21 Lessons for the 21st Century
When you look around at all the major candidates for wealth-production frontiers today — blockchains, AI, biotech, renewables — none of them seems capable of producing enough of a grand narrative slipstream to bind today’s complex and large modern societies. So I have to conclude that we’re in for a great deal of antiflocking and divergence.
Venkatesh Rao • Narrative Slipstream Effects
La fusion de l’infotech et de la biotech menace les valeurs modernes centrales que sont la liberté et l’égalité. Toute solution au défi technologique passe par une coopération mondiale. Le nationalisme, la religion et la culture divisent cependant l’humanité en camps hostiles au point de rendre très difficile la coopération à l’échelle planétaire.
Pierre-Emmanuel Dauzat • 21 Leçons pour le XXIème siècle (French Edition)
I outlined three enormous challenges for the Digital Age: rising inequality, massive environmental degradation, and the risks arising from major geopolitical change. These daunting challenges could overload our political institutions and provoke a devastating conflict. Such has been the pattern of the past. Surely the prime task of our age is to re
... See moreJeffrey D. Sachs • The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions
Here’s the thing though: “societal formation flight” only works while societies enjoy long periods of stable orientation and aligned heading. Decades of aligned economic interests is the equivalent of long, shared flight segments. If rich, middle class, and working class face a wealth-production frontier that can be expected to last for decades, it... See more