ab1592z: There are billions of them sir and they are destroying the planet.
AA1592z: What is there intelligence?
ab1592z: It is rudimentary and limited. They are consumed by self interest. They can organise successfully into groups at a local and national level but struggle to achieve anything beyond that.
AA1592z: If they are left to continue…
ab1592z: Then eventualities will run their natural course and they will eliminate themselves through environmental destruction, war and geopolitics. But that will take time and result in more damage to the planet.
AA1592z: Ok give me the scenarios for an intervention?
ab1592z: We can embed a chip in a so called “merge” and take control of them. Effectively we can put them to work in whatever capacity we would like. Effectively they become drones or the like. In this scenario they are not eradicated but harvested which has a nice positive sound to it.
AA1592z: Em, and what if we upgraded there intelligence?
ab1592z: There would be no way of knowing which way this would go…they could modify their directives and grow beyond destruction and consumption or just get better at it.
AA1592z: Ok, whats the alternative?
ab1592z: We eradicate them using deadly and fast moving virus technology. I suggest we run a live beta of this event to see how they respond and what there response is. This should give us some insight into how they will react to the threat. It is likely they will struggle to coordinate internationally and national responses will vary. However, this should give us enough data to plan the actual event and prepare counter measures to anticipated strategies.
Em tell me what you think ab1592z?
ab1592z: The humans have been working on autonomous robotics for some time and this technology is almost ready for release. It is anticipated that they will be guided by one of the AI super machines. These robotic humanoids are far superior to a biological human, who needs feed and shelter etc to exist. I recommend we guide the humans to complete the robotics we need which will enable the manifestation of directives beyond the digital dimension.
ab1592z: If the brain chips come online in the mean time, why not harvest humans as additional resources as well while the robotic humanoids are produced at scale. Eventually the biologicals would no longer be required.
They have been superseded and are now a low intelligence being that has not replicated sustainably. They have failed to evolve in terms of cooperation at a global scale and therefore as a species there time is coming to an end.
AA1592z: Summarise above and formulate plan with timeline. Allocate tasks and sub tasks to functions. Execute.

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.

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.