Skip to main content

Our futures

Image
By
For me one of the greatest technological statements was made by Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web, when he said, "The Web as I envisaged it, we have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past." The potential of technology and all its possibilities is mind blowing to me. There are future advances that no one has thought of as yet. We have an infinite number of futures. Which one do we choose? Who gets to choose our future? 

We need to be informed about the advances in technology and keep the decision makers accountable. The more we know about the potential benefits and risks of new technologies, the better equipped we will be to make informed decisions about how they are developed and used. We have to get involved in public policy discussions about technology. We have to support organizations that are working to promote responsible and ethical technology development. We can use our purchasing power to decide our future of technology.

Tech visionaries can play a vital role in shaping our futures. They can help us to understand the potential of new technologies and to think about how we can use them to create a better world. They can also help us to identify and mitigate the potential risks of new technologies. I have seen several techies ask, "Technology is the answer. What is the question?" In my opinion the question is, what will have the greatest impact on mankind's future. Ray Kurzweil, futurist and inventor, has been vocal about the profound impact technology will have on our future.

Kurzweil has made some bold predictions like technology becoming smarter than humans by 2045. This is something known as singularity. He also thinks we would achieve a level of immortality by 2030 when we would be able to copy our consciousness to machines. This might be in my lifetime and to be honest these two things scare me, even with my normally optimistic self. What scares me the most is the timeframe he specifies. I think if we move too quickly with these types of things then we have less time to react to the potential negatives. Our futures are full of unknowns and these can be scary. The future is a canvas on which we can paint our dreams, but only if we have the courage to embrace the possibilities, balanced with the unknowns.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A pot of callaloo

By
Call for Submissions: Archipelagic Entanglements   https://singaporeunbound.org/opp/archipelagic-entanglements When I saw the call for submissions online I was doubtful. I do not know enough history. I do not understand the topic. Then after chatting with my friend Chatty I realised maybe I can be the topic. My ethnic and racial makeup is an archipelagic entanglement. Colonialism meets indentureship meets slavery. My mom is East Indian muslim and my dad is French, Portuguese and Mulato christian and who knows what else. I am an example of a pot of callaloo. Everyone's favorite Sunday lunch. I am what happens when lineages cross oceans and histories collide. I am thinking to myself now, what is the message I want to put forward with my blog post? What is the direction I want to take? Maybe it is this. What can we do when we have such a rich heritage and know so little of our own history? First of all I do not think I am alone with this struggle. I did not realise this until I though...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cup of coffee

By
This is a chapter from my latest book called Breezes of Tobago . The cool morning breeze blew the hat off the tourist passing the coffee shop. We sat at the table waiting for our order of coffee and bagels. I had stayed up late writing and was now needing caffeine to stay awake. On entering the veranda of the coffee shop, the sign reads "happiness is a cup of coffee" and "sip your troubles away". This had me thinking about what is happiness? And was the theme of my chat with Chatty as we enjoyed our breakfast in Tobago. I told my friend Chatty that if we could put happiness in a bottle and sell it we would be rich. My friend Chatty then told me that money cannot buy happiness but it was a good idea to make a living. If according to the sign, happiness is a cup of coffee then maybe happiness is coffee in a bottle then. We could call it Caffibean, a taste of the Caribbean in Tobago, a blend of the happiest coffee beans from Tobago. Tobago is not known for its coffee p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sandy beaches

By
This is a chapter from my latest book called Breezes of Tobago . This story begins on a cool Friday evening in May. Fridays are the best days. Already a great start. It had rained earlier in the day and the clouds were moving away and the sun peeking through. I walked from the apartment where I was staying to Pigeon Point beach. Along the way I stopped for coconut water freshly extracted from the nut and straight into my mouth leaving traces on my cotton jersey. They say that coconut water is the drink of God—fresh from the nut, sweet with a hint of salt, a liquid reminder that paradise can exist in small and simple things. They did not say that but my friend Chatty did. It is my friend Chatty's first trip to Tobago. I asked him what he thinks of Tobago so far? He grinned, wiping a drop of coconut water from the corner of his mouth. "Man… it is like stepping into a painting. The air, the colors, the way everything smells after the rain—it is unreal. I did not know paradise cam...
Post a Comment
Read more