Fourth Time’s a Charm OR How to Unravel Our Biodigital Future Selves
NFTs, crypto, and blockchain will look like yeoman farming compared to what’s coming.
“Conclusion: We could be on the cusp of a long-term biodigital transformation of our economy, society, institutions, and environment. This biodigital convergence could disrupt the way we produce and consume goods and services, relate to one another, maintain and augment our bodies, acquire and process data, make decisions, and manage our place in ecosystems.” (link)
Imagine, being able to analyze your dreams upon waking using your Neuralink. Or getting hyper-personalized health data streamed from your AI doctor’s data centre in the cloud. Or monitoring your home security from your palm. Okay, those last two are almost here, and the last one has arrived. All of those exist in some form today.
Let’s back up a bit. After the Agricultural Revolution and before the First Industrial Age, as armoured knights were at the height of perfecting their art, gunpowder weapons shot onto the scene. Today, as constantly connected citizens are at the height of their content consumption, AI weapons have burst onto the scene. Right when we think we have it all figured out...BOOM.
Current Control of Our Inner Cosmos
In this age, we constantly seem to be told we are on the cusp of something yuge. But no one can predict when exactly that will happen. Here are some examples of what is happing right now, and what to expect from our future:
Altering our genome
Altering and manipulating your thoughts
Brain-machine interfaces
This is only a handful of what’s happening RIGHT NOW in labs across the world. Who knows what else is being worked on in privately contracted secret access programs that we will never hear about.
Also, they want to monitor our phones. Why wouldn’t they monitor our bodies once we merge with tech? Terrifying.
Fourth Time’s the Charm
Things that come in threes are associated with good luck. Apparently there is a similarity with the Holy Trinity of Christianity, according to the first page of Google. But there is a fourth revolution on the horizon. My mind cannot think past info-tech, automation, and AI. But there is more to come:
“The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.” (link)
I wonder how biology will enjoy us tampering with it at this level of manipulation. We, as in the collective, couldn’t see this pandemic coming. So how can we possibly predict and prepare for the, “blurring [of] the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres"? You saw and experienced just how “prepared” our government and institutions were. How did they react? Bandaids on Broken Bones as the Scars Were Forming, was their response. Do I know how we should have responded? No. But I like to trust that entities with all the power have our best interest in mind and know how to handle a situation like this. Boy was I wrong. The fact that all countries around the world chose to deal with this in different ways, reveals to us the dirty little secret they don’t tell you until you’re old enough to handle it, if you’re lucky enough to be told: no one really knows whats going on. And that’s terrifying.
Trust Us
The featured article at the beginning, is from the Canadian Governments own website. They can predict, prepare, and fund research in to the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution, but can’t predict or help prevent the spread of a virus? Shake my damn head.
If one were conspiratorial and distrustful with their government - which is more and more people everyday - one would think this is a terrible idea to be investing our time money and resources into. Or at least, one would want to have transparency while this is all going down.
Let’s play a game! Rapid Fire Question Round…
Do you trust your government to fix simple infrastructure issues?
Do you trust your institutions to have your best interest in mind?
Do you trust your cultural leaders to be mentors to you and your children?
I’ll go first…
Sort of. Eventually roads and buildings get fixed, but I sure do hate the traffic.
Not so much anymore. In education, tuition was not reduced when you still had to “go to school” online. What exactly were students paying for? To hand in assignments on time while almost no learning was done.
Not even sure what a “cultural leader” even looks like these days. Who do we have to look up to and strive to be like? Athletes? Maybe Gable Stevenson, Olympic Gold medal winner in heavyweight wrestling. But the Olympics are trash anyways.
This past six years have been a masterclass in Personal Sovereignty and Freedom VS Safety and Security for All. I’m not asking you to take a side. But it’s pretty obvious “they” - and by they, you can insert any institution of power - is forcing you to take sides. Not taking a side is taking a side against the other sides, apparently.
Good Luck, My Modern Yeoman Farmer
The speed at which these technologies are coming, has never been seen before in our short history on this planet. What do we do now? If this Fourth Industrial Age is coming soon, and we’re going to merge with tech, and our own governments are dedicating millions of dollars in researching Biodigital Convergence, how do we protect ourselves?
We could say, “F**K IT!” And go live in the woods in a castle surrounded by a moat.
Doomer or Revolution Fighter?
Stay and fight. But what does fighting even look like? I don’t mean taking up arms like the yeoman farmers against the armoured knights did. I don’t believe we’re there yet. Having Skin in the Game. Becoming Antifragile. Solidifying and Diversifying your Talent Stack. Becoming a Person that Can’t Be Cancelled. These are the ways in which we can fight back. And get the future we actually want for ourselves, instead of a future that is forced upon us with no room for exceptions or compromise.
This is getting long. If you made it this far, I know your’e fascinated with our many possible future paths. Me too. This can be hard for one person to unpack, so I encourage all of you to comment below and help me unravel this new age that is upon us.
Thanks for reading, talk soon.
-D