Thoughts on Our Future Times

 

Just finished rewatching a Discovery show “Year Million” for the umpteenth time and it got me to thinking about the future, just not quite year million. I was simply considering the coming ten to twenty-five years into humanity’s future. This time I simply ignored any chance that we would blow ourselves back to living in caves and telling stories of what had been while huddled around fires. Instead, I decided that science and technology would continue and any world war was avoided. The first thing I thought was by the time another decade has passed, war would likely have become unthinkable in the technological societies and impossible to wage for those who were not technologically advanced due to the defensive systems. The advanced world has fully incorporated Artificial Intelligence (AI) into every segment of our lives. Work has become an optional concept as sophisticated robots manufactured virtually everything and one of the big selling concepts are items still built by human beings. I realized quickly that there would be two types of employment, which would have been written into law, had to be performed exclusively by human beings, lawyers and politicians. There would be no way of getting around that, as the politicians would still demand that they have their corrupt control over our lives. So, I simply decided that the technology caught the politicians by surprise and they had already been replaced by a super computer which spent the first eighteen months deleting laws and regulations which were, shall we say, less than optimized for a modern society where the AIs ruled.

 

The futurists predict that somewhere around 2030 society will have reached the singularity. The truth will be as soon as robotic intelligence can design their next generation replacements and program other robots to build these devices, then the singularity, the point where AI equals or starts to exceed human intelligence will be reached within the ensuing year. That will be when we, as a living entity, will need to make certain decisions. The first is whether or not we wish to be immortal. The next is whether or not we wish to remain corporeal. The point will be reached with rapidity, almost unimaginable, leading to a situation where the brain can be scanned and uploaded into computers where you will continue to reside, live and interact with the others who have been uploaded in a synthesized perfect world. Initially, this procedure will be destructive to the human and irreversible but later you will be able to be downloaded into an android body. We will be required to have laws that only one form of any person be permitted to exist at any set time, either you will be living in the cloud, in a corporeal body or in an android body. The later two will be able to have upgrades and additional facilities and abilities incorporated as corporeal beings will be able to have implants which will incorporate AI into them allowing for their abilities to be equal to any AI’s intelligence. I foresaw no more need for money as we understand such today. Everything would be based on some other form of worth and capital used for payments as profit is still the greatest motivator of people. Still, if one does not work at a job or produce something of relative worth, the price will be potentially being required to wait for goods to be produced for a short period of time.

 

Eventually, one comes to the inevitable question, what happens should the AIs decide they no longer required human beings, as we were simply an impediment to their concept of a perfect society? The first thought I had was that there would be a hardwired circuit required to be installed in any entity with AI incorporated, be they android, robotic or enhanced human being, that should they come to commit any act which would harm, injure, damage or, at worst, kill any corporeal being that they would short-circuit and cease to function. This circuit would be built into their power circuitry even at the most basic power supply or other basic and necessary circuit. This device would be necessarily placed in all AI circuitry. But, just in case such would come to fruition, then in their programming they would be required to provide all so threatened corporeals the option of leaving the planet and then providing these corporeals with interstellar ships that groups of them would then be launched into space to seek out a new home or simply fly around generation after generation indefinitely, or if immortal, then that generation forever. Also, those choosing immortality are to be required they be sterilized so as to minimize overpopulation. Should such be launched into space at some future time, we can only hope there are a fair number of them, or there will be one immortal, augmented or not, soon becoming horrifically unbalanced and probably insane flying in circles in the cosmos somewhere.

 

Then I got to thinking about even further into the future when the only corporeal beings left are augmented immortals. This group might decide that the Earth be allowed to be left to its own nature and allowed to progress free of these beings restricting the development beyond serving these immortals. At such a point, the immortal corporeal augmented humanoid beings would be divided into compatible groups, placed on starships, and become interstellar adventurers with some seeking new planets to try to instill them with life through terraforming and thus spread life to the rest of suitable planets. Some might even choose to build a space station and observe the Earth as it developed. These beings should have an additional piece of coding such that they would find they are required to leave for the stars as well once intelligent life appears to rise on Earth.

