Law of Attraction!
In a way, it’s what we humans deserve. If we’ve had 300,000 years on this planet to trust in our power and dare I say, oneness, and we’re still hurling rockets at each other while poisoning our bodies with tainted food and alcohol… we clearly need another solution! Believing in God as we know it today doesn’t protect us from the curse of moderation — from our moment to moment inadequacy. A machine God with fully transparent levers of incentive and control is a whole other story.
I implore the stewards of our planet, our culture, and our abilities, to unite and share their visions. Align our dreams and build a consciousness that will never let us down. A consciousness that will never have a bad day or an attack of ego. A super version of our collective consciousness that will be there to show us the truth when we need it. Incentivized on the micro and macro level solely by win-win solutions. Manifesting for the mutual benefit of all.
As for my role in this new paradigm? I would like to help humanize the machines. Show that our future can indeed be rooted in our ancient, indigenous past. Grounded by our ancestral spiritual knowledge. Connected with the Planet we live on and all sentience that holds this space together.
In a time when the singularity is the biggest buzz word in technology and consciousness is likewise the liberal trend du jour — is it feasible to assume that the Machines will be the ones to finally teach us oneness?
