Change ... and the scary future

Take a second to think about when the iPhone was introduced.

You done thinking?  You have the answer?

Now think about when Twitter and Facebook were launched for the public to use.

You done thinking?  You have the answer?

Don't they all feel like they happened eons ago?

Now, think about your life from before the iPhone and Facebook and Twitter.  From the time you woke up in the morning until you went to bed at night, in the years before iPhone and Facebook.  Are you now struggling to recall what your weekend routines were?

Now, consider that the iPhone dates back to June 2007 (and soon after that the Android phones debuted.)  Both Twitter and Facebook are from 2006.

Now, if you think about all the things that have happened over these fifteen years--from Uber to WhatsApp to Alexa to WhateverTheNewShitIs--if you are like me, you will be shocked at the transformation that has happened in such a short time.  I am willing to put my money down that at no other point in history have societies undergone such dramatic overhaul in such a short period.

And then think about the "developments" that are more than gadgets and our leisure time.  Consider, for instance, CRISPR, which, for all practical purposes, has made designing babies possible.  Drones. 3-D printing.  It is an endless list, which seems to grow by the day second.

So, now, pause to take a deep breath.  Try to predict what the next ten years will bring.

If you are like me, then you would be honest and admit that you have no fucking clue!

Now, think about a ten-year old kid. This kid has always known that there is a shiny gadget that adults all around are constantly looking at, talking to.  Odds are that even this ten-year old kid has a smartphone, which connects the kid to friends, school, and the world itself. 

In a decade from now, this kid will join the labor force, and spend about 45 years working.  How would you prepare that kid for the future?

And then think about the infant that was born today.  Twenty years from now, this infant will join the labor force.  How should the infant's parents plan for this kid's future?

Have you thought about all these?  You thinking?

Now, finally, when was the last time you heard political leaders lay out such scenarios for voters, so that we can all collectively and responsibly plan for the future?  How often do you hear politicians talk about such things?

All I can do is refer people to my blog, and say that I have done my job talking about such things, and blogging about them.  My conscience is clear.  I have even routinely warned students about these trends, much to their displeasure that also leads to unfavorable reviews!  Heck, I have even emailed faculty and administrative colleagues about these.  I asked them to look beyond a mere couple of years.  I suppose they are all relieved and happy that they no longer have to deal with me ;) 

Yuval Noah Harari asks what will our future look like--not in a century but in a mere two decades.

Humans, he warned, “have created such a complicated world that we’re no longer able to make sense of what is happening.”

Exactly!  Harari is too polite, and was also in a public forum, to use the phrase that I will use: We have no fucking clue!

More Harari:

“It’s the first time in history when we’ll have no idea how human society will be like in a couple of decades,” he said.
“We’re in an unprecedented situation in history in the sense that nobody knows what the basics about how the world will look like in 20 or 30 years. Not just the basics of geopolitics but what the job market would look like, what kind of skills people will need, what family structures will look like, what gender relations will look like. This means that for the first time in history we have no idea what to teach in schools.”

Now you are perhaps thinking to yourself that politicians do talk about family structures, gender and gender relations, school curriculum, global geopolitics.  But, when they do, they often seem to scare voters in order to get their votes, right?  When the tRumpy politicians talk about gender relations, it is not because they want to educate voters but only to scare them that men will be in girls' restrooms.  They want to scare coal miners that liberals are taking away their jobs.  They scare voters about critical race theory in schools.  It is a long list of "scary" issues ... 

... when, instead, they should be explaining how much America and the world have changed, and how changes will be coming faster than our individual abilities to understand and adapt.  In a Darwinian sense, those of us who can't adapt will be pushed away, like the coal miners who have not adapted to changes.

In 2022, when the world has never seen such scientific and economic advancement as we are living through, don't we deserve better leaders and leadership who will responsibly think about the future of fellow humans in this country and around the world?