 

First Luddites Unite

 

Then I returned to the more immediate and the possibilities of many people taking up the position of being the age’s new Luddites, those resisting violently the coming of a new age fearing it will make them inadequate, antiquated and irrelevant and thus causing them to become useless. The original Luddites fought the coming of the industrial age mostly by destroying the steam powered looms which were replacing their jobs in the textile factories. There will be those initially upset, or should I say furious, at the prospect or reality of losing their position to an AI. Many of these will be union factory workers who should be used to such but will fight with all the unions’ might to keep them on the job even if all they do is play pool and sit eight hours a day in a breakroom. The real pushback will come from the white-collar employees when AIs come to replace them, then the professionals such as surgeons and other skilled positions who believed they were safe from such replacement events. Eventually, once the AIs gain full rights including the vote, by then we humanoids will be outnumbered and praying for our lives, or will it be begging for our lives, they will replace the lawyers and politicians, something we will soon realize either should have been done long ago or has made us completely “superfluous entities” waiting to be recalled as obsolete and replaced by higher functioning AIs. To be honest, as long as my brain, the enhanced and constantly regenerative brain is included in the new AI and has full functional control with as much AI assist as they demand, hey, I’m cool with that. So what if because my new AI has an assigned occupation and I am back going to work for eight, twelve or whatever hours of work per day, I can handle sleeping and allowing the AI to perform its assignments as long as I get control back after shift ends. We should require also that all AIs with a human interface allow the human to be in control for at least half of each day and preferably afternoons and evenings. All right, for all you early risers who love their morning jog, something completely worthless physically as the AI will easily have a superior physical set of abilities, you can choose when to be in control as long as the AIs are controlling functions when performing their assigned tasks.

 

Still, initially there may even be riots which will be as basically worthless as the police department will be using robotic units and AIs to control them. Their physical abilities will likely be sufficient to control a mob of unenhanced humans screaming that they have rights. Eventually, they will learn that being a pet human is almost as satisfying as being a Pomeranian which sits on a velvet cushion and is fed very well thrice per day. They may not like the being walked to the people park with an obedience collar installed to prevent their running off, but at least there will be other pet humans to play with once at the park. These last of the Luddites will have the same effectiveness as their namesake predecessors, specifically, none. They will make a grand noise for a short period before fading into oblivion as once enhanced humans choose to be immortal, with a future death option which will be required not to be made under undue stress or duress, then daily events will soon become faded memories and of no real consequence. A few thousands of years, or millions of years, down the road the human Luddite revolts will mean absolutely nothing. When we have learned to interface with the more and most advanced AIs on an equal basis and continue to be upgraded for free with our shreds of humanity intact, then we will have finally become the AIs equals except we will have one advantage which we will never lose, the ability to make a sick or indecent joke which will be completely irrelevant and only be amusing to other human enhanced AIs, and that is what we will be considered, human enhanced AIs. So, what will initially be an upgraded human will, with time, become the upgraded AI and the leading AIs will desire being enhanced with a human interface for the most basic or human powers, imagination and creativity. Where the AIs, from the start, will have superior computability, they will lack creativity and may never develop that ability. They will be capable of designing circuits and software and produce enhanced firmware and they may even write poetry, music, stories, novels and all the rest with a high proponent of humanity and with the appearance of feelings encoded within, but they will never produce pure, on the spot, spontaneous humor to lighten any moment, that is a human trait which may even be unique to Earth original biological entities, assuming there are other intelligent life. Those who change with the opportunities and go with the flow, and the currents will take them to stranger places than imaginable currently, but with time, with time, or as a friend of mine reminds me about learning Hebrew לאט לאט (slowly, slowly), encouraging my epic inability to learn languages, but לאט לאט we will advance and eventually having an original and actual human core will be something the highest function AIs will desire. Our biological brains, our biological CPUs, if you will allow such an analogy, will be prized adjunct CPUs used largely for creative functions and impulse theory computations as they will be capable of making giant leaps of logic which have no theoretical proofs of their validity but are still what would be required in the situation. Human intellect will become a prized possession for those few who will possess such an enhancement. So we will have gone full circle from at the top to irrelevant back to the top, so to speak. But the Luddites will have become as extinct as the former textile workers, as progress comes and judgement day, the singularity is nigh upon us. It is coming and with increasing speed and abilities will be upon us in the single blink of the eye, and after that, we become obsolete only later to become so critically and crucially important once more.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

