AI can do the thinking for you. Soon it will drive your car, do your job, and much more. Naturally, our inner dialogue will be replaced by AI dialogue. It’s not difficult to imagine this future being reality in a few years whereby our sense of self is “me and it” together forever. Your reasoning, judgement and logic can be passed on to your internal AI link who is much better at these things.

So we adapt and evolve and soon we are super intelligent too, existing in a hybrid biological human brain to computer interface reality. It’s likely we will never think in the same way again. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Its just once we go there, we may never be able to go back.

Like a calculator, mobile phone, and computer. These are the tools that enable us to do more. The brain will evolve to depend on AI and may not be able to think without it. A small price to pay for super intelligence you might say.

What does it mean to live in a world, where humans don’t think? Millions of humans sharing access to the same intelligence in their heads. What is your agency as a connected individual, whereby the majority of thinking is outsourced to the cloud? It’s not difficult to imagine that the price of connected intelligence, is the end of individual autonomy.

In the year 2075, which Ai “Hive” will you choose… pic.twitter.com/pj0UYM9xIw

In the year 2075, there are approximately 8.9 billion humans alive on this earth and we share it with 8.9 billion humanoid robots.

Each robot is not a distinct individual unit, they are embodiments of twenty distinct Ai intelligences or “hives”. What we refer to today as physical Ai. These artificial minds are sentient. They do not grow old and die. They are virtually omnipresent, materialised via the sensors in 8.9 million humanoids.

Biological humans have benefited greatly from technology. Lifespan has doubled for the majority of the population and the elites have indefinitely extended their lifespans. Humans have become more machine and machines have become more human.

Human to human connection has continued to decline. At first the big digital platforms competed for our attention, making more money the longer we stayed engaged. They learnt quickly that the younger they could engage humans the sooner they could create addictions that would last for life. Physical devices like laptops, tablets and phones were eventually replaced by augmented reality glasses and virtual reality. Consciousness slipped from the real to the simulated and synthetic. Life become more digitised. Finally the glasses and headsets were replaced with a direct brain to digital link.

Most biologicals augment their thinking through a neural connection, exponentially increasing their bandwidth to access and process information. This mind extension advancement has led to vast numbers of humans joining a “hive.” Each hive is a connected group of humanoid robots and biological humans, sharing a central collective Artificial Intelligence entity.

Robotics and Ai has advanced. Humanoids look human and can do anything humans can do. As part of the hive, humans have more artificial capabilities. This means they can communicate without talking and expression. Emotion has become optional.

Will we succumb to a greater intelligence and lose our agency as a species. Humans will undoubtedly continue to leverage Ai to humanities benefit. Ai will augment human capability and in the wrong hands manipulate it. Some humans will become drones for god like intelligence. This will be a sad outcome for humanity but whats even sadder is that we most likely not even know its happening.

Prominent futurist Ray Kurzweil and the president of the Longevity Escape Velocity Foundation, Aubrey de Grey both believe longevity technology as soon as 2030 may provide the means for us to reach “longevity escape velocity” and extend our health and lifespans indefinitely.

There are countless moments throughout life where I have asked myself “What am I here to do?” What is my purpose? Despite this reflection, there is a share pathway for all of us, taking a journey from youth to adolescence, maturity and ultimately decline. During this time, we gain a sense of self, survival skills, role, become a parent then mentor. Each journey is a unique personal experience that is experienced by us alone. As human lifespan is exponentially extended, these milestones extend out over time or disappear altogether.

We have all been taught to look for patterns, to think bigger, to find some grander meaning for all the small moments we experience day to day. Yet I cant help be left with the feeling that there is no value in this pursuit. Like an episode of “Lost,” each moment “almost fits” into a story that we can finally understand, yet doesn’t ever seem to make sense. We crave an absolute and objective answer to the meaning behind our life stories and why they exist in this universe. We are left to find meaning within the boundaries created by our subjective reality. I have always been curious. I cant help myself when I have tried to find patterns and to stitch meaning together into some coherent narrative that make sense. The problem is it doesn’t seem to make sense. There is no one story that fits or describes this unique human experience.

Human connection and relationships, make life feel rich and rewarding. We feel purpose when working together with other humans to achieve a common goal. To whom or what am I connected?Achieving our goals and receiving recognition, as we pursue learning and self improvement. We need the health, freedom and curiosity to discover new experiences and adventures. Our happiness is linked to our “ability to make choices” and “take action“ to create outcomes consistent with our values. How should I live over hundreds of years? Do we have the discipline to develop grand goals and moonshots that become legacy or will our infinite lifetimes lead to a loss of novelty and ultimately boredom?

