The Irony

The biggest irony is that humans chase the future they fear or regret.

It’s like couples jumping together in a pool holding hands where one person doesn’t want to, while the other is unnecessarily euphoric about it. I am sure you’ve met that person, who is ever so excited about the silliest of things.

You could take that metaphor and apply it to groups. This world is split into two groups, for simplicity. One who does not prefer fast-evolving and culture-changing technologies. This group is like the first person from the couple’s metaphor who doesn’t like jumping in the pool. This group is just trying to catch up with all the advancements. The other group is that can easily adapt and also makes it happen. This group is like the person who is euphoric about the change, someone with an unexplained energy, enthusiasm, and madness to be loving the idea of jumping in the pool.

Chasing The Future We Don’t Comprehend

Humans are chasing what we fear or something we don’t comprehend fully. This thought came to my mind when I was pondering about the recent and fast-paced AI advancements and trends. But it’s not recent, we’ve always been chasing the future that some of us fear, regret or keep catching up with.

The group that fears is generally opposed to change, they are naturally conservative. We need this group to ensure the rate of change is slow. The group that regrets, is the one who initially loved the idea and now can’t believe they have to adjust to a new reality.

The third group is the one catching up, those who have to change, not because they want to change. But it’s because the world around them has changed. The institutions in the state have accepted the new norms. If this group wants to survive or continue earning the fundamental necessities of life, they have to keep up with the technology.

Humans are complex individuals and the complexity of group dynamics is at the next level. Thinking about current advancement, it feels like someone in this group of humans is out of control and the world has no control anymore on what’s happening.

Being Primitive

I will tell you a story.

When I was 14, I learned about computers, I started practicing programming. But I was also living in a religious and spiritual household. Technology was evolving, India just liberalised. I am talking about the 1990s in India. My father purchased new computing devices, a new mobile phone which wasn’t smart, compared to today’s standard. Birth of the internet, cyber cafes, the first email addresses, chat rooms, and yahoo messengers. My first email was jordan _ mic [at] altavisa.com, talking about embarrassing first emails. I could observe the evolution of technology. I reasoned about it with my spiritual lens. I could see that a simple, purposeful, and meaningful life was probably never dependent on technology.

I pondered about this question. I asked my parents whether humans weren’t happy wearing leaves on our bodies, or nothing at all, living in the jungle. Who decided that we should upgrade our lifestyles with better tools? Who amongst us chose to build that first wheel? Who amongst us decided that the world might be better off living in a hut rather than a cave? Is technology a blessing or a curse? I don’t remember if they had an answer, I am sure there was a decent answer offered and satisfied me, or probably not. I was 14, I remember my thoughts, but don’t remember the answers.

But do we have answers? Is there an answer to this question? Did Yuval Noah Harari write about it in Sapiens? or maybe addressed it in Homo Deus? There is no direct answer, but may be an indirect one.

Blame Evolution

The indirect answer is the architecture of evolution. No one person is in charge. But everyone is impacted because of that one person and no one could guess who that person could be.

Survival of the fittest – is a biological evolution. Special case of that is a technological evolution – where it’s about the survival of the fittest idea.

There are types of individuals in society – who are trying to make their lives easier, not others to start with. Humans tend to optimise their operations. If you have been doing something repeatedly, and think of a better way to do it, you will do it.

Others will see you do it, and they will naturally follow.

This simple human tendency of optimising their operations. The tendency to make a small improvement spirals into global cultural and technological changes. Could you ever imagine, how the biggest changes in the world would be caused by simplest of reasons? I don’t think there is nothing more to it and for now I have no other thoughts on it. I will leave it there.

The Closure

That’s the answer to my question. So you could stop reading. I feel like I am satisfied with my answer. This was the reason why I started writing after all. To think about questions that I find interesting. Writing is the best way to think for me. There are other forms of thinking, but long-form writing seems to record your trail of thought.

The debate about chasing our future, if it ever was a debate, has kicked off again.

Every so many years, there are leaps in technologies and it propels humans into changing how they operate. How every layer of society functions. How money operates, how businesses work, how families live, everything.

So AI has kicked off this debate again. Is AI development good for society? It’s probably a thought to be explored in another post.

The bigger debate is – a small proportion of the world is catching up with the advancements, while the other group is part of pushing that envelope and making those advancements happen.

Which side am I on? I can’t answer that. I’d like to be on the side of that individual who looks at what can be made better and what system can be changed. Ask what tool can be invented, that makes my life easier. If other’s follow – that’s evolution following it’s natural course. The survival of the fittest idea.