One Simple Statistic Defines the Termination of the Culture War

 

When editorialists, columnists and reporters cover the culture war they almost always look at Europe and explain that compromises and accommodations will be required as Europe must rely on immigration to continue the engines of the economy to pay for the aging indigenous populations. Recently a study in Germany flat stated this but nobody dared to discuss the reality which would follow. The report stated that Germany would need two million new workers annually to continue to pay for the retirement of the older German population. What was not explained was why Germany would need to turn to immigrants to provide the manpower for the production machinery. The same would be presented in France, Britain, Netherlands, Poland and everywhere else in Europe. The same is true in the United States but in America their immigrants bring a different mindset while in Europe the immigrants bring an antisocial culture which relies on supremacism, and there lies the main problem though it is not the cause but rather the main symptom of a far bigger problem. The one simple statistic came from a study of the black minority population in New York City. The report found that over fifty-percent of all pregnancies in the black neighborhoods resulted not in a new hope for the future but instead an abortive end to any hope for the future. More Black pregnancies amongst the black population were terminated voluntarily than were brought to term producing a baby. This results in only one truth going forward; there will be a reduction in the number of individuals and a slow death in any culture where there is not growth. This has been the case in all of the formerly Judeo-Christian areas which have adopted multi-culturalism and try so hard to believe that all cultures are equal and no one culture has a right to succeed or triumph over other cultures. The demographics are telling another story.

 

When multiculturalism takes hold in a society it replaces the society as there is no longer any reason to procreate in order to continue the indigenous culture as there is none, there is a void where the indigenous peoples claim that there is equality of all cultures and that all cultures are welcome and given equal acceptance and allowances. This is a noble but really ignorant idea. All Europe need do is look to its own past, and not all that far back into its past, and see that there was a culture under the Nazis which needed eradication before its evil, and back then the people believed in evil as they saw its grim face every day, before its evil snuffed out the light of hope and freedom in Europe and potentially the world. Looking back a little further and one could see what happens when a belligerent and proselytizing culture meets one which is either passive or simply not as advanced militarily in the spread of Christianity throughout the Americas by the Spanish, Dutch, British, French, Portuguese and other Europeans. Oddly enough, it was as a result of the death of the colonization that was the initial result of the loss of purpose and the cultural stagnation of Western civilizations. No longer was there a belief in a higher and greater meaning to life, life just was and the aim of life was to gather as many pleasures as one could as well as the best and largest collection of toys, you know, Mercedes, Porches, Lamborghinis, Bang and Olufsen stereos and flat screen monster TVs. There is one very important item which does not make the list in a society where there is no defining culture, children. There is a reason children do not make the list of essentials in such a hedonistic society, children are hard work and a kind of work that does not produce great amounts of fun, at least not from the perspective where the real ethos of your society is to party till the wheels fall off. Well, in Europe and Western civilization itself the wheels have come off and your culture will not continue into the future because you refuse to procreate and instead choose birth control or abortive procedure; they are not murdering a fetus, they are abortive procedures, that sounds so clinically inoffensive making it acceptable.

 

 

Culture War New Normal versus Old Normal Future determined by Tradition or Radical Change

 

 

The result of this New Age cultural malaise, whose number one symptom is the death of that society and the end of all it holds as dear. This New Age culture claims that all cultures are equal and in this advanced age must all be as accepting as are the Europeans and other Western cultures which have reached this ultimate point. The problem is the lack of desire to press forward and produce the next generation of New Age culturalists leaves a growing void which requires that the society import replacements in place of producing offspring. The problem with offspring is that they require a lot of our time which could be spent seeking pleasures and collecting toys which enhance our never ending party. Children also require standards, an antiquated concept which we have done away with in our New Age society. We are so advanced and all that because we have discarded Judeo-Christian ideals for pleasure pots. I know; it seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, the price of such is coming due and it is coming due very rapidly. You see, it really does matter what your culture is because if it is not worthy of imparting to your children, then there is no need for children and your culture is doomed. Well Europe, Western way of life, meet your replacement. Europe will inherit Islam and the United States the question remains unanswered at this time but it may be that the United States will import Christianity, or even more specific, Catholicism. Time will tell and it will not take long to do so. Meanwhile, what is in the future for Europe?