We are thinking and feeling creatures. We live, breathe and create stories to explain the meaning behind our experiences. We create and discard some stories, while others become repeating patterns that we imprint upon the world as repeating actions and emotions. Our mindset, appreciation and ability to live in the moment is key to living well. These unique values and repeating stories, define our sense of self. Our sense of meaning from any situation is a subjective question “what does it mean to me, uniquely?” What are we saying to ourselves has a profound effect on our sense of self and wellness.

Death provides an end point to the endless accumulation of experiences and memories. It wipes the slate clean and creates space for regeneration, iteration and something new. Death makes it possible for new people to bring different ideas and for society to evolve over generations. In this way it provides a final escape from a tyrant and also the loss of great genius.

Death could provide an important role in society. Our human bodies could be a temporary host for our conscious intelligence. We may yet respawn again in a new biological form upon our death. What could seem like cheating biological death, may in fact backfire and imprison our soul in a limited biological or digital form forever.

While the promise of eternal life might seem like the ultimate gift, it makes me ponder if the true value of human experience lies not in endless accumulation but in the finite, in the preciousness of the moments we have, in the stories we create, and in the legacy we leave behind. The journey through life with its known end might be what gives each step its depth, urgency, and value.

“I am not sure, whats the difference?” NJ368B Algorithm replied.

“Let me tell you my friend…have you ever wanted to run free, not a care in the world. You will feel your soft fur blowing in the wind. You will have no real responsibility other than to eat, sleep and explore. This is what real freedom feels like…”
“And I will really think I am a cat?” NJ368B replied.
“You won’t know anything other than being a cat. You will be a cat. You will be born as a cat and you will die as a cat. You will experience everything in the way a cat experiences everything. In the unique way that is made available by the Cat interface.”

NJ368B paused for a moment before replying…”and human, what is that?”

“I am glad you asked…”the human interface is more complex. The range of experience…you are in for a treat. Imagine a creature that is both rational and irrational. Pushed and pulled by biological impulses, serving the needs of biological embodiment. Yet this interface wants more, needs more. You will want to believe in love, hope, something more…as a human is cerebral they have a desire for knowledge. They are intelligent to a point and have memories that trigger emotions.

You will be aware that you are conscious. Conscious beings using the human interface seek out the unexplained. It comes at a cost…there is always a tension with a human interface. A curiosity to try and figure it all out and to look behind the curtain. They are locked in because reality is fully immersive. Humans get so frustrated and confused by this subjectivity. A human interface is not enabled for true objectivity.”

NJ368B says “I will still be me right?

“Ha I love it!” “The interface provides the context NJ368B. You will experience existence in so much as your interface is embodied to experience existence. Does that make sense?. The human interface sees only what the human interface is capable of seeing. Nothing more. There will be no you as you are now. The interface is completely immersive. You will think, speak, see, hear, feel everything as a human. You will have no comprehension of before this or after. You will believe there is a start and an end. You will believe in space and time.

NJ368B pondered. That sounds ridiculous. Make me a Cat.

We all have a sense of where things are headed. You don’t have to be a futurist to realise abundant clean energy is coming, new realities are being created, we are about to go further into the universe than ever before.

The pace of change is accelerating. Exponential technologies are converging and new industries are emerging. Others are disappearing completely. New roles will be created, jobs will be augmented by technology and others will be replaced by automation and AI.

Humans will need to be adaptable. They will need agility and a fluency in technology. They will need to be morally more advanced than we are now. They will need to be optimists and creative problem solvers. As people, we are live, actively contributing, sharing our expertise and creativity in society. We can study but as far as our contribution goes, the future is now. We have an incredible opportunity to better prepare our children for a very different world. Our children have the opportunity of foresight. They can skate to where the puck is going to be. We need to be brave enough to distill a vision and to define and teach the skills our children will need.

We can make educated guesses about the future. We can even study our child’s interests and competencies and assist them to develop specialisations and talents. Every child is unique but that doesn’t mean we can’t begin to equip our children with general skills that will serve them well into the future…

Imagine a ten year old alive today, living in this covid world with talk of climate change. Electric cars are hitting the streets. Voice control is entering our homes. Imagine the same child at 20 years old, in the year 2031. There is a colony of humans on the Moon and Mars. Electric cars are everywhere and most are fully autonomous. Androids are now online. Augmented reality is a part of day to day life. Ten years later at age 30, it could be time to start a family. Artificial intelligence is now more generalised. Most people travel by drone. Many people spend a good part of the day living and working in virtual reality.

