My previous 4 posts are all about a more or less distant future but are not science fiction. They all point to a very different society than we have today. Very different. All these things are already in the labs or even implemented in many cases. Nothing special really. I didn’t mention the fast growing field of Genetic engineering and related DNA technology. I am no expert but I compare it with nanotech in this perspective of “heaven or hell”. Huge possibilities that also can go wrong. This TED-talk video Juan Enriquez: Beyond the crisis, mindboggling science and the arrival of Homo evolutis gives an idea. The whole video is worth looking at but this part comes about 8 minutes from start.
It is not the technologies themselves that form our future. We are!
Let’s look at the two future scenarios based on my four previous posts. 
Heaven in short: We will get super powers from a mix of IT, nanotech, genetic engineering and other technology miracles. We will emerge to creatures never seen before. With all sorts of built in and wearable devices we will be smarter than ever, with senses we never experienced before. We will have humanoids serving us with all the practical things we can think of. Maybe they will even be smarter than us but the real intellectual power is in the supercomputing network that both humans and robots are connected to. Before and even after we have reached the singularity point, the mix between humans and computers (and robots) is the best option. Everything is not just logic… Almost as today but the computer advise will be more and more useful to us. Intelligent devices will become increasingly integrated with us and our bodies. They will be as natural as the clothes we wear. We can send humanoids to work and we can assist them if needed. We will see completely new objects never seen before built from nanotech. We will cure most diseases. We will live very very long and be able to develop in every way that we like. If we can sort out how the new structures in society will look like, economy, politics, legal systems and so on, we live in a paradise-like utopia.
Here is another scenario based on the same technologies.
Hell, a town in Norway
Hell in short: A limited number of people are controlling the world with the help of information technology and with robots doing the dirty job for them. They will have absolute and total control of all of us. Even our thinking is possible to track and of course everything else that we are doing. The super powers will only be accessible for the persons who took control. The use humanoids and other robots in combination with ICT to control the rest of the people. The term free is a forgotten concept. Democracy is history. A world based on fear and control. Sounds like a famous movie to me. We have already seen the “fear and control” concept at nation level in some countries. In the future it can be a global scenario.
How many want the first one? Let me guess 99.99% or something like that. It is not 100%, you can be sure of that. For our children’s sake I hope 99.99% is enough to hinder the “Hell scenario”. In future posts I will come back to and speculate about the social, political, and economical implications of a the first scenario. How can they look like and how can it be changed from the current systems?
How can we avoid the “Hell” scenario?
Both scenarios are global scenarios. It demands a global communication instrument in order to be fought back the “Hell” scenario by the 99.99 % people. There are of course many scenarios in between but let us stick to the end points.
The power of free speech, free opinions and democracy is IMO very well proven but only combined with mainly non corrupted legal and political systems. There is also a need for people with a certain level of knowledge (education). We need to have a base for free communication with each other.
The most powerful communication instrument today is Internet. Social networking has grown with an amazing pace. We are social creatures. Information and knowledge sharing, Social networking and Internet “wisdom of crowds”, or whatever you call it, is maybe the way out for the future. All together it can be a very strong weapon. Use it before it will be turned off!
The free Internet will be and is already attacked by people and organisations with obscure purposes and hidden agendas.
I am convinced that the only reason that Internet is free and open today is that most politicians and organisations never understood what was going on until it was too late to stop…
How can I accuse political and other organisations to take this position?
Do you remember who were the first to be blocked out from Wikipedia? The first Wikipedia vandals. Until Feb 2006 the White House administration went in and changed facts that they didn’t like. Over and over again when it was changed back. Finally they were blocked and abandoned from updating. Link.
Nothing to be surprised by. It was not illegal and powerful organisations always try to maintain and expand its power. It’s natural…
Not long ago UK politicians were accused of Wikipedia vandalism. Link.
Finally, this report just a few days ago give us a picture of the current situation: Internet monitored and controlled, even in democracies
Social networking will form much of our future. A free Internet is the key to a free world. Whatever magical technologies we ever will come up with the outcome is what we will do with it . Our society is not technology – it is people – it is us. Let’s make this clear, to ourselves and everyone else.
What really matters. Free Internet –> creates Social relationship and communication. That is what form our society.
Don’t let obscure purposes and hidden agendas make us take a direction we can not turn back from!
Of course a free Internet with free speech is not enough as mentioned above but it is a good start!
There are many other trends and threats that are kept out from this analysis. Climate changes, weapons of mass destruction and new hazardous chemical and biological substances are some of the threats that we are facing and have to solve but they are not so much “Heaven or Hell”.
Next time for my experiment.
Please vote which of my previous four blog-posts are written directly in English by me and which are written in Swedish and translated by Google Translate.
Lots of Links:
TED-talk video: Juan Enriquez: Beyond the crisis, mindboggling science and the arrival of Homo evolutis (from above)
TED-talk video: Aimee Mullins: How my legs give me super-powers – is she disabled?
Congressional staff actions prompt Wikipedia investigation
Wikinews investigates Wikipedia usage by U.S. Senate staff members
Internet monitored and controlled, even in democracies (from above)
On the Imminent Robot Uprising (Very good article about Robotics and Humanoids)
