Brave New World

Abstract

To many people any ‘future’ that extends much beyond next week or next month may tend towards becoming a hyper object. Perhaps you will recall that we talked about hyper-objects in Chap. 1. This is the concept first defined by Tim Morton. It is so vast in scale and impact that people say this is just too complex to think about. Somebody very smart needs to sort this out and find the answers. If one takes the time to read the U. N.’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, as presented in Appendix 1 of this book, you might say these concerns really seem just too complicated to understand and figure out in a rational way. The assembled facts in the U. N. reports about population growth, rising pollution levels of the oceans, the worsening condition of the atmosphere and the land, the increasing levels of human consumption of food and energy and the incredible rise in the need for more jobs, more water, more food, and more education and healthcare services pose some very daunting tasks. The U. N. Goals set for 2030 are huge, and how they all interact are truly hard to comprehend.

As the most important phenomenon in the universe, intelligence is capable of transcending natural limitations, and of transforming the world in its image. In human hands our intelligence has enabled us to overcome the restrictions of our biological heritage and to change ourselves in the process.

Ray Kurzweil, How to Create a Mind