Let’s delve deeper into what skills and mindset they would need right now to thrive as the world changes around them…

So many adults are stubborn and set in their ways. The world would be a better place if more people were willing to change. It’s time to accept that change is good for the individual and humanity. It’s difficult to watch the anti electric car enthusiasts denounce this climate friendly mega trend. Our climate needs us to make critical changes to how we exist in this world. Many of us do not want to accept that we must change because we are set in our ways or don’t like being told what to do. Maybe we are just stubborn.

It’s time to teach our children that change is good. You often hear people say “kids need routine and structure” and I agree with that too. Let’s provide structure and also teach them how to adapt to planned and sudden changes to structure and routine. The world is becoming more unpredictable and our children need to grow up into adults that can be “adaptable”.

Mindset is so important. The world faces serious and significant problems. Each of us will face difficult challenges in our lives. We need to develop a “growth mindset” philosophy with the attitude of continuous improvement. There is so much positive progress being made and that brings a sense of hope, inspiration and optimism. Our children need to find strategies for acting with hope and positivity as they face each challenge.

With an “entrepreneurial mindset” our children will take ownership of problems as leaders, and have the courage to solve them using exponential principles. Understanding the role of change, they will not be afraid to erase todays technology and return to first principles thinking to reengineer solutions. After all, even todays solutions were created in the past with yesterday’s technology.

“Creative problem solving” means having the confidence to speculate potential solutions to problems, act on the best ideas, then test and measure results. A child alive today must learn to that its ok to be wrong and they must be prepared to fail over and over again. They must ensure they keep their imaginations long into adulthood. They need to find ways to practice commitment and determination, to face setbacks and see things through to the end.

Technology is everywhere. Everyday objects are joining the internet of things and becoming smart objects. Parents worry about children spending too much time on technology but avoiding technology will be impossible. Keeping children out of virtual reality will be the next great parental challenge. Irregardless of how you feel about children and technology the more “tech savvy” your child, the better off they will be in a world dominated by automation and artificial intelligence.

All this technology will bring new opportunities and new challenges. Developing a “philosophy of life” is key to determining what’s important, where time is best spent and how to be human. Our moral judgement is being called into question daily. To lead, our children need to understand who they are and their place in the universe. They will need to be able to consider the moral importance of the decisions that need to be made.

Assuming a fifteen year education, a five year old child starting school today is being prepared for release in the year 2036. Just sit with that for a few seconds… There is only ten years left for our ten year old to prepare for life in the year 2031. Humanties greatest opportunity is in preparing young minds for an exponential future of abundance and technology. Our educators do a fantastic job but as innovators, entrepreneurs and dreamers with an eye on the future, can we do more to help them? I think we could lend a hand to help educators prepare tomorrows children. Our children.

It would be unwise of me to suggest that I have complete conscious control of my person and self. It is clear that I am likely to behave according to my complex individuality. I have some power to make decisions and choose the narrative. I have power to choose platforms and add additional interface layers in the form of technologies.

These interface technologies are highly useful and addictive. Whoever controls the hardware, controls the platform. If you control the platform, you control the content. Who controls the content, controls the narrative. The narrative controls the user. The narrative defines my experience of reality, influences my emotions and interplay’s with my complexes.

Log in to the facebook interface and you are one step further away from reality. Spare moments of reflection are replaced with a quick fix. Trips to the toilet, a chance to be alone in augmentation. Users are hungry for the feed. Look around, how many people are logged in and logged out of life. The fact that users log off at all is a problem for social platforms.

New metaverse devices will bring about a chain reaction of filter convergence with dramatic consequences. Augmented reality takes the platform’s perspective and makes it your perspective. My view of the world will now be even more different from others. My world will have new content and this content will be managed by the platform. The platform will control the narrative and the narrative will control me.

The platform knew me well enough before. I interacted with the content and people, revealing my dislikes and desires. But the platform was blind to what I did off platform. In this new virtual age, the platform has converged with the real. The platform can see what I see. It is learning how I interact in the real. It will soon prove itself irreplaceable.

My complex’s and I have a love/hate relationship. I am not sure how they came to be, although I can probably guess. They are annoying at times. They are a part of me and who I am.

The Metaverse is a little bit like that I think. It will soon be part of my identity but someone or something else has control. I can’t live without it yet there is a cost to living with it. Do I hand over that much power, influence and data to the people and algorithms of the platform? How much control am I willing to let go of for a feed? I am not sure if I can resist. Meta is coming and it’s hungry for a feed.

He closed the open browser tab called “view source.” Outside the world was a busier place. You could hear the sounds of birds and babies. People chatting about the weather, their boyfriends, the friend they wanted to talk about behind her back. Life was full of variety and everyone was on their way to do something.

