Humans in the future

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We’ve probably all thought it, looking at the ever increasing automation of life, from driving ‘smart’ cars to using virtual reality apps. It was reinforced when I visited the Specialized Store yesterday; apart from the huge array of over-priced bikes, there is now a whole showroom devoted to E-Bikes.

This isn’t aimed at E Bikes, but it did make me wonder if life is just being made ever-more ‘less physical’. At what point in the future do humans become an extremely sedentary species, afraid to venture outdoor, seek physical discomfort or challenge and unable to make fundamental decisions for themselves that we currently take for granted. How long until the ‘primal’ urge is watered down to an irredeemable extent?

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Just watch Wall-E …

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In the centuries since the Axiom left Earth, its passengers have degenerated into helpless corpulence due to laziness and microgravity, their every whim catered to by machines

Gotcha.

I will do my utmost to ensure my son doesn’t become a console-zombie like his older (male) cousins.

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I think you need to take this a further step or two, and look at the even bigger picture.

  1. Millennials are more into experiences than owning things, or so that say. That is relevant.

  2. When you talk about humans, and the long term, do you specifically mean Homo Sapiens?

Remember, we are just a small part of the human race. Ask any anthropologist? Home Erectus, Nethanderal etc to US. And there is absolutely no reason to believe that we, Homo sapiens are the end of the human race, but it is reasonable to conclude that we will become extinct and be replaced by Homo Whatever. Why? That’s historic progression, even if hard for our egos to accept.

I would argue that it is probably already happening. After all if you do a DNA genetics test, you may find that you are 1-20% Nethanderal or have some Denisovian in you. Scientific facts.

So, Jorgan, are you specifically talking about Homo Sapiens or the human race? The former will likely become extinct, the latter will continue fine whether playing rugby or having a cuppa with bickies.

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I’m talking about our descendants in centuries to come; regardless of how you classify them anthropology wise.

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Have you read ‘Sapiens’ or, more relevant, its sequel ‘Homo Deus’ ?
Worth a read.
Wall E is a very poignant commentary of how things could go… ditto ‘The Machine Stops’ EM Forster.
Lots to keep you busy there @Jorgan :grinning:

As the father of 4 boys, I wish you the very best of luck in the forthcoming Console Wars . I wont offer any advice as its not something you can ever actually ‘win’ as far as i can tell.

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In that case I expect that we will learn to use our intuitive skills much more accurately, while the grunt work is increasingly done by machines. So we are likely to get exercise and physical activity more from pleasure activities than work.

It is after all already possible for us to…

  1. As children dream and imagine about being eg an astronaut or king.
  2. Do the stuff you don’t want me talking about on here, for which there is tons of US government funded scientific evidence declassified and many practitioners globally.
  3. Take (1) and use it to have ‘virtual holidays’ Total Recall style. And then use those virtual experiences to know yourself better and grow as a person. Which then feedbacks into further enhanced intuitive skills.

So given that we, as a species, globally, are already learning how to evolve ourselves mentally, I really do think that physical activity will become much more pleasure orientated as the centuries pass.

As noted by the poster above Sapiens is a great read.

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I have them in my maybe pile on Audible. Might have to give them a go …

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Sapiens is a good read. Although it did turn my gf pescatarian!

I have both his sequels, but only bought them just before Christmas. I brought Homo Deus with me on holiday, but haven’t had a chance to do any reading as yet.

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Me too actually :rofl:

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I think much of western society is most of the way there. I only CTW because it benefits my hobby; with the added bonus of less fuel purchased and CO2 produced. Not that driving is very physical anyway!

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we seem to get further away from them and thus i expect computers to do the thinking of the future…

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Yeah. People will just ask Siri or Alexa what to do :roll_eyes:

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While that is at first glance true, in our modern world, when you look behind this a bit, a number of things come to light…

  1. The big problem with intuitive skills nowadays is that modern life has made them unreliable.
  2. Data drives things, and as you say AI etc.
  3. But data etc is reactive (though AI aims to make it predictive), while core Intuitive skills are very much proactive. Hence pretty valuable, if you can surmount the problems of reliability, accuracy, usefulness, and expectations gaps.
  4. I have shown it can be done, (unless coincidence and statistical variance aside obviously).
  5. Our world is full of people with Intuitive skillsets, from old tribes, through the likes of hermeticists to some in the new ago and yes RVers. Arguably some CEOs and coppers also have good intuitive skills. The problem, other that the practical ones noted in 3 above, is egos. But that ties in with expectation gaps.
  6. The keys are to differentiate down to granular levels and build back up (that’s calculus!). A bit like when I completed Tough Guy and faced my fears one obstacle at a time to complete it.

Computers may well do a lot of future thinking Ejc, whether in medical diagnosis, product ordering, intelligence gathering, or on the battlefield. But, I do think that if humanity chooses to harness our inherent intuitive potential, that is the surest road to global stability and prosperity.

But humanities focus/addiction on money, driving technology (which isn’t itself a bad thing) make it less likely that the benefits of harnessing intuitive skills with technology will be grasped.

Take for example, what Elon Musk is doing with one of his companies, I forget the name offhand, the one where he is essentially placing the equivalent of iPads in peoples brains (it’s not iPads just visualising what he is doing) to connect people together. This is built upon the decades old work helping disabled people use computers etc. Given the quality of scientists he is recruiting, I reckon I could show him how to use that company to combine intuitives with his technology to eg read stuff in locked safes. I mean every nation on this planet would probably love to be able to do that. Now would it work? Who knows? But conceptually the process is simple enough. Probably extremely hard in practice given the limitations modern life places on intuitive skills.

Now could be the time that intuitive skills blend with technology to ensure global stability and prosperity, though sadly I would expect good old fashioned espionage would take priority.

Given China’s armies of data labellers (source The Economist) etc I that they may well have the competitive advantage here. Money aside, and getting the right people aside, it’s the training (human and technology) that I think would take the most time and frustration.

But again what do I know. I could be wrong. It also depends on whether you could find Intuitives with those specific sub skill sets. And managers who could work with them without destroying them and eradicating their skills.

My point Ejc, AI will only do the thinking if we humans chose it. But we can also chose to harness our own skillsets better and maintain control.

Gee that was a ramble.

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What the rich few hundred thousand do is largely irrelevant to the species.

The other 7 billion will carry on as they always have.

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so are humans

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Talk for yourself.

Throughout my life I have been very proactive in several different fields, all evidenceable. From working myself out of a broken home in a Scots council estate with an ill mother, through the professions, to what I did in the global Masonic world , to my continual re-education in multiple fields, to writing eg on Submarine Locating, to trying to phantom out multiple problems.

So Ejc, speak for yourself. Some of us humans are very proactive. Some like me are just social nitwits and tend to fail in our money orientated world. (When measured by money etc).

But our world is full of proactive as opposed to reactive humans. That is why science and society evolves through time.

The downside about being proactive however is that you get ridiculed and given enormous amounts of grief, by those reactive humans. Who really should know better.

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you worked yourself out of there before you arrived???

the brain reacts to the stimuli from the environment it is in…

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Hey freakshow, have you applied to work for Dom Cummings yet? :grin:

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But everyday life is becoming more automated; not just for the super rich.