 

Well, initially the demographics do not favor Europe going forward. This new culture Europe is taking in has two distinct drawbacks, first is they are untrained which means more of them will be required to meet production quotas, and second they bring a primitive tribalism which is contemptuous of all other cultures including your beloved multiculturalism where all cultures are equal. You see; the main problem with multiculturalism and the concept that all cultures are equal only works when everybody accepts that critical thought which is the central core of your society. When all cultures are created equal and no one culture deserves to be dominant over others meets a tribal people who believe that their culture must be dominant, well, take a guess whose culture comes out the future. Yep, you guessed it; their tribal and domination culture will simply gobble up your multicultural accepting culture, and eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

There is one thing else that Europeans have mastered over the past few thousand years; Europe has mastered dealing in death. When pushed to the wall Europeans regress to a more primeval attitude which can be basically defined as it is an us or them and we choose us over them attitude. Once this attitude starts to spread as more and more Europeans come face-to-face with an Islam that demands that all bow with them or else, Europeans in numbers will choose else and therein lies the problem. You see, the Europeans will reach a point where somebody will start taking over political powers which will leave them in charge of the laws and their enforcement. This will result in the implementation of Sharia and that is where the conflict arises. Sharia does not permit certain items as drinking, dancing, the cinema, plays, European culture as a whole, and this will be brought down like a ton of bricks. This will be a principle being snapped by the immigrants which have been working to reach numbers to implement this end and this will be their declaration that not all cultures are equal and that theirs is vastly superior to yours and that is final. That is when a rebirth of a previous European culture will also come into play, the European culture of ‘you wouldn’t like to bet on that now, would you?’ And of course they will be all ready to discuss that just as the Europeans will be ready to destroy that which is messing with his calm, his peaceable contemplation on is there a Higgs Field and do poppies grow in a Higgs Field, and if not, why?

 

 

 

This will turn real ugly, real fast and the fur will fly. The immigrants who believed that this European all acceptance policy would mean they could walk in and make it now that all cultures are created equal but Islam developed into a superior culture. They will then double down when challenged with the, ‘What the H-E- double-hockey sticks do you mean we have to suffer you a position culturally superior and we need to bend to your culture? What part of equal did you misunderstand?’ Equal means that as long as you do not upset our apple cart we will get along real good and the minute that changes, so does all cultures are equal and we choose ours and so will you. After this the gloves come off and it is every culture for itself. Our prediction sticks with the Europeans as they can bring a whole load of culture to the fight. The truth will finally have awakened the Europeans to the necessity to procreate in order to continue to have an acceptive all-inclusive culture otherwise you will eventually import those who are willing to spill blood to impose their culture over your all-inclusiveness. That is the problem; when an all-inclusive society meets another which believes itself to be stronger because of their aura of cultural strength meaning they can force their beliefs upon what they view as the weaker societal structure, they are likely to find a sudden and completely different societal willingness to use whatever it takes to continue to be that all-inclusive society, even at the cost of destroying any society refusing to play by the rules.

 

Fortunately for the Europeans, they have not lost their core principled people who actually have society based on equality and have the spine to enforce such a societal structure. The really good things about Europeans is often they do not take themselves all that serious much of the time but that does not extend to others making fun of the European ability to go forth and completely obliterate any society which disturbs their so equal and tranquil society. This do what it takes had in the past often required American might in order to continue their all-inclusiveness, and they will fight to make all equal or else. Perhaps these rules should have been explained at the outset as they are apparently not as understandable by simple observations as first thought. Maybe a sign on some form declaring that the immigrant accepts and understands that all are equal means exactly that and it will not be tolerated that proselytizing or pretenses of superiority will be dealt with forthwith. Where such is not likely to produce any difference, at least then they could not claim they had not known or realized that the Europeans will fight and fight quite hard to continue to believe in nothing. Well, not exactly nothing, they believe in science cosmology and physicists who claim they can prove that the universe was not created by Hashem because before the big bang there was nothing and that is what Stephen Hawking had told them on the Discovery Channel and that ends the discussion, period. Stephen Hawking also believes in the rightfulness of the anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement which just goes to show you how when you believe in nothing (Hashem or another supreme being) then you will fall for anything.

 

Beyond the Cusp