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Greetings all,Where is the knowledge explosion taking us? To ongoing improvements in the human condition?
Next question: Is there a part of this forum which is moderated? Or is the above discussion representative of what I can expect here? Thanks.
I think the knowledge explosion being referred to is the (relatively recent) massive growth in the technological capabilities of humans and the resulting increase in our knowledge base that comes with it. With more knowledge you can build better technology. With better technology, you can gain more knowledge. It's a positive feedback loop. Computers alone have massively assisted us in this manner.
No doubt great changes are on the horizon if our technology continues to improve at an exponential rate. The creation of super-human AI, the manipulation of human biology, the colonization of other planets, the discovery of alien life, the creation of autonomous, self-replicating machines, the rise of a post-scarcity economy... things like these would be paradigm changing for the human species.
A lot of these things are analyzed on the YouTube channel run by Isaac Arthur.
Becoming a multi-planet (or preferably, a multi-star system) civilization would be one solution to prevent extinction by our own hands or by natural events. That way, we won't have all of our eggs in one basket. A disaster on one planet would not necessarily result in a similar disaster on another.
I must be missing something. How does information do harm?
I understand the concern too, and am hopeful for solutions, but my supposition is that the imposition of solutions would be quite undemocratic, and without any global consensus.
That means that agreeing on the solutions, and implementing them globally might be more difficult than living through the future without imposing any untested and draconian solutions to avoid something that may not actually unfold if allowed to play out.[/font]
My approach to your concerns is a faith in the human ability to survive, but I do agree that there is no guarantee that we will.
I also ultimately have a faith that natural evolution leads to “the height of evolution”, meaning that societies would naturally work their way over the hurdles, and produce higher levels of intelligent life forms over time, better able to resolve the problems through a wise and informed consensus of like-minded individuals (individual free thinkers who all recognize the greater problem).
A thousands years of human progress, and a thousand yet to come, all of it in the hands of some Pakistani general whose decided he's tired of living and it's time to once and for all settle the argument with India.