This article is all about hubris, especially by the author and some of the sources. To think that we are living in "THE hinge of history" is stupid, but to consider that we are living through "A hinge of history" makes sense.
History has had lots of other hinges, the invention of agriculture, the water wheel, mechanical clocks, lateen sails, European contact with the "New World" and similar technological or world changing occurrences have all altered the world and widely influenced the future. Unfortunately many of these hinges have pushed us further down the road to ruin.
Today's hinge that we are passing through from this end looks like we are heading for the internet of things and an AI filled world, but at the far end when getting lithium, cobalt, and other rare earth minerals becomes difficult, and fossil fuels become cost prohibitive, all that AI will begin to age and fail. Maybe humans and AI will figure out a new energy source that is not polluting, does not require lots of carbon producing energy to build, and can be composted or recycled. But I won't hold my breath for that, until people get realistic about the pointlessness of trying to find only technological fixes, for problems the technological "fixes" created themselves.
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This article is all about hubris, especially by the author and some of the sources. To think that we are living in "THE hinge of history" is stupid, but to consider that we are living through "A hinge of history" makes sense.
History has had lots of other hinges, the invention of agriculture, the water wheel, mechanical clocks, lateen sails, European contact with the "New World" and similar technological or world changing occurrences have all altered the world and widely influenced the future. Unfortunately many of these hinges have pushed us further down the road to ruin.
Today's hinge that we are passing through from this end looks like we are heading for the internet of things and an AI filled world, but at the far end when getting lithium, cobalt, and other rare earth minerals becomes difficult, and fossil fuels become cost prohibitive, all that AI will begin to age and fail. Maybe humans and AI will figure out a new energy source that is not polluting, does not require lots of carbon producing energy to build, and can be composted or recycled. But I won't hold my breath for that, until people get realistic about the pointlessness of trying to find only technological fixes, for problems the technological "fixes" created themselves.
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