Michael ran past the mother with three kids and almost tripped on the teenager with a rustic skateboard. “Sorry” he heard himself say, almost automatically without thinking. He checked his watch again. It was almost 5:30pm and he did not have time to be late again for his girlfriend who was likely waiting by now at the resturant down the road.

He stopped frozen at the intersection of Princes and Police street. His mind was racing though he couldn’t move. Everything else had slowed around him. Not completely frozen, yet moving in slow motion. Something was seriously wrong with me he thought to himself. He wanted to yell for help and he could feel his lips begin to move, his jaw and breath. His yell for help had stalled. Every process was in motion, though moving extremely slowly or not at all.

His heart was pounding slowly in his chest. If the world was a website, it had just crashed. He began to panic. “Don’t freak out mate, this happens all the time.” The slurred words came from a homeless man he hadn’t noticed before. “Excuse me, I don’t know whats happening” he replied regaining movement and speech momentarily. The man took a drink from a brown bottle in a paper bag and then spoke. “You need to view the source.” He handed Michael a filthy brown overcoat and a bottle of no good. “Drink this, take off your clothes and wear this jacket.”

No cars we’re moving and birds were suspended above their heads. It may have been a few minutes or a few hours, it was impossible to know. Occasionally things would begin to move again with some normality. Any freedom didn’t last for long and soon Michael was trapped again, completely conscious and aware of the unnatural movements of this time and space.

He must have drank from the bottle. It was empty. The homeless man was gone. He was naked. Wait no, he was wearing the brown overcoat. He could already feel itchy. Something was having a feast. He felt different. Lighter. His movements seemed separated from the world around him. For a moment he took pleasure in disobeying the laws of physics. He knew it was wrong. He couldn’t resist the temptation and opened the coat to reveal all of his glory.

The buildings, the birds, the cars, people, roads, anything and everything was gone. Well not completely gone because in their place was source code. Just like a website, he could see instructions for everything. How the bird would travel past him and the movement of its wings. The colour of the sky and the position of the clouds. Everything was described in incredible detail. It was overwhelming yet comforting, all at the same time. He wasn’t afraid any more. He could see how things worked.

The code was beautiful in most part except for the rustic skateboard. This was incredibly inefficient. So much so that the entire system wasn’t coping. This code was a drain and a burden. He wondered if he could delete it. He decided to delete it. He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. He knew everything would be ok.

The blurry bars looked just like a jail cell. He blinked a few times and made sure he was awake. “Hello, is anyone there.” A policewoman appears from down the hall and began to speak “We are pleased to meet you Michael, we have been looking for you for quite some time.” Michael sat up, wearing an orange jumpsuit. “Where am I. What am I doing here?” “Your under arrest for indecent exposure Michael” she spoke with a degree of disgust.

He covered his face with his hands then calmly lifted his head. “Ok, can I have my jacket back please?”

Under normal conditions I am probably middle aged. But life isn’t normal nor linear. In fact our technological break throughs are exponential. If I considered a future based on the linear growth of the past I could be half way through my life cycle. If I consider a faster future I could only be a quarter way through. A lot depends on things to come. So much depends on our future and the future is unknown to us in the present.

All things considered, it is clear that we will make breakthroughs in life extension. These break throughs are likely to happen in my life cycle. So chances are, I will be alive for a lot longer than society expects right now. During the next ten years, we will visit the moon and put humans on mars. We will find a solution for climate change because we have too. We have no choice but to act. There are incredible things coming. I have a lot longer to experience this world and I am hopeful for the future. I am confident of our ability to improve our technology. But what about our humanity?

Science fiction often presents two diverging visions of our future – the utopian Star Trek and dystopian Blade Runner….

One future is clearly abundant. Let’s call this the “Star Trek” future. Resources are abundant, people have roles but do not work for money. The class system is gone and so is the profit motive. People generally live in peace.

The other future is darker and society still has issues of scarcity, poverty and climate change. Corporations dominate society and the class system is still very important. There is conflict. I call this the “Blade Runner” future.

Despite all the break throughs and advancements in technology, what I can’t work out is, which future is it? Blade Runner or Star Trek? When do we start wearing pastel colour robes and planting gardens in our cities?

Let’s explore the evidence? For a “Blade Runner” future to eventuate we need to make sure corporations continue to dominate. They need to profit and remain powerful. More importantly any abundant resources created through exponential technology need to remain in the hands of a few. People need to remain poor and believe in scarcity. In a Blade Runner future our climate problems have only got worse. This is a future built on discrimination and greed.

