Welcome to Mind Voyage fellow explorer🎉
My aim is to share with you a consistent dose of mind-enhancing content.
Subscribe here to level up:
I’ve been thinking a lot about the evolving role of technology in society. Rather than four super short articles. I decided that my ideas were similar enough that I could express them in one.
This is it.
1. Internet Reality Tunnels
I’ve written about how our thoughts shape our reality. I’d go so far as to say there isn’t really one world, but multiple, as each human (each creature really) senses the world quite differently.
With humans however, this ability is on overdrive and technology makes it more extreme.
Twenty years ago, if you had ideas that differed from the vast majority of people around you, you were on your own. Mainstream media couldn’t care less if you believed the earth was flat.
Or if you thought that watching people consume vast quantities of food was a great way to pass the time (Mukbanger).
Because of limited information channels, you mainly got exposed to what everyone else cared about regardless of your interests.
With the internet today, Mukbang (online eating shows) is a growing trend. A niche human interest but it has enough global internet momentum that Mukbang videos rake up millions of views online.
Your interest can be really niched and thanks to the internet your desire can still be fed….get it.
This is fine when it’s harmless food content but it can be much worse.
Say you’re a depressed teenager on TikTok.
The algorithm realizes you engage more with depressing content and gives you more of this. You engage more and get even more of it, intensifying your depression.
Recently there was a news report about exactly this.
A 14-year-old girl fell into the algorithmic rabbit hole and viewed over 2,000 posts related to suicide and self-harm in the months before her death.
Her parents only found out about her online history after her death.
In this modern world, you can trap yourself in any reality tunnel you want. If you believe the earth is flat you can stay isolated in flat earth communities on the internet.
You can completely shut yourself off from competing narratives. You can define your reality. For good or bad.
The dual nature of technological advancement is a theme that’ll repeat in this article.
2. Technology Increases Inequality
Another consequence of the internet is that more jobs can be done online.
This growing wave of remote work means that someone in a poor country sufficiently skilled in the digital realm can make as much money as someone living in New York.
While their neighbor might have the income of a Chilean day laborer.
From a global perspective, remote work improves equality. From a more localized viewpoint, inequality only increases.
When it comes to the stability of society the local view is much more important. Because the more unequal a society is, the more unstable it becomes.
Humans think in terms of relativity. If we’re all poor or rich it’s okay. If some people have a lot more than others then society de-stabilizes.
This partly explains why America is more violent than the average European country. Even though on paper they’re richer and have more resources.
It’s not overall wealth, but the relative wealth of people in a society that determines social stability.
3. Technology Increases Equality
Technology is also a force for good.
I made the cover of this article using Midjourney, a free AI image-generation tool. I didn’t have to be a trained graphic artist.
But this is child’s play compared to what’s coming. Particularly with advances in gene editing, one day it’ll be possible for you to look like anything you want.
Scientists are already modifying animals. For example, there are now glow in the dark cats imprinted with jellyfish genes.
Soon this technology will enter the human domain.
Can racism survive in a world where anyone can be White, Asian, or Black at will?
What about beauty standards?
When anyone can be as attractive as they want. Tall, Skinny, Tan, Blonde, Smart…you name it.
What happens when our features are as customizable as video game characters? 🤷♂️
4. Virtual Overtakes The Physical
Already most of us work and entertain ourselves online.
But what happens when the virtual connection of the internet combines with technology like Brain Machine Interfaces (BMIs)?
A brain-machine interface is a device that allows digital technology to interact directly with your brain.
Since our perceptions are just neurons firing inside our heads. You can simulate these signals digitally and get the same experience.
This is what Elon Musk’s Neuralink is working on. And there are already incredible examples of what this technology can do.
Watch this video for a preview of what’s coming with BMIs:
If you ever wondered what comes after mobile phones…this is it!
When you can connect your brain to the internet how will society change?
One aspect that’s clear is that online interactions will become just as real as physical ones.
Forget zoom calls. With BMIs you can be in the same room as the person you’re talking to over the internet and it would be identical to a physical conversation.
All interactions over the internet will feel just as real as anything.
If you’ve seen the movie Ready Player One (if you haven’t go see it). Then you’ve seen where we can go with this technology fully expressed.
In this world of BMIs, physically moving to new locations will be archaic and only done when absolutely necessary.
Why get on a 4-hour flight for a family reunion when the whole family can get together instantly and regularly in life like virtuality?
Wrapping Up
I’m excited about where our future is heading.
Yes, there are some fucked up things along the way. But largely I think things will get better since we have the ability to define our reality.
If you can shape your reality, why not make it the happiest one possible?
I have more questions than answers though because no one can predict what changes new technology will bring.
However, there’s never been a more exciting time to be alive.
Take care of yourself friend.
Until next time ✌.
P.S.
The prompt I used for the AI to come up with that image was “future utopian city, with rockets overhead, trees, in the afternoon, next to water, high quality, no blur, exceptional details, 4k“
It took me multiple tries but is very fun, join their Discord to try it 😅
Sweet article! Thanks for writing.