While many of the seismic changes on the horizon are to be welcomed—like working for a passion rather than for a living— several of the most basic privileges we once took for granted—like freedom of choice in consumption and independent free will in lifestyle—could become vestigial echoes or the preserves of ultra high-net-worth individuals. Heaven or Hell?
As I write this in 2016, we are already at the point where much of what used to be considered science fiction is already becoming science fact. We are already experiencing the science fiction and, sometimes, the adverse effects of the choices of previous generations: automated language translation, nearly autonomous cars, nanobots in your bloodstream, artificial intelligence (AI) that can wage cyber wars on our behalf, and refrigerators that talk to our smartphones—which in turn send our data to our doctors.
So, let’s zoom forward to 2030, visualize plausible futures for a world reshaped by exponential technological change, and consider what some HellVen (#hellven) scenarios may look like. Presented below is a timeline of possible scenarios stretching out to 2030.
2020: Hyperconnectivity and hyper-manipulation
As everything is now hyperconnecting, all ten major global brains— formerly Internet platforms and media companies—use algorithms to measure and determine what I should see, when, and how.
Back in 2016, a mutually loved little company called Facebook was using algorithms to generate perfect news matches with my profile, ensuring that I stayed engaged with its platform as long as possible, preventing too many dissenting views or negative messages from getting through to me. Today, as six billion people are “always on” across the planet, all of us see different information and content all the time.
We interact with these platforms via augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and holographic screens, or via intelligent digital assistants (IDA) and bots, old-fashioned apps, and what used to be called websites. In 2020, traditional websites are fading as fast as gasoline-powered cars because AIs in the cloud are now doing the work for us instead—and they don’t need eye-catching graphical interfaces or clever designs.
Human editors are signing off too, as big data, smart clouds, and AI have proven to be much more efficient, popular, and virtually free. Plus, they don’t object to anything—and advertisers, brands, and political parties can better leverage these systems and spend their marketing budgets more efficiently.
Prediction algorithms are helping to prevent crime. Using publicly available data feeds from police, traffic, public works, welfare, and planning departments, cities can pinpoint trouble spots.
They can then cross-reference this information with data extracted from social media feeds, emails, wireless activity, and much more. AI analyzes the data, discovers new correlations, and suggests measures that may prevent crimes, such as increased police patrols, isolating repeat offenders, or alerting potential perpetrators that they are being watched.
TECHNOLOGY vs. HUMANITY The coming clash between man and machine by Gerd Leonhard