An Exciting Time To Be Alive

Last night I spoke with Matt Macdowel

We covered it all

What a time to be alive

The digital age, and not just the beginning, but the beginning, and the early,

and we are only 20ish! We have SO MUCH MORE to see

That was a theme

We are seniors, about to graduate from a prestigious university

And hit the world seen, the "real life" scene

And the possibilities are endless

But while we are making our way through the world

Trying to find how we can best balance personal happiness/contentment with the well-being of the Earth and others who live on it - all while using our unique skill sets, passions, connections, etc.

But while we are trying to find the grand unifying theory, to give us some life direction

CRAZY THINGS WILL BE HAPPENING

Matt said he had a bet with a friend back in 2012 (our graduation)

He said that his friend bet in 20 years (2032) that self-driving cars would be on the road, commercially available. Matt thought that they would be around, but maybe not yet commercially available....2032?! Hell we still have got 15 years! There will DEFINITELY be commercially available self-driving cars.

The thing with that is, driving is by far the most dangerous thing we do. Flying around at high speed, families regularly coming within a matter of inches of another family flying in the opposite direction, only the slightest error on the drivers part, a swerve of 1 foot, and BAM. And we all love to multi-task these days, so I think as soon as some cars have an auto-pilot feature that can be easily flicked on or off, people are going to use it. I imagine driving, getting a text and then instead of starting to drive with my knee while I respond, just hitting the AUTO button and resting easy. I imagine all the times that I have fatigue weighing my eyelids while driving, and the constant battle to stay alert, knowing how much rides on this.

But this is just one area. What of the internet? What of micro processors? What of neuroscience and the human/computer/bionic interface? What of designer babies? What of super conductors and quantum computing? What of solar power and cold fusion? SO MANY fabled technologies, things that were discussed in sci-fi, how many of them will come to pass in my lifetime? Sci-fi predicted space travel, many modern comforts, wars over resources, the internet, etc. but sci-fi has predicted SO MUCH MORE

Will it all come to pass? Yes. I have high hopes and it excites and frightens me. The exponential growth graphs give me hope: they show solar panels exponentially getting cheaper, they show processors exponentially getting more powerful and smaller, they show superconductors and fusion attainable at more and more feasible temperatures, etc.

My only fear, is that we destroy ourselves before all this comes to pass. There are definitely exponential graphs related to climate change. And I haven't seen one, but I'm sure it could be made: an exponential growth graph of world unrest. I think the onset of the digital age, the free flow of information, has made the rich increasingly aware of the lives of the poor, and even the poor, how many live so different. In any city, it seems like the most crime is found on the line dividing the rich and the poor, but what happens when people don't need to be on the dividing line to see the excesses on one side and the poverty on the other? Lots of unhappy people. And all of this will of course be exacerbated by climate change. This is my fear for the future, that we will take too long to right the wrongs that have been committed throughout recent history, all in the name of progress.

But this is also what makes me so excited for the future! The idea that there is SO MUCH global unrest right now, that so many people are finally willing to take to the streets and protest the current power structures and world order, that feminism is so much in the public eye, along with the environmental movement, aid organizations, race, class, and sexuality inequalities. Now that these things are growing in awareness, now we have to DO SOMETHING, make BIG changes. ROCK THE BOAT.

And while this is a lot to ask for, and many are skeptical or cynical, I think we are increasingly starting to feel like our backs are against the wall; even those of us sheltered by a cushion of wealth seem to be picking up on the waves of rebellion that rack Africa, the Arab world, eastern Europe, and now even pockets of Europe and America.

So I am hopeful because I truly believe that things are coming to a climax not too far off, and I believe that people are slow to move, especially when they are being asked to change a comfortable lifestyle for the well-being of another, but that soon enough, it will be all to plain to see that things have got to change drastically. I am hopeful because I think that while the world as we know it is in great peril, it has been in peril for many without recognition for too long.

I think this is a chance for us to all band together: to empathize with the suffering of others

To recognize our own privilege as it is stripped away by a world that is endangered more and more everyday

I see this as the greatest opportunity for redistribution of wealth and power in all of history, because sadly, innovation always seems to stem from necessity, and I think my lifetime will see the need for desperate measures.

And I am hopeful

Humanity will not go quietly into the night

And whether it is technological or social innovation, this is surely an exciting time to be alive.