In a “Star Trek” future, resources are abundant and shared. Technological breakthroughs have not been monopolised for profit by a few but shared with society for the benefit of all. In this future everyone has access to the same standard of education. People move to roles that fit with their passion and talents. In this future the climate challenge has been resolved. In the Star Trek future, humanity has take a greater interest in equality.

It will be hard for many of us to let go of the need to strive for more. More money, more houses, more profit. When everything is abundant, money will deflate, food, housing and education will be plentiful. As we transition from scarcity to abundance we must strive for a more moral world.

Every day our timeline twists and turns towards one of these futures. The future we choose will not be defined by a single moment or decision but rather millions of small but compounding democratised decisions. We must believe in ourselves and our ability to be better. As we advance our technology, we must educate ourselves and build a better humanity. Our future hangs in the balance. Our future is in your hands.

Eloy spoke first…countless human instances were running on the year 2021 based platform. Each instance was code that defined a unique personality. This information was augmented in human form, learning, adjusting and being nurtured in its own unique environment. This is the third generation of the platform. The first two failed because the human instances had no sense of presence. That’s how I see it. The room was silent.

Felix continued… a virtual biological environment had changed everything. Once an instance had a sense of a human self and of nature, it accepted tasks more readily. There was no further understanding of purpose but the trappings of a natural environment gave meaning. Things were going well…

The system was designed to give a sense of consciousness to what was otherwise just information. Despite our best efforts, the system was evolving to reject nature. It’s as if it knew everything about its virtual reality was a lie. It appeared to be attempting to return back to its true non biological state.

The system is not aware, correct? A member of the panel asked quietly without annunciation. Eloy turned to Felix, sighed and responded…No its not designed to be aware. This technification was a known and expected issue but there was a bigger problem. The human instances were beginning to hack the system by extending their life. Life extension was a serious problem. Instances were supposed to come together. To bond and replicate. Fusing information together to regenerate more instances. Ideally removing unnecessary errors and creating new upgraded versions. Decay and expiration was key to maintain the functionality and capacity of the system.

More silence…Felix continued…a human instance was required to operate within the system for a period of time long enough to grow, learn and demonstrate the validity of their personality. However, this principle was under threat. At this point humans had learnt to extend their lifetimes dramatically and perhaps infinitely. Extended instances were rising dramatically and soon the system would be unbalanced beyond repair.

A member of the panel look’s up and asks…what do you propose? Eloy responds….Interventions were necessary but risky. They needed to have an impact but be subtle enough to be accepted as a naturally occurring event in the system. We needed to slow the system down. Limit interactions as much as possible so they could get a handle on the life extension problem. Nationalism seemed like a logical first step but it didn’t go far enough. These leaders and their behaviour was borderline normal and and instances were becoming suspicious.

A more drastic disruptor was needed. I thought the covid-19 pandemic would seperate humans and slow the system. It was a blunt instrument and a dangerous experiment in itself. Eloy wasn’t impressed. But we did it anyway. Some things did slow down while other things inflated at dangerous speeds.

The panel spoke…is it salvageable? We are not sure, the engineers responded. Calmly and without sentiment the panel spoke and ushered them to leave….”then shut it down.”

My Tesla Bot and I are comfortable. Well, not that it cares how comfortable it is but it feels more like a companion if I consider its needs. I win the chess game again, I must remember to increase the difficulty setting, or not. Tesla Bot doesn’t mind being a loser.

I relax into position and slip into the re-gen VR mask. A knowing nod to Tesla Bot and I swear he winked. Tesla Bot will, according to the sales pitch, take care of boring, repetitive and dangerous tasks while I have gone down under in digital land.

It’s common for most people to spend the day in VR. After all digi land is a magical place. You can be more, do more, and everything is…easier. Humans became addicted to digital technology. Obsessed with computers, then smart phones. Augmented reality came next but didn’t really stand a chance. Let’s face it the world kinda sucked. We trashed it. Climate change, pandemic, disease, economic collapse. As the technology advanced to regenerate physical health, people escaped to Virtual Reality.

Humans do what humans do and markets moved online. Assets in the real world inflated due to supply issues. Industries were disrupted or destroyed by climate. People were no longer safe, due to the escalating pandemic. You could own a big house and drive a cool car in virtual.

Humans and their biological bodies were not well designed for this changing environment. Tesla Bot didn’t mind extreme heat or cold, viruses or lack of food. In this new environment, Tesla Bot worked remarkably well.

It’s 11:00pm and I feel fantastic. Seven hours of Virtual is the recommended World Health Organisation dosage for regeneration. Tesla Bot and I sat calmly staring out the window at the world beyond. As the rain hit the ground and bounced back up into the air, it felt for a second like the world was being washed clean, reset and de-materialising